After a disastrous reception, Bungie is changing course on a key system in Destiny 2’s Trials of Osiris: Artifact levels will no longer affect the PVP gameplay. Players joining Trials will find their power unaffected by any Artifact abilities. This is a sharp reversal of the plans previously announced for the game mode.
Trials of Osiris was a popular PVP mode from Destiny 1 which pitted three-player teams against each other in a battle of skill, with the most powerful weapons the teams could find. The goal was to win consecutive games, with more rewards and bonuses available to teams on a winning streak. Those who achieved a flawless victory with nine wins and no losses were allowed access to the hidden Lighthouse zone on Mercury for special loot. Bungie announced the return of the game mode for the upcoming Season of the Worthy in Destiny 2.
While Artifacts were planned on being part of this new Trials, the outcry was immediate and two days later Director Luke Smith took to Twitter to announced that Artifacts would be disabled for key parts of Trials, at least until a new power cap option could be developed. The contention arose because of Artifact abilities. Introduced when the Shadowkeep expansion was launched, Artifacts were special items that could be leveled up in PVE or PVP through any type of experience gain. Leveling an Artifact would great both points to spend on Artifact abilities and new tiers within the Artifact that unlocked more abilities.
Artifacts change for each new season’s storyline, but their abilities include power boosts for particular weapon classes, debuffs for shot enemies, shield piercing, and many more bonuses. This essentially allowed players with more experience built up in the Artifact to do better in Trials of Osiris regardless of their skill level, something players saw as the antithesis of the game mode’s purpose. Now Artifacts will be disabled before the new mode goes live, and the change will also apply to the other popular PVP mode Iron Banner, at least until Bungie comes up with a better solution.
While the move certainly appeased incensed Destiny 2 players, it’s important for another reason. Bungie has infamously taken a long time to address any of the issues raised by the community. An excellent example is the warlock melee, which has been disadvantaged for the entirety of Destiny 2 via a range nerf and a speed nerf meant to correct issues from Destiny 1 that no longer existed – a mistake that was never addressed by the developers until Bungie’s latest Trials announcement, which at last included a fix (three years later). Is Bungie finally paying more attention to what the Destiny community is saying? That would be a welcome change, but more evidence would be nice. What about reversing course on the planned obsolescence of legendary weapons next, Bungie?
Next: Destiny 2 Players Can Soon Change Armor’s Elemental Affinity…At a Cost
Source: Luke Smith- Twitter
