Destiny 2’s Edge of Fate expansion is a big sea change for the franchise in more ways than one. Pivoting away from the Light and Darkness Saga for the first time in the series’ history,Destiny 2was bound to break some eggs along the way, and there will certainly be a lot of rebuilding for Bungie after The Final Shape’s spectacular finale. The Edge of Fate has attempted to start that train, introducing the planet Kepler, its ties to dark matter and the Nine, as well as expandingDestiny’s cast with everyone’s favorite secret government agent, Lodi.
But the way Bungie has chosen to pursue some of its changes has been puzzling, and there has been a sentiment leading up to release that Edge of Fate is more of a facelift forDestiny 2than a well-rounded expansion. Don’t get it twisted, a lot of the improvements are good signs that Bungie doesn’t want the core features to become stagnant, and trying to fix the game’s armor grind has been a long time coming. But now that the expansion is out, and players are finishing the campaign, Bungie is announcing yet more changes that don’t center on the meat of the content, and it feels like a sign that the studio is picking at threads to avoid the big issues.
Destiny 2’s Endless Bright Dust Farm Is Nice to Have, but Misses the Franchise’s Glaring Problems
In case it flew under the radar,Destiny 2is making Bright Dust infinitely farmable, as well as simplifying the Pathfinder system introduced in The Final Shape. For some players, this is going to be a pretty welcome update. Bright Dust has been a lifeline to players who didn’t want to spend real money on cosmetics, and each time a seasonal event came around, social media feeds would be lit up with countless tips on how to farm the alternative currency. Similarly, Pathfinder was introduced to replace bounties, but its implementation didn’t quite stick the landing, and Bungie has announced it is looking into a more flexible system that rewards players for sticking around more comprehensively.
These Are All Good Moves in Theory, but the Timing Isn’t Quite Right
Announcing yet more systems changes after the launch of the smallestDestiny 2expansion since Warmind could probably have been done at a better time. Ever since it was first shown off to the community, the running theme with Edge of Fate has been a lot of core changes toDestiny, while the expansion itself is lighter on content than usual. Naturally, this has led to a mixed response from fans, culminating inEdge of Fate having the lowest player count for aDestiny 2expansion ever.
Change is necessary forDestinyto move on, but Bungie doesn’t seem to know where to focus right now. Many players will want more Bright Dust, but it isn’t the thing that is going to keep them playing when the core of the content found in new expansions isn’t up to par. There has been a lot of praise forEdge of Fate’s story being a real highlight for the series, but once players are finished with that, they won’t be hanging around for weeks in anticipation of getting some extra cosmetic currency.
WhileThe Desert Perpetual raidwill offer a second wind for the expansion’s content once it’s beaten, it’s hardly likely to be another Forsaken moment. Bungie needs to keep the substantive news rolling instead of holding its cards close to its chest if it wants to keep players invested after this expansion has come and gone.
