Destiny 2 – 10 Things I Wish to See in Lightfall

Destiny 2 – 10 Things I Wish to See in Lightfall

With the arrival of 2023, we are making a wishlist for in-game changes that would help revitalize old content, make the game feel better to play, and most importantly… are actually realistic.

Wishes will span from changes to story content to end-game rewards.

Well, let’s get a move on it!

The List

1. Embrace Movement

Speaking of getting a move on it, number 1 on our list is embracing movement. Over the last year or so movement has been slowly “nerfed” for a lack of a better term. Shooting and sliding isn’t as accurate, exotics that promote movement are nerfed, and being in the air is a disadvantage in fights now.

A big part of what makes Destiny play so well is the integration between smooth shooting and fast paced movement. This needs to be leaned into. Based on Lightfall previews it appears the new Strand subclasses will contain a grapple-like movement ability similar to Pathfinder in Apex Legends.

If executed properly, this will be great fun in both PvE and PvP. Fast movement is fun, there is a reason players enjoy Blast Packing with Raze in Valorant, swinging around with Pathfinder in Apex, and your uncle still talks about Rocket Jumping in Quake before you were born.

Moving fast and shooting is cool, it’s fun, and it rewards the skill it takes to pull off. This game plays best when it is moving fast, making movement worthwhile such as sliding and jumping promotes this fast pace and rewards those who are able to take the risks of making the more difficult play.

I really hope that the grapple ability is not slow and watered down, and most of all that when a player does grapple and shoot while in the air, their shots will actually hit the target… Which takes us into number 2.

2. Fix Airborne Effectiveness

This change on paper seemed like it had potential to be very good for the game. It was a system that let players spec into focusing on combat in air. It also made exotics and legendaries on par with another for in-air play, as beforehand only legendaries can have their in-air accuracy boosted via the Icarus mod.

The problem was that in the end “legendaries and exotics are on-par in the air” resulted in being, “both legendaries and exotics are terrible in the air”. The problem is that in PvE shots just miss for no reason, and in PvP the game is slowed down and risk-reward, skillful plays are just risk, and come down to gambling on RNG that will most likely not be in favor of the player.

The system needs to change as it is stuck in a weird middle ground. The main issue with the system is that there really is no way to utilize the system, and the only thing a player can do to build into the stat is use 1 subclass that gets in-air accuracy some of the time, use particular exotics, and weapons. And even then, a player can’t get perfect in-air accuracy on any weapon they want.

That’s a problem, the system and stat is there, but there is no true way to max it. Give players the option to build into it through armor mods that go in the same slot as stat mods that boost Recovery, Resilience, Discipline, etc. so players have to make a decision to build into the stat at the cost of others.

On top of this, a new masterwork stat can be for airborne effectiveness, once again making a player choose between stability, range, etc. or airborne effectiveness, and lastly through Subclass Fragments which makes it such that Solar Warlocks using Heat Rises are not the only subclass that can build into airborne effectiveness.

To note, it was mentioned this will be revamped come Lightfall, it just comes down to how well they execute the rework especially with Strand subclasses coming into the game which look as if they will play in the air very frequently with the grappling hook.

3. Build upon the Main Story

As someone who has been playing the game since the start of Destiny where the story was summed up by “There is no time to explain why I don’t have time to explain”, this is the first time I have been invested in the main story beat.

There are compelling characters who are being built over time and aren’t just a “bad guy of the week” that are defeated in a single expansion like Skolas or Ghaul.

Most seasons are more or less side stories and filler content, which is fine, but moving forward they should contribute to the overarching story one way or another. The story is good, players are invested, so build on it!

4. Tune Weak Exotics

Have you Warlocks ever had the desire to use Apotheosis Veil? I imagine the answer is no, because it is terrible, and there are no scenarios in the game which it is useful. There are so many old (and some new) exotics that have no reason to be used in the game.

I am by no means asking, to make every exotic overpowered, but most, if not all exotics should have some type of purpose in the game. The change to the Aeon gauntlets are the perfect example. When they first came out they were probably the worst exotics in the game.

Now that these gauntlets can spawn heavy ammo on mini-boss finishers for allies they are a good option for boss damage encounters like Warpriest. They aren’t must use exotics in every facet of the game, but they have a purpose.

Give exotics certain attributes that make them compelling options in certain facets of the game, to rival the exotics that are obvious choices in nearly all situations such as Heart of Inmost Light.

A good amount of exotics were recently tuned, but some of these changes were very minimal or non-impactful… looking at you “80 airborne effectiveness for Whisper of the Worm”.

5. Make Strikes Replayable via Scoring and Leaderboards

Strikes are one of the Core Playlists of the game. New content comes and goes, but Strikes will always be there. The problem is that Strikes have always been there… and they’re old and stale. Strike scoring is a thing that exists in the game, and if it is expanded upon it can be turned into a weekly competition.

If Strike scoring is introduced for enemy kills and completion speed, players can take part in trying to speedrun Strikes to be on weekly leaderboards with certain groups of players earning rewards.

For example, the top 500 groups can earn some type of emblem with their place on it, the top 33% earn some type of weapon with a curated roll, and anyone who participated earns a random drop of a weapon.

This will give a fun weekly competition that brings life to this decade old playlist in much need of a facelift, worthwhile aesthetic rewards for the absolute top players, and worthy rewards for those who participated.

6. Give a reason to play old Raids and Dungeons

Bungie is giving an overhaul to the Deep Stone Crypt weapons by making them craftable and updating their perks. This is a great reason to hop back into this raid, as there are some gems to chase.

This practice should be something that is done routinely to give purpose to some of the fantastic raids this game has, but have no purpose. Imagine a Nation of Beasts from Last Wish with Voltshot or Sacred Provenance from Garden of Salvation with Frenzy.

If that’s a reality and those weapons are craftable I’d certainly run the raid repeatedly to try to get my hands on that. The content itself is very fun and still holds up, it’s just a matter of the rewards not being up to par with other options.

7. Restructure Seasonal Content

The seasonal loop has become stale. Going into a new season you know what to expect; a reward pass with 100 tiers, a vendor you have to unlock nodes at, a matchmade activity, and weekly story missions.

For $10 the seasons do actually offer a lot, it’s just that it has become extremely repetitive as the past few years seasons have been structured the exact same.

It was noted by Joe Blackburn that this feedback has been heard, but the first few seasons of Lightfall have been created, so if the feedback is implemented it will be after a couple seasons after Lightfall.

8. More Secrets and Hidden Missions

Secrets and hidden missions have been some of, if not the best content in Destiny 2. Pressage, Zero Hour, etc. were the perfect blend of great rewards, challenge, fun, and surprise. To avoid any spoilers, the current season introduced a very fun exotic mission, but it was by no means hidden nor a surprise.

The contents of the mission itself were, which is what made completing it very enjoyable. A concern of Bungie was that of data miners ruining secrets and surprises, but data mining doesn’t reveal every detail about a hidden mission.

For instance, Whisper of the Worm was seen to be in the game, but starting the mission off a very specific public event was completely unknown, and a fun and surprising secret the community had to find out. These missions are a hit and do a perfect job at encapsulating the mystique of the Destiny universe.

Secrets are also not limited to exotic missions, but other aspects hidden around playable areas such the Wishender eggs from Forsaken hidden throughout the Dreaming City or the Calus Bobbleheads spread throughout the Leviathan. Secrets such as those give playable areas more life and purpose to explore their nooks and crannies.

9. Crucible Maps and PvP Reworks

Since the end of Season of the Worthy in June of 2020 there have been 2 PvP maps released. Both of which have mixed reviews as both are massive maps and one is from Destiny 1. The majority of the maps in rotation have been from the game’s launch and its first expansion, Curse of Osiris.

More maps need to be added, and curated to particular game modes. Speaking of particular game modes, more gameplay altering modes would add much flavor to the mode.

As the originators of Halo, Bungie should know the fun and allure of alternative game modes that are lightheartedly competitive due to the mechanics of the game.

Oddball or Gravity hammers only in Halo is a prime example of this. Team Scorched is a start at this, but there can definitely be additional modes that lean more into the fun aspects of Destiny such as Team Snipers, Sticky Grenades Only, or Swords only with increased movement speed.

Competitive did get a rework which was a step in the right direction, but still has some issues with it. Most notably the lack of rewards, as there aren’t even cosmetic rewards.

People love to flaunt 1st day raid completion, solo flawless dungeon, and other accomplishment based emblems. Give them something to do that for reaching a rank they are proud of!

The other main issue is with matchmaking as it is still skill based, and not rank based, which leaves the issue of players of varying skill being in the same rank due to having to compete against what the game perceives your skill as rather than players of the rank you are in which makes matchmaking consistent for all.

10. Use Power Capping for Difficulty to Rid of the Pinnacle and Artifact Grind

Let me explain this one in further detail. The vast majority of activity entry is based upon being of a certain power level. For example, GM Nightfalls require you to be 15 power levels over the pinnacle cap, so if the max of that season is 1570, you have to be at 1585 to even participate.

Making it such that you have to get to max pinnacle level and grind out 15 artifact levels to even participate. Power capping is done in the new Heist Battleground activity and lowers your light level to a certain amount such that you are 5 levels under the activity no matter what your level is at.

This way the power scaling is always consistent, making the activity the desired difficulty, and doesn’t keep people out of an activity because they didn’t grind artifact levels the entire season. This form of difficulty should be applied to all end game activities such as master raids, grandmaster nightfalls, master activities, and whatever else is deemed worthy of power scaling.

This will also open up the ability to alter the pinnacle grind which is more or less dependent on forcing you to play old activities in hopes you get a drop in the exact slot you need.

The pinnacle grind is just another monotonous portion of seasons as each new season opens up another 10 pinnacle power levels that need to be grinded for on top of more artifact levels to get into activities you were able to play the season before.

Power capping solves this issue by giving players the opportunity to play the activities they want with proper difficulty, rather than continuously grinding old activities they may not want to in hopes of getting good RNG to maybe be able to play the activity they actually want to.

Closing

With Lightfall there will be a lot of changes to the game hopefully for the better. As many quality of life updates can really improve the longevity, player retention, replayability, and overall fun of the game once the new shine of an expansion begins to wear off.

As mentioned in some of the list, Lightfall and the following season or two are more or less completed, so any future feedback and changes will take time to become fully implemented such as season structure reworks.

Thanks for reading! Let us know in the comments if you have any questions and check out our other Destiny 2 guides here.