Destiny 2has been in a weird spot ever since the launch of the Lightfall expansion because of the discourse surrounding difficulty, the Root of Nightmares Raid, and the way the campaign and its story were handled. While the recent release of theMaster version ofDestiny 2’s Root of Nightmaresdidn’t appease those who were looking for an extra challenge as much as past Raids did, the rest of the game was strangely made much more difficult with Lightfall, including the Neomuna patrol zone. This left many players feeling like enemies had turned to bullet sponges come Lightfall, which didn’t pair very well with build diversity and buildcrafting in general.
However, Bungie’s latest TWAB post included some notes about changes that were made to the game with the most recent update. The list is not as extensive and all-encompassing as some players might expect, however, as the main changes difficulty-wise are a 10% nerf to the health of non-boss units in Legend and Master activities as well as a 33% nerf to the health scalar for fireteams inside Legendary Avalon. With no major tweaks being made toDestiny 2’s enemies in the Neomuna patrol zone, which have been proven to have more health than units inside Master Raids, and with no fixes to the solo experience, this update is a slap in the face for those who play on their own.
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Why Destiny 2’s Changes to Difficulty Don’t Help Solo Players
One of the growing pain points in the game regards farming Exotics, which was much easier prior to Lightfall.Destiny 2’s Lost Sectors remain the best and most consistent source of Exotic armor pieces even though they underwent significant changes with the expansion, making the Legend and Master versions much harder to complete. Considering that Lost Sectors only award Exotic armor pieces randomly and when run solo, a 10% nerf to the enemies' HP bar might seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things given the extra difficulty of the activity.
Considering that the only other method of getting Exotic armor pieces in the game isDestiny 2’s Vex Incursion Zone public event, which is both incredibly rare even after the recent buffs and also quite difficult for those who are not way above the Power Level cap, solo players are in a rough spot. Furthermore, grappling through Neomuna may be fun, but the patrol zone is not friendly toward casual and solo players due to how much damage enemies deal and how little they seem to take.
As such, Bungie should have prioritized changes that make the experience more bearable for everyone, but this update does seem to favor fireteams, specifically. Many new, casual, and soloDestiny 2players don’t even engage in Legend or Master content a lot, especially in the case of the latter, meaning that the overall experience is not being improved a lot for them even with a 10% HP nerf. Much like it happened for Legend Operation: Seraph’s Shield in Season 19,Destiny 2’s Avalon Exotic missionis not one a lot of players will engage with on Legend difficulty.
Making Neomuna a more accessible patrol zone and making Lost Sectors more accessible to those who are not aboveDestiny 2’s Lightfall Power Level capwould have been a better change that’s more in tune with what the community wanted. This is especially strange when one considers the emphasis that Bungie put on buildcrafting, which still requires Exotics to work as a concept, considering they are the quintessential build-defining items. Likewise, with Lightfall’s focus on Strand and Neomuna, filling the latter with enemies that require two magazines to be killed doesn’t seem like a tailor-made experience for solo players.
Destiny 2is currently available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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