The newly introduced exotics have already sparked chaos at the faction front. Until now, the game developers had seldom given such vivid hints about the new items, but they took the curtain down on the very day of the announcement and over the IP with the tweet: “be bold, assume to the skies, let the mere mortals quake in awe of your might like fire.” However, gamers are ultimately not buying it and that a fact from last year’s balance debates that are filtering and overshadowing the actual item discussions. The focus of players is not on the new Armors but on how they would affect the long-held shaky balance of Warlocks, Titans, and Hunters in the zones of both PvE and PvP.
One might be wondering not without reason what these new exotics are. And to tell you the truth, Bungie‘s being rather vague with the whole information; still, the community of players has already been doing some extensive detective work, and the leaks are everywhere. Among the new Exotic points popping up through the use of controversy one seems to be a new Hunter exotic boot that gives a passive overshield, a Warlock outfit that links a suspend-effect to a rift, and a Titan exotic that… Let’s just put it this way: Titan mains are not too happy with the situation. The predominant sentiment flowing from the replies is massive skepticism, with players anticipating nerfs, classifying some pieces as “garbage,” and reigniting the never-ending debate as to which class is the least favored.
Of all the new exotics, the Hunter boots are the ones getting the biggest share of the limelight, and the truth is, it is not a very pleasant lion’s share at all. Joshy41233, a gamer who is not at all hesitant to express his opinion said, “As expected it will be a killer in pvP, and nerfed after a week, and useless in PvE from day 1.” His statement was supported by others such as daniel_d223 who said, “I think this new Hunter exotic is mainly a PvP focused one. Hunters getting a free OS in PvP just shouts OP.” The horror is that it would be very unfair one-on-one fights in the Crucible since a free, passive overshield will tilt the scales heavily in the Hunter’s favor even before a tussle takes place. It is the kind of situation that leads content creators to produce “BROKEN” videos and the community to start calling for Bungie’s head on a platter within hours of a new season’s launch.
But wait, what was I saying? Oh, the other classes, right. Warlocks are getting a rift-based exotic, and the response has been… lukewarm at best. Theosyion perfectly described the feeling of many Warlock mains with a simple, devastated comment: “Making us use a rift exotic in 2025 💔 We are ALL using phoenix dive 😭”. It appears that the community thinks tethering a class ability that leaves one immobilized is a hard sell in the fast-paced 2025 meta, especially when the reward is a suspend effect that might not even be all that accurate. A whole thread debates the Warlock’s Strand super and its inconsistencies, with setho_asethon pointing out that “Warlock strand super is one of worst in game damage-wise on top of being inconsistent.” So tying a new exotic to that foundation feels like building a house on sand to many.
And then there is the calamity of poor Titans. The new Titan exotic has hardly any discussion around it, which might be the worst review. When samson_fraser responded to another user’s comment, it reflected the situation perfectly: “Titan exotics are so fg bad in PvP, I don’t even know what to use anymore 💔”. It is a sentiment that has been growing among Titans for some time; they feel that their exotic armor pool has fallen so behind, filled with niche or weak options that do not really make a difference in the gameplay loop, that they feel cornered and are just wondering whether they got anything at all while Hunters and Warlocks argue about whether their new toys are overpowered or useless.
The players’ feedback is a strong reminder of a much deeper, long-standing issue with Destiny 2: the never-ending class imbalance problem. Joshy41233 went so far as to accuse Bungie directly, asking, “What is it gonna take for you to finally admit hunters are in a very bad place in PvE and do something about it?” This is a constant theme – that Hunters are the kings of PvP but struggle in endgame PvE, while Warlocks and Titans
PlayStation and Xbox gamers continue to debate these balance issues.
