— The community has been absolutely abuzz ever since Bungie released the latest Destiny 2 update, Ash and Iron. A tweet from the official Destiny account asked for ratings from one to five… and well, it did not get the answer it probably expected!
After having heard the community, what a frightening storm of opinions they are! In fact, we’re hearing that scores are falling below zero, with some players calling it the “biggest nothing burger yet,” and others, including long-time vets, are calling it the final straw that is making them ponder quitting. These were the D1 beta players, the hardcore clientele of the franchise that have stayed through thick and thin.
Kurt Hueni, identifying as a D1 beta player, placed straight-up big 1s saying, “this release is the biggest nothing burger yet.” Ouch! On the other hand, a Guardian by the name of Richard Sanchez Jr. went a step further with a -1, calling it “By far worst ever.” I mean, negative numbers? That’s the kind of disappointment that could have actually been impressively delivered.
The complaints seem to be ringing around two or three big issues. One of them is the monotony and repetitious nature of the activities themselves. Participants claim that it is merely a reskinned event from Pale Heart with limited matchmaking options. And then there’s the whole Plaguelands matter-Bungie went in gung-ho with the Plaguelands comeback, but apparently, it isn’t even really a patrol zone? Just an activity zone, though, now it’s getting bashed in the comments.
Cory said, “Pretty boring. I wish they would actually add the plague lands as a explorable destination and not whatever they have now.” Lost☄️ added, “the fact they claimed the plague lands were back but it’s not even a patrol zone is stupid.”
Oh, the grind. Multiple players remarked about how the grind became somehow worse than before. Which, given Destiny’s history with grind, is saying something. J.J. Belmont gave it a 1 but mentioned that the only redeeming factors were the guns worth chasing and the Mida update, saying, “If this is the state the game is in for the next three months, renegades better be absolutely incredible.”
There seems to exist some serious frustration over the big build-up versus what was actually delivered. One player, Clutch, stated, “Was this weeks-long build-up just for that 7 minute encounter at the tower and another 1 week fomo grind? Do I really need to watch every dev stream on top of watching someone with insider info explaining TWABs and TWIDs, in order to manage expectations and understand what is going on? This isn’t fun for casual players that just want to do raids and dungeons, after some pinnacles.”
That really hits home-a feeling that you must consume hours of external content just to understand what’s happening in the game you’re playing. This sentiment has been slowly gaining traction in the community for a while now.
And then sporadic positive voices arose. David Booth gave it 2.5 because “I think the combat got tougher. Some of that is entertaining.” QUEENCITYMADMAN was leaning to 3 but still wanted more runs. There was some defense of the update being free content from RadTad94: “Anybody who gives a 1 has ridiculous expectations for a free update it’s 2-3 but not 1.”
But those positive voices are surely in the minority. The general impression is one of disappointment and frustration. Players feel like there is less content than before, quality-wise they feel it isn’t up to par, and they are now being ground out more than even before.
Even Eververse is being thrown shade, as Queen Donut pointed out, “At least Eververse is fully stocked!” which is a special kind of sarcasm only coming from deeply disappointed fans.
Some have started getting off the boat already – __j0sh1__ commented, “Man, am I lucky to have switched to wow again god damn.” And Randaiya didn’t even know that update had slipped out, which may be the harshest review ever.
Weapons, as well as the upcoming axe, have seemed to collect the most amount of positive light out of the batch, but even those are marred with criticisms about reskins and recycled content. Yuki Yagami rated it 2/5 and also mentioned “the Wappons are kind of cool but the best are recycelt.”
It’s kind of crazy how universal that disappointment seems to be across different types of players. PvE mains, PvP players (SaladeDePatatas gave it -5/10 specifically for “No good PvP sandbox changes”), casual players, hardcore grinders-everybody seems to find reasons to lift up their voice at being disappointed.
There’s even calls for bringing back Sparrow Racing from D1, which just shows how hungry players are for something actually fresh and fun.
At the end of the day, this feels like a tipping moment for Destiny 2. The community has been patient through a lot, but this response shows that that patience might be running thin. When your most dedicated players are talking about quitting and scoring your new content negatively… that’s a problem that needs addressing ASAP.
If they ever want to regain player trust after this one, I feel, Bungie really has their hands full. The next couple of months, specifically the upcoming Renegades content, really need to be something special because the player population has really taken a big plunge in acute disappointment.
