Bungie has set in motion the annual festival of Destiny 2, Dawning 2025, where players are again rewarded with three fresh ‘icy holofoil’ weapons named Mistral Lift, Permafrost, and Fimbulwinter Stitch. Besides the new loot, the community’s participation has been quite diverse ranging from excitement to strong disapproval with the players raising their ire mainly due to the weapon selection and the random perk rolling.
So, what are these pistols all about? A post from the official Twitter handle of DestinyTheGame showcased the trio along with some winter emojis and asked the players about their first pick for the hunt. However, the answers… they indeed tell a completely different story. The mood in the Tower isn’t solely happy and sparkling right now.
Since the beginning, a great deal of players have just decided not to participate in the new loot at all. A particular player, Zeokor, went as far as to call them “dookie,” while another player, BrunoToAmad8, called them “Trash ass loot bruh.” A third player, WeLoveCrumpets, harshly criticized the situation saying, “You say new, I say reskined bs.” This situation is quite common in live service games but it seems to be hurting the most during a holiday event when people are expecting something really special, perhaps even the return of some old favorites.
Additionally, that is a huge issue right now. There are quite a few comments lamenting the loss of the past Dawning weapons, such as Stay Frosty, Glacioclasm, Cold Front, Avalanche, and Something New, which are not available anymore. The user DiarrheaSmoothy complained: “No Cold Front, no Avalanche, no Stay Frosty, no Something New smh.” Apparently, a segment of the player community would prefer that Bungie had returned the guns loved by the fans instead of, or at least along with, the new ones. User maVer1ck82 reflected that sentiment saying, “Would of been nice to have some of the old stuff come back like Frosty.”
But wait, the drama does not finish here. The handling of the holofoil weapons is one of the main new twists this year. For the uninitiated, holofoil weapons customs come with a set, curated perk roll—and that is basically their thing. But with Dawning 2025, Bungie has decided to hand them over with random perks instead. And players are not taking it lightly. User allbarros1969 posted a comment in Portuguese which translates: “I did not like that the holofoil this event has random rolls. The fun of holofoil is having a fixed roll. If I want a random roll I can already get it normally by playing.” This is indeed a move that undermines what many players found attractive about the holofoil system, turning a guaranteed good roll into another spin from the slot machine.
The replies take the discussion even deeper. User potentrage claimed that “Permafrost has weightgate btw…” which is quite an obscure way of saying that the weapon might have a hidden and rare effectiveness or perk combination in the loot pool. Another user, bennijin, who did not quite agree with this, said, “giving Mistral Lift the Firefly/Dragonfly roll is funny.” So it is not all bad news—some of the most preferred combinations of the hardcore community players are getting a thumbs-up from the developers.
As always, issues with the game that players usually complain about now and then also popped up. User Cryotobigboss vented his disappointment saying, “The current game is dead. There are many cheaters and lag problems. Bungie do something. You might as well play other games.” Others, like DylanAiPs, were infuriated by the fact that the other team members in activities like Lawless Frontier didn’t follow the exfiltration procedure properly which resulted in the whole team not getting maximum rewards. TheJthatmatters even went so far as to beseech Bungie to “Fix lightsaber crystal drop rate,” referring to the Star Wars crossover items, which indicates how event fatigue can get mixed with other ongoing grinds.
So, what then is the situation? The Dawning 2025 event has not only brought with it three new weapons to grind for but also a new layer of digital snow. Nonetheless, the response from the community is nothing but lukewarm at best. The switch to random rolls on holofoil weapons seems to have been the biggest blunder, leaving in the cold those players who appreciated the certainty that came with it once. The other main issue is the lack of returning classics which has given the new offerings an air of a replacement rather than a celebration.
Still, some players have not completely turned their backs on the new gear. Wheezin_PJ commented that the new grenade launcher “feels nice” on PlayStation and Xbox.
