Bungie has announced the Trials of Osiris in Destiny 2 already active, with the Endless Vale map and Burden of Guilt weapon as weekly reward for players. The PvP event has turned into a competition of skills among Guardians, but the community’s response to it is complicated.
So what is the Trials of Osiris all about? For the newcomers to the competitive side of Destiny, it’s basically a high-stakes PvP mode available only on weekends. Teams of three face each other in elimination matches. The aim? Win seven matches in a row and get the prestigious “Flawless” status entitling the victory to go to the Lighthouse for special loot. This week player’s competition is on the Endless Vale map, which is a Crucible map familiar to the players and known for close-range fighting and tight lanes and the Burden of Guilt fusion rifle is the reward.
But the reaction from the players is a big mess. While some Guardians are truly enthusiastic about the choice of map and weapon, the Twitter replies to the announcement of Bungie tell a much saltier story. One user, Carlos G, did not mince words, and he said “Trials have been impossible to play as a solo. Every game I had to deal with bad teammates together with fireteams. This company expects me to win with such matchmaking.” Ouch, that’s tough.
The complaints regarding matchmaking continue. Not only do individual players voice their concerns, but they also ask if the skill-based matchmaking should be used or connection-based, with James h contributing his voice, affirming that “it should be and always should be connection-based matchmaking. The pool is already ridiculously low and the reason your matching good players, is because we are the majority now.” Hang on, what was I saying? Oh yeah, the player count worries.
And while we are talking about the population, many users indirectly pointed out that the current number of players in the Trials mode is not very thrilling at all. Jonald humorously remarked “All 10 people are happy!” while another user, JustAGuyBeinADude sarcastically stated “The 23 people still playing this are about to get so excited.” Wow, the irony in this community is just so strong.
The cheating issue is being mentioned again and again. Rossy referred to it as “cheater central” and Lucifer Doggo said “No thank you, PvP is just cheater central don’t have time in my life for it.” Complaints about cheating and server problems have been an important part of Destiny’s PvP community for as long as the game exists.
But it is not all negative! Some players are actually drawing up strategies concerning the best loadouts for the Endless Vale map. James h gave some gun recommendations, suggesting “120/140 handcannons are cracked for this map (crimils with adagio is still busted) pulses are still strong, rapid-fire scouts with PI are great…” Others were talking about ideal stat distributions, with a number of Guardians recommending around 150-160 recovery and 100 intellect for Trials.
The weekend timing for this Trials also drew some attention, with Cal saying “Should have saved this for the new season. Great map but horrible timing.” And naturally, there were the usual demands for different maps and guns, such as luigistyle asking for the LMG to be featured “one of these weeks” and Don Roberto De Muerte insisting “Should’ve been exodus blue.”
Even after all the complaints and sarcastic remarks, some players were still showing true excitement. Blind tweeted “Oh bungie I love you I never doubted your map selection for a second. I’ll be playing BO7 with my hands and trials of osiris with my feet.” Now that is some serious dedication to multi-tasking.
The focus of the week is the weapon Burden of Guilt which is a precision frame fusion rifle that can be rather deadly in the hands of the right player. Fusion rifles have always had the same sort of dilemma with their meta being either the most overpowered or the least effective with very little in between. For those players who are willing to challenge themselves with the possibility of matchmaking issues and cheaters, having a good roll on this gun might just be worth the trouble.
What is intriguing is how the Destiny community is still so divided regarding the issue of Trials of Osiris. On the one hand are the players who simply can’t do without this mode, who will play it even if there are issues. On the other hand are the players who have completely turned their back on the PvP aspect of Destiny due to ongoing problems. And then there are those who are somewhere in between, those who occasionally play but get bored quickly.
The discussion about stat distributions and optimal loadouts implies that there still is a committed gaming community that does not take this game lightly, whether they’re playing on PlayStation or Xbox.
