Highlights
- Destiny 2 players have been unhappy with the game for a while, and despite Bungie's attempts to make amends, some decisions regarding gameplay aspects are still causing dissatisfaction.
- Season 22's Artifact mods in Destiny 2 limit players to specific playstyles centered around Strand Tangles and Elemental Orbs, neglecting Stasis for the third season in a row. This lack of variety may affect the meta and buildcrafting options.
- Bungie's exclusion of Stasis from seasonal mods raises concerns about its future inclusion, especially if The Final Shape introduces a new subclass. A more diverse array of mods in Season 23 could benefit Destiny 2's endgame meta.
Some Destiny 2 players have not been happy with the state of the game for quite some time, with the Lightfall era of the game cementing this feeling due to multiple blunders on Bungie's part - which the studio is trying to make amends for at every turn. An example is the recent video that Game Director Joe Blackburn shared on social media, where he follows up the State of the Game post debacle by stating what Bungie is working on for Destiny 2 and what to expect in the near future. However, there are still some decisions that the studio is making about gameplay aspects that are met with dissatisfaction from players, and the recently revealed Season 22 Artifact mods set a new problematic precedent.
Destiny 2's Artifact mods have been a controversial topic for a long time, as the Artifact itself promotes passive play to increase one's Power Level, and then some of its mods can be polarizing due to their powerful effects, at times dominating the seasonal meta. However, one could argue that while seasonal mods provide fun and unique playstyles to delve into, they can also limit buildcrafting if players want to use something else. This is precisely the case for Season 22 in Destiny 2, which is all about Strand and making the new Elemental Orbs with Light subclasses.
Destiny 2's Seasonal Mods Neglecting Stasis is a Bad Precedent to Set
Both Season of Defiance and Season of the Deep heavily focused on Strand and some Light subclasses for their Artifact mods, which made sense given how new Strand was, with it still introducing new Aspects every season until The Final Shape. The problem with Season 22's selection of Artifact mods is that Destiny 2 players are limited to a certain subset of playstyles that mainly revolve around Strand Tangles and Elemental Orbs for the Light subclasses, a new feature that Bungie worked on after the good reception surrounding Tangles.
The issue, in this case, is threefold. The vast majority of the mods are about creating and throwing Tangles and Elemental Orbs, which is more specific than past mod selections that instead worked for specific weapon classes in Destiny 2. More importantly, Stasis was completely left out of the seasonal mods for the third season in a row in the Lightfall era, which is even weirder considering the recent addition of the Wicked Implement Stasis Exotic scout rifle in Destiny 2, which is also being buffed in Season 22.
Third is the fact that for three seasons in a row since Strand was introduced players will have dedicated Strand Artifact mods to play with, which doesn't bode well for variety in the meta or in buildcrafting options. This could also be a precedent ahead of The Final Shape in Destiny 2, which could introduce the third and final Darkness subclass, and then have multiple seasons in a row with dedicated Artifact mods. It doesn't help that Strand has never been without seasonal mods since its introduction, which could make its balance in regular gameplay harder to achieve when it finally does.
The fact that Bungie has left Stasis out of the seasonal loop once more doesn't bode well for its inclusion in future seasons, either, and this is especially true if The Final Shape does add a new subclass to the game. Stasis is now a great buildcrafting tool thanks to all the Stasis weapons that have been introduced since its introduction, and it could potentially be even better with Artifact mods that capitalize on its gameplay loop, with Shards and perks like Headstone already doing that. Overall, Destiny 2's endgame meta could use some shake-ups, and having a more diverse array of mods in Season 23 could help.
Destiny 2 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
