Bungie believes that Destiny 2:Lightfall's new Strand subclass and damage type won't be as meta-defining as Stasis was, back when Beyond Light first came out. Specifically, Stasis in Destiny 2 allowed players to substantially impede others in PvP and quickly rose to prominence as the single most oppressive subclass in the game for a good long while, and the developer seems to have learned from its mistakes.
Most players who engaged in PvP during the Beyond Light era will remember that Stasis was one of the most problematic aspects of Destiny 2: Beyond Light, though Bungie has since updated all the other subclasses to match its potency. Now, with Strand on the cusp of release, concerns over the balancing of an entirely new subclass and damage type have been brought up anew.
Destiny 2's official Strand ability showcase came out very recently, highlighting each of the three character classes' specializations and niches. What they all have in common, though, is the Strand's innate focus on mobility and active gameplay. As the game's Design Lead Kevin Yanes and Feature Lead Eric Smith explained in their interview with GamesRadar, Strand is going to be the highest action-per-minute subclass in the game yet, with the ability to seamlessly chain kills and movement features. "Strand does a number of things better than any other subclass," said Smith. "The core gameplay loop of Strand is very dynamic."
Bungie's developers claim that Strand will have a "higher skill ceiling" than, for example, Arc subclasses do, which then necessarily leads to a more complex and engaging combat loop. The introduction of Destiny 2's new Strand grappling hook as a grenade ability replacement makes perfect sense in that case, as players will need to be able to rapidly zip around the battlefield to keep their ability uptime as high as possible. "The interaction matrix is massive here," said Yanes.
Introducing overpowered abilities into the mix isn't that big of a deal in the game's many PvE modes, of course, but PvP could very well end up suffering if Strand launches in an overtuned state, as Stasis did back in late 2020. That being said, Destiny 2: Lightfall is getting many PvP changes, and Bungie is bound to have announced them with Strand in mind, to begin with.
It goes without saying that the vast majority of the Destiny 2 community is hugely excited to give Strand a whirl once Lightfall comes out, and even if the new abilities end up being problematic, Bungie is certainly going to tune them in due time. That being said, some Destiny 2 Hunter players are already disappointed with their designated Strand Exotic helmet, so it's possible that the developers don't have it all figured out just yet.
Destiny 2 is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, and the Lightfall DLC is slated to launch on February 28 across all platforms.
Source: GamesRadar+
