Bungie Has Released an Updated Stream Overlay Template for This Saturday’s Epic Raid Race in Destiny 2, and the Entire Player Population Broke Loose Over It. Gave the announcement the Official DestinyTheGame Twitter Account with two links for details and download, and the reply section is just a huge mix of hype, confusions, and pure salt. Quite an occasion.
So, what does this overlay do now? To put it simply, it is basically the graphics package the streamers put on while they are streaming the competition to be the first-ever team to ever defeat the new raid in the world. Namely, it just makes the streams look slick and official, with player names, class icons, probably a timer, and so on and so forth. Bungie has for every major race event done this, so maintain the residential and professional appearance of the thousands who tune in online on Twitch. Pretty good gesture for the community who have been working for hours trying to solve the latest puzzle.
Oh, but the reactions, man. Seriously, it was like Bungie was saying jumping was going to be outlawed. Comments are warzones down there. Some are in very much support. User Gro3_ pretty much summed up the whole “bring it on” vibe with “Fresh overlay, fresh raid hype.” Then GamerUP exclaimed, “Good change, the first overlay was so small in my opinion, this new one looks way better!!” So it’s a welcome change for all these streamers and watchers that celebrate the whole day-one raid experience.
Then…there’s the other side. It’s like a bunch of players are just taking this announcement as a license to unload every grievance they have concerning Destiny 2 currently. It’s like the overlay was the last straw. SirCosta11 went off tweeting, “Irrelevant!!! Where are new strikes and new pvp maps?? New content??” That sentiment was echoed by a couple of others such as James_harbo who entered into a whole back-and-forth with other users about when the last new maps were even added. It’s evident that in the eyes of some of the community, a new streaming graphic is being seen as distraction from what they view as bigger issues plaguing the game’s content pipeline.
Naturally, triggering already another console vs. PC fight. Itsdaly13 noted, “People on console can’t use overlays you know,” which is somehow true because this overlay is meant for streaming programs like OBS, which usually run on a PC; Several other comments spurred a mini-thread with WillBinnie saying, “Lol ain’t no way a console is going to win so why bother even streaming #pcmaster” which is just pouring gasoline on the eternal platform war fire. Fair enough; the raid race is almost always dominated by PC teams because of frame rate and FoV advantages, so this overlay update only really helps one side of the player base, especially those on PlayStation and Xbox.
Wait, where was I? Oh right, the drama does not end just there; some of the comments are even about specific streamers. n0ver_ tweeted, “thankfully Saltagreppo can hide his chat now,” directly referencing one of the most famous and most contentious speedrunners. Another user, DaywaltAd, joked, “@DestinyTheGame doing everything you can to help @DattosDestiny get world’s first, eh?” shows how much personality and rivalry is wrapped up in these events. The raid race is no longer just about beating the game; it’s a spectator sport in its own right with heroes and villains.
And here come the spicy takes. Jmfe10 brought up a totally different topic and ranted about a weapon ban: “Banning Halietus is bullshit. It’s so rare to have a legendary weapon that enables a cool playstyle like that.” While totally off-topic from the overlay, this comment acquired a lot of replies, with players debating weapon balance and why certain things get disabled for the race. It just goes to show how any Bungie announcement becomes a lightning rod for any and all ongoing community conversations. Captain_Haruno then sarcastically asked, “One of you ACTUALLY got on the game to see with your own eyes if a feature was working?” which is just a whole other level of frustration about bugs.
So yeah, what looks like a simple update, a new image for streams, has opened up a big can of worms, and now you’ve got the hype beasts for the raid, the critics smeared with chaff about more content, the platform warriors, and the balance complainers all yelling at each other in one Twitter thread. It’s chaos, but it’s also what gives life to the Destiny community. They care-again, plenty care, sometimes too much, but they do.
So, whether you’re looking forward to watching the race with the new overlay or just waiting for new PvP maps, this weekend is going to be a good one. Bungie’s just going to make it pretty while everything goes down.
