Destiny 2 players have something to rejoice about as the Trials of Osiris is returning this weekend with the Dissonance map and Everburning Glitz as the main reward. Nevertheless, the official announcement made by Bungie‘s Destiny account has been the cause of the issue for the community with many players even expressing their dissatisfaction with the current game mode.
What is the situation with the Trials of Osiris? For those who don’t know, it is a competitive game mode where three-member teams are pitted against each other in elimination-style combat and it can be classified as the end-game PvP. The goal is to achieve seven victories while only a limited number of defeats in order to obtain the best gear available in the game. However, recently… it hasn’t been the best of times, to say the least.
The announcement about the Trials came as a mixed bag of responses, and, even if we put it in the mildest terms, it was still very negative. Like, really negative. One player, by the name of Viv, went on to say, “All 4 fireteams playing this mode will be thankful!” which seems to be quite a ruthless statement if you think about it. Yet another player, who calls himself Organic Labaneh, made a humorous remark, “The 50 players will be thrilled!” along with Pr1d3 who added, “Your 12 players are very thrilled!” Ouch! These comments seem to imply that there has been a significant decline in the player base of the Trials, which is a signal of doom for a competitive mode.
But the problem is not only about the number of players. The map rotation is a very sore topic for the hardcore PvP players, and the complaints about it seem to have no end. One player, What?, complained about the monotony of the repeated map selection saying it was “as if the same thing was playing on repeat on 3 of the most played maps for the last 52 weeks, so it was a buzzkill to see 3 of the most played maps repeating.” Such a specific concern might indicate that Bungie is, in fact, overusing the same environments too much.
Then there is Rize who said, “Okay, this is somewhat of a half victory; I love jav very much, and I would choose it over Dissonance every day of the week, but what we want is more like we want to play on another map than the 3 or 4 exact maps we have been playing since the beginning of EoF.” This suggests that even when giving in to the demands of the community, Bungie may not completely be understanding it or may be giving them what the community wants or expects. It’s as if they are listening but not fully comprehending what the players are asking for.
The discussion in the replies gets even more heated when the issue of platforms crops up. This whole back-and-forth between Maddog12968 and Viv regarding the number of players on PC and consoles is quite illuminating. Maddog12968 asserts, “8,000 PC players 292,000 consoles that really shows which player base is low,” and Viv, on the other hand, counters that the website tracking numbers may not be very accurate for current active players. At the core of the matter lies the question of which platform has more Destiny 2 players and that PC matchmaking is taking much longer than console matchmaking.
Nevertheless, some players can no longer tolerate the Trials. GildedApe said, “Every post from this account only reinforces why my clan quit the game,” which is a clear indication of the disgust with the current situation in Destiny 2 shared by some long-time players. And Dabs talked about the rather irritating gameplay, saying, “If I hit you in the face with a double exploding fusion grenade, but you do not die, and then one shot me with a krait, I do not know, it just makes me not want to play.” This kind of balance issues can surely ruin the fun for players.
On the flip side, there are some bright ideas for improvement. The Witch-King suggested, “The best way to go is probably just bringing back old D1 maps and mixing them up. I have always said that Trials should have a permanent map rotation, that nothing is static, but also add an element for a week: Solar Week, Arc Week, etc. where only these things can be used. It will make Trials more dynamic.” This is a great idea and it will definitely add more flavor to the gameplay.
At the same time, some players are encountering technical problems. Jordan reported mistakenly buying something from the store which is one of the most annoying issues to deal with. And Soonergolfer08 was complaining about still being given “tier 3’s at the lighthouse” when he is already at light level 550, which is a sign of some distribution issues.
