For those returning to Destiny 2 this week for Beyond Light, legacy players are coming to a harsh reality with this new sandbox. For all of the new and promising story content and lore coming in Beyond Light, one particular sore spot is Bungie's implementation of "sunsetting." Casual fans may not know that their legacy loot has officially become obsolete, which is especially noticeable now in Season 12. Before it wasn't a huge deal, but with the current seasonal power cap at around 1260, much of the legacy gear in the game cannot ascend higher than 1060. That equates to over 100 different pieces of weapons and armor that are largely unusable in the new content and upcoming seasons.
That's a huge blow to veteran players, who've been playing Destiny 2 since the very beginning. Obviously, the idea is to reinvigorate the game with new loot throughout the coming year of content, but to many players, that's not enough. This is the unfortunate reality of sunsetting weapons/armor in Destiny 2's new sandbox, as a lot of players' favorite legendary gear is becoming irrelevant and players will, in many cases, need to start fresh. To some, this was an inevitable change and was the only way to help shift the game's meta significantly, but to others, this was not an acceptable outcome, and that there were alternative plans that could've been better implemented.
The Unfortunate Reality of Destiny 2's Loot Pool
Bungie first announced its plan to help reinvigorate Destiny 2's loot and meta back at the beginning of 2020, and well, fans weren't thrilled. Obviously, plans were elaborated a few months later, and at least a majority of players understood what "sunsetting" would mean for their loadouts and guardians. However, there is a very large and justifiably vocal group of Destiny 2 fans who believe Bungie's plan was unacceptable, or potentially too simple of a solution.
Basically, having a constantly rotating pool of loot that's always voiding the relevance of legendary (and specifically pinnacle) weapons and armor basically makes every weapon a ticking time bomb. That sucks, especially if players spent a long time grinding a quest to get those weapons in the first place. The unfortunate reality is sunsetting really is the only game-wide option for shifting the meta. That being said, while sunsetting is taking away quite a few of players' favorite guns, it is also invalidating a mountain of other weapons that players no longer use as well.
From a logistical perspective, Destiny 2's method of sunsetting makes a lot of sense. Trying to manage and balance hundreds of different weapons and armor throughout over three years of Destiny 2 content would be an impossible task. From a developer's standpoint, it's much easier to cycle out guns (many of which are largely unused in current meta, to be fair) and make them effectively unusable, rather than attempting to balance them alongside new weapons. That's not to say old legacy weapons can't be reintroduced in the future with new perk rolls and a higher power cap, as that's supposedly the beauty of the Destiny Content Vault.
The Biggest Reasons Why Sunsetting is Upsetting Destiny 2 Fans
Even if it's more convenient for further developing the game, the truth is that sunsetting applies to a lot of loot in the game, even weapons that were introduced last year in Shadowkeep. With weapons consistently having permanent power caps, Destiny 2 players are going to need to grind for weapons/armor way more often than they're used to. For example, say a top-tier pinnacle weapon comes out in Season 12 or Season 13 that's going to dominate the PvP meta. Theoretically, because it's an insanely powerful gun, players need to grind at least a couple of weeks just to acquire it, not even counting the time and resources to Masterwork it.
That weapon, under the current sunsetting trajectory, is going to be unviable once Destiny 2: The Witch Queen releases in 2021. That's the crux of the issue with sunsetting for many Destiny 2 players: having a favorite legendary or pinnacle weapon is going to be impossible. In next season alone, any loot from Season of the Worthy will be sunset. The problem with sunsetting is especially hammered home by the fact that Beyond Light's total loot pool isn't bringing nearly as many weapons/armor compared to Forsaken. Granted that's part of the seasonal release schedule, but it makes viable loot especially thin in Beyond Light's first season.
Perhaps Over-Managing Destiny 2's Loot Pool
Perhaps the problem won't be nearly as prominent after Season of the Hunt, but that's already asking a lot from players who feel there's not enough reasons to grind in Beyond Light's inaugural season. Even if the game receives a ton of loot in Season 13, what good does that do if the power cap invalidates them in a year? That's why so many Destiny 2 fans are upset, they'll need to be shape-shifting their loadouts much more consistently compared to any prior season in the game.
Of course, the endgame for sunsetting is presumably to remove extraneous loot from the game. The resulting benefits would mean reducing the file size of the game drastically, as Beyond Light has already demonstrated with all of the content leaving Destiny 2. Despite this, sunsetting as it's currently being implemented may be stretching too far into Destiny 2's loot pool.
Destiny 2: Beyond Light is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
