Bungie has in the past, through their releases, shaken the game world of Destiny 2 to its core and then some just by adding one pretty cool modifier in the Portal activity. The players are either all on board with the whole chaos thing or they are just terribly upset with all the problems in the game. The giant wave of ability energy created by the Deluge modifier empowers the Guardians so much that they can perform amazing acts of unblockable supers and resurrection of conical bombs. While there is clearly a division in the community over the idea, still the overall player response has… not the least to say, been mixed up.
So, what exactly is this Deluge? It is one of the weekly rotating modifiers that makes your Guardian appear very much overpowered. Were you curious about those wells? They are found in Portal activities and are instantly charged and energized, which means you can do your space magic pretty much just like the old days. The modifier is such that it gives you an impression of “god” in PvE, just by casually dropping nova bombs and Fist of Havoc all around without even waiting for the cooldowns.
And then it gets messy. Bungie‘s tweet gives an indication of total chaotic fun, but the replies show the opposite. Players post complaints about the bugs that are never-ending, the methods that are ruined and the state of Destiny 2 in general being very annoying. One user by the name of Redskinrich1 came right out and said “Soft lock still here, not fixed. Back to watching tv i go” which gives very nicely the feeling of the community.
However, there are problems beyond that. Numerous users have started pointing to certain problems that are still waiting for resolutions. PatrickStar made a sarcastic comment “Vortex grenade still not fixed, yaaa” while others mentioned issues with event tracking and some mechanics as being continuous. It appears as if Bungie introduced this new modifier that was so nice and sweet but forgot to deal with the issues that were on the ground it was built on.
And then, the problem with the portal keeps showing up in the replies. A large number of players are demanding from Bungie to “get rid of or fix the portal” and one even has uploaded a video showing the new problem. When many people are asking for the elimination of a whole element of gameplay activity, it does indicate that there are some major issues.
The whole thing about the candy tree situation which is based on player feedback seems to be very broken. LHowning1980 said “Still no candy in the tree. Second week nothing. Take it. The Guilded seal is still broken as well. Logged off” which implies that some of the seasonal content might be bugged. And when seasonal content is broken, it is a very big issue because it is this very thing that keeps players engaged till the next major expansion.
The player base count is also a concern, for as long as Snowii puts it out bluntly “15k average players” which, if this turns out to be true, would be quite alarming for a game like Destiny 2. Yet, to be fair, we do not know the context of that number or what platform they are referring to.
The situation is not only one of despair and disaster! There are those who play the game and are having such a good time with Deluge that they want it to be a permanent addition. gamer1nQ8 wrote “This should be permanent…. Power = fun” which doesn’t seem unreasonable whatsoever. The instances where Destiny 2 gives players the feeling of real power are the same times when the game is at its best. The problem seems to be with the fact that for a good number within the community, the fun wasters in the form of bugs are way more than the fun-modifiers.
The conversation involving wrestlin_wasabi and AndyMarch1969 about the drops of weapons brings forth a concern that has more than one layer. When asked about the problem of getting some items, wrestlin_wasabi replied that it was “A ‘the game is boring right now’ problem, mostly” which suggests that even in a perfectly running game, some players will still feel bored or have a content drought that is not interesting.
The players’ reactions are a significant factor in the situation which can be considered one of the most interesting aspects of the scenario- the split among the players. On the one hand, there are those who like the power that Deluge gives, while on the other, there are those who are fighting with the broken mechanics and soft locks. It almost seems like there are two separate games according to whether or not you are encountering bugs.
Bungie faces a tough situation- they are constantly trying to introduce new stuff to the game like weekly modifiers and activities but will surely be frowned upon by the players if the core is still affected by bugs. Activities in the Portal seem to be particularly a source of player frustration, with some PlayStation and Xbox users reporting platform-specific issues.
