Destiny 2's Season of the Haunted introduced many changes to the already complex sandbox that Bungie carefully tailored over the course of five years, with the new 3.0 elemental subclasses being one of the focal points of the patch. Another major change came in the form of the new in-air accuracy system for Destiny 2, which came with an exclusive stat that determines how precise one's shots can be when shooting while midair. This system was designed with a specific philosophy in mind, but the way the in-air accuracy now works is not something that all players received with enthusiasm.
Another issue with Destiny 2's PvP is that the new Void 3.0 and Solar 3.0 updates ended up shifting the focus from a more balanced mix of gunplay and abilities to a meta where spamming certain abilities is the trend. The changes made to the sandbox and the ammo economy in the Crucible also created a new meta where team-wide invisibility and powerful Exotics like Lord of Wolves are running rampant. Amidst these controversies, Bungie has now announced another big change coming with Season 18.
Starting with Season 18 with Control playlists, Bungie is reintroducing a hugely controversial multiplayer feature in the form of skill-based matchmaking -- SBMM for short. SBMM has been present in Destiny 2 in the past, but it caused issues where the top players were matched with others who were not at their skill level.
SBMM in Destiny 2 is also controversial because it can cause the game to create lobbies where players are not from similar geographical areas, resulting in some matches being more affected by lag than others. This change will start with a loose form of SBMM being added to the main Control playlist for quickplay, with the intention of keeping an eye on things for future adjustments. The goal here is to create a more sustainable matchmaking system that doesn't immediately punish solo players or casual teams when running more competitive Crucible matches, such as Trials of Osiris.
Still, the reception has been mixed thus far, with many players stating how bad a skill-based matchmaking system will be for Destiny 2, and others seeing this as an opportunity to test how things will be going from now on. Bungie also has plans to address team-size-preferred matchmaking in Season 19, but no details were shared.
Destiny 2 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Bungie.net
