Will Bungie’s Steady Support of Destiny 2 Pay Off?
We at COGconnected have been reporting for a while now about how Destiny 2, despite having some undeniable positive aspects, has nonetheless struggled to keep players engaged after the initial post-release honeymoon. In fact, the players count for Trials of the Nine is so low as to be downright concerning.
But to its credit, Bungie has been busily updating Destiny 2 with a plethora of pretty big changes, adding Nightfall rewards, major class changes, customization alterations and some weapon changes. There are also apparently several more updates coming down the pipe, including one that will address Exotic weapons.
In the immediate future, two particular weapons, Sturm and Drang, are getting tweaked, according to an announcement by Bungie this week. They are two guns that have complementary perks, and thus are ideally used together. Drang, a Legendary Sidearm, reloads Sturm, an Exotic Hand Cannon, upon a kill and will overload it above its magazine capacity upon consecutive kills. Sturm, for its part, will also reload Drang upon kills.
Why this update? Bungie has acknowledged that these two weapons have been needing a change, saying in its announcement that “the guns don’t have “that exotic flare.” So they are significantly overhauling them. Here’s how (with thanks to Gamespot):
- Both will get their base stats improved
- Drang is getting a larger magazine and the Rampage perk
- Sturm is receiving a new perk that gives a 1.8x damage modifier to overloaded rounds
Just the latest in what is an ongoing update process for Destiny 2. The Exotic weapons changes will reportedly come when Destiny 2’s Season 3 starts. Update 1.2.0 will include a Prestige Mode for Eater of Worlds, seasonal Crucible rankings, private matches, more Vault space, Exotic Masterworks, and more. It is due to launch in May.
So the question is: are all of these tweaks, improvements, and fixes enough to bring life back to Destiny 2? Way back after the game’s initial release, our own Alex Thomas reflected a common player complaint when he lamented the “grinding” required in Destiny 2. He described it as “hours upon hours nonstop and with little new content,” and a result, “the motivation to keep playing starts to dwindle.” Undoubtedly, Bungie’s frequent updates are hoping to address this issue.
Only time will tell if Bungie’s dogged support of Destiny 2 with updates will help to win fans back. We certainly hope so, because on a basic level, it’s a great game with lots of content to enjoy. Let us know below what you think!