Bungie has released a new exotic weapon in Destiny 2, and the public has mixed feelings about the whole situation. The official Destiny Twitter account reported the fantastical Wolfsbane Axe, a new exotic weapon that can create quicksilver nanites via its strong mechanic and as part of the new Exotic Mission: Heliostat. Replies, however, are not solely overjoyed; they have turned into a cocktail of players reminiscing about the old good days, complaining, and some labeling the game “totally dead.”
What is the story with this axe? It is a melee weapon, a new exotic, connected to the Heliostat mission, and empowering the Guardians to materialize a horde of nanites. This is pretty much the storyline of a sci-fi movie, isn’t it? But the mention of “nanites” almost definitely brings back to the mind of the majority of the players one particular memory which is not only nice but also forbidden: SIVA.
The comment section of the tweet was very active with players practically begging for SIVA to return—the self-replicating nanotechnology from the Destiny 1 expansion “Rise of Iron.” Ronald Demeter, one of the users, didn’t mince his words: “its not quicksilver nanites they are called SIVA. repeat after me SIVA WILL MAKE ME GOD.” Similarly, other players echoed this, for example, Guppy 987 just simply requested, “Bring siva back.”
But this is not simply a matter of choice. For players who went through Rise of Iron, SIVA was a top moment in Destiny’s history. One player, Dino, summed up the audience’s bewilderment: “I really do wonder why bungie treats Siva as taboo. Like. Your fans loved ROI and the story of Siva. Why write it out in the most careless way possible?” It looks like Bungie’s tactic of introducing another new, equally suggestive nanite technology without it being the iconic red plague has upset a lot of people. User Skare Crow put it in a roundabout way calling it a “bullshit story” to avoid bringing back the real SIVA.
Nevertheless, the conflicts over the lore did not cease the drama. The discussion soon escalated to the larger issue of Destiny 2‘s extinction. RibbleRabble, a user name that could be taken to mean humorous, pointed out a grind frustration, saying they logged in excited about the new subclass changes only to be faced immediately with the requirement of “about 150k unstable cores” to upgrade gear. They bluntly screamed, “It’s like the game is designed to push people away at this point.”
And there are those who resolved things their way by… surrendering. Many users voiced their sentiments in the same way with “This games practically dead” or something of the sort, like SonsOfKaneki and Ben. Michael Hensley went further with his scornful critique: “Open up your job applications because you all are going to be unemployed.” Ouch.
The negativity reached such a level that some players would even highlight its presence. Ryan pimentel replied to another comment, indicating that “All this community does is cry.” This led to a whole sub-thread concerning the game’s monetization. One user, Zaunitez, contended that “absolutely everything in destiny comes with a price tag,” questioning if people would be ready to pay for a DLC, a season pass, AND a separate exotic mission at the same time. In contrast, another user, Dcasd1, pointed out the fact that the game has been free-to-play since 2019, which resulted in a back-and-forth about the actual content being behind paywalls.
It is quite a tangled situation. On one side, Bungie is paving the way with new content—a glamorous new exotic axe with an unorthodox mechanic. On the other hand, the majority of the loyal gamers feel they are being overlooked; their beloved SIVA is just a teaser instead of being the real thing, and all this while having to suffer through a grind that they label as oppressive and that they feel is concealed under the guise of questionable monetization. User 1234 even saw the new mission as the last straw, tweeting, “Thank you for confirming SIVA’s death with Heliostat… Thanks for giving me a reason to uninstall.”
So what fate awaits the Wolfsbane Axe? It is now caught in the crossfire of opinions. For some, it can be a nice reward with the new exotic mission, Heliostat. For a noisy section of players, however, it is an indicator of what is lacking, a reminder of a past that they loved and a present that they are more and more annoyed with. The reply perfectly reflects the Destiny 2 community in 2024: passionate, divided, and brave enough to share their opinions, even if it is just to tell Bungie that the game is “dead ahh.” Whether this new exotic will still be able to break the silence is one thing that remains unconfirmed, but the players are without a doubt doing a lot of talking around it.
The division exists, and it is manifesting on social media in real time. It is a clear example of new content aggravating old wounds, and Bungie will have to be very careful if they want to regain the trust that they apparently lost with some of their Guardians. The nanites are there, but the real commotion is around the online reactions.
