Trials of Osiris is back in Destiny 2 this weekend with the Dissonance map and Aisha’s Embrace scout rifle as the weapon reward. Bungie’s weekly PvP announcement seemed to have sparked an almost instant backlash within the Destiny community, with concerns being raised about map selection, weapon balance, and the overall state of the competitive mode.
With plenty of emojis denoting the rotation of the Dissonance map in Trials and Aisha’s Embrace as the weapon, the official Destiny 2 account promised an early return for Trials of Osiris Friday morning. Half an hour or so later, sins were being poured into the reply section from quite a few angry Guardians.
And immediately, the players wouldn’t be shy about sharing how they felt about map selection. “You know it really takes effort to have the worst maps on top of the rotation constantly,” said Alaska, transferring what many were thinking. Another player, Yefical_, almost made a direct appeal to Bungie: “Can we genuinely stop putting horrible maps, that the community has voiced they don’t like, in trials? No one ever says anything good about this map nor do they enjoy the way it’s played.”
The discussion relating to map choice grew on, especially with the appearance of whether or not the players should be given the opportunity to vote. “Yeah I don’t understand why we don’t have a vote system in place at this point,” said x_lilman_x, only to have Calzotron explain, “They think midtown is a fan favorite map so I don’t trust them with choosing.” This exchange highlighted the glaring divide in opinions on popular maps between Bungie and the community.
The weapon reward fueled for another heavily debated controversy of a kind. Aisha’s Embrace, a precision scout rifle, drew a mixed reaction from players. An excited Guardian clamored “AISHAS EMBRACE FINALLY THANK YOU,” while the rest apparently were not so pleased. VelocityXtC gave opinionated responses: “Ass map, ass gun. Bruh can’t make this shit up lmao,” which was probably the discharge of disappointment shared by so many other players.
Then, before long, the weapon debate turned into a bigger argument about the present meta and weapon balance in general. Samson_fraser called out, “Nerf precision instrument scouts like Aisha’s embrace, absolute cancer,” to which BrunoToAmad8 rebutted, “Fast paced gameplay is legit only playable on hunter and specifically strand hunter.” Soon, K130199 defended the scout rifle users only to be promptly answered with, “If u use scouts you have no dignity,” by BrunoToAmad8.
Then came the complaints about class balancing. Several players aired their frustrations at the Hunter class, and more so at Strand Hunter, being at the center of the meta, thus practically rendering other classes are unviable in high-level competitive play. It has been the tale for a handful of seasons now-almost a sore in the Destiny PvP community.
With a few of the comments turning even darker, some started insinuating Bungie was deliberately sabotaging its own game. “I’m absolutely sure you just want the game to die,” was the accusation of Lucifer_Doggo, with Uchitake84 claiming, “day after day, they keep ruining this game,” directing attention to the dwindling player numbers. CrumpetsArePog even dethroned by declaring “Nobody likes Destiny anymore, if they do, they are struggling to come to terms.”
Not all comments were simply bad, either. Some players have claimed that they’d be playing such as Chesse_cz: “Nah, i gonna play few rounds, its free power up if nothing else.” This is—that Trials sees participation due to powerful rewards or just because it’s one of the few avenues left for endgame PvP.
The complaints also branched into matchmaking and lobby balancing issues. “Lobby balance is on again,” exclaimed 14Warlock, acknowledging the ongoing debate surrounding how teams get assembled in competitive mode. Another asked who at Bungie actually plays the game, with fetta_D replying, “stream solo q everything is fine.”
What’s interesting about these complaints, really, is that the map and weapon problems cast a light on the far greater problems in Destiny 2’s PvP ecosystem. The other half of the community seems to be in between people who want a faster-paced game and those who prefer a tactical match involving long-range engagements. The map seems to follow one or more of these play styles; remember, the weapon reward does not always complement what players really enjoy or consider balanced.
Themes of unpopular maps reoccurring within Trials rotation presumably convey the absence of any connection between Bungie’s type of data and community sentiment or some conscious design decisions that favor particular gameplay experiences above player preferences. Either way, discontent is loud and echoing throughout the Destiny community.
What will be cemented, whether the weekend keeps on unfolding, shall be whether player devotion paints the picture of the criticisms loud or if Guardians will continue flocking into Trials despite their complaints. The act of begging for this very act has somewhat become symbolic of the Destiny community scene, though there seems to be more voices growing in saying patience is wearing thin.
For the moment, Trials of Osiris shall go on with Dissonance and Aisha’s Embrace, cutting the Destiny PvP community in two-roughing everyone up but somehow managing to lure them yet again to the fresh weekly high-stakes competition. If Bungie is able to plow through these glitches with updates or seasonal fixes, who can really say? But as they say, the weekend surely opened up the discussion. Trials of Osiris is available on both PlayStation and Xbox platforms.
