The Shadowkeep expansion for Destiny 2 has sparked a resurgence of interest in Bungie's shared world "shlooter." With the recent split from publisher Activision Blizzard, Bungie is now in full control of their franchise. This is a Bungie game that's uninhibited from any outside influence (aside from the feedback from their community).
Destiny 2: Shadowkeep is taking steps in the right direction with changes like Armor 2.0 and weapon rebalancing, but it's not without its fair share of missteps. Bungie has been pretty generous when it comes to sandbox balance, but those changes aren't without criticism. After all, getting things wrong is the first step to making things right.
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10 Armor 2.0 (Best)
Of all the changes, Armor 2.0 is an addition that makes the game feel more like an MMO. Armor mods are interchangeable, allowing players a more flexible way to synergize armor and weapons. The caveat being that armor and their mods can roll as Arc, Solar, or Void - so your armor mod has to have the same element as your armor piece, and you have to have enough upgrade slots in your armor.
In addition to Armor mods, Destiny 2: Shadowkeep brings back armor stat properties from the first Destiny. Discipline, Intellect, and Strength all make a return alongside pre-existing armor stat properties like Mobility, Resilience (shield health), and Regeneration (shield generation).
Armor 2.0 is a fantastic rework that adds a nice touch of customization for anyone's playstyle in Destiny 2: Shadowkeep.
9 One-Eyed Mask (Worst)
The One-Eyed Mask is a Titan Exotic helmet that has the intrinsic perk called "Vengeance." Vengeance marks a single opposing player that damages the wearer, allowing them to see them through walls. If the Titan succeeds in eliminating the target, then they are then granted an overshield and a damage buff.
It's not so much an issue that One-Eyed Mask is overpowered, because it's exhilarating to fulfill that power fantasy of being a Titan. But when the One-Eyed Mask snowballs every encounter in the Crucible, that's when it becomes a problem. The Vengeance perk enables too much, scaling it back a bit could bring balance in line. The helmet has been around since the Forsaken expansion, but it's remained untouched.
8 'Champion' Enemy Types (Best)
Champions are similar to the Wanted enemies from the Forsaken expansion with additional passives. Knowing what each one does and how to stop them is vital if you're trying to reach the 100,000 Nightfall score.
Unstoppable Champions have enormous health pools, they don't stagger from traditional weaponry. Stop them with the Unstoppable Hand Cannon mod. Taking down Overload Champions requires the Overload Rounds mod, which is available to unlock from the artifact in your inventory. Barrier Champions will throw up a barrier around quarter health and regenerate like an annoying Hobgoblin unless the barrier is broken. Anti-Barrier Rounds will make quick work of these Champions.
The inclusion of Champions forces players to think about their loadout before getting their equipment locked by the Nightfall modifier. It's a nice design choice that prioritizes teamwork to ensure all bases are covered.
7 Increase the Cap of Quests and Bounties (Worst)
There's absolutely no reason why Quests and Bounties should share the same 63 slots. This means that if you've been hoarding Exotic and Pinnacle quests, there's only so much room for bounties. With the addition of Vex Offensive, Gambit Prime, and Black Armory bounties, this could mean an extra trip to the tower in-between Gambit Prime games to re-up from the Drifter.
Why aren't we allowed to pick up bounties from orbit? If Tess Everis is letting us decrypt Eververse engrams from orbit, then why can't we do the same with bounties? It's only a minor gripe in the grand scheme of things, but it would be a nice quality of life change.
6 Hand Cannon Range Nerf Makes Auto and Scout Rifles Viable (Best)
The recent nerf to Hand Cannons regarding their effective range fall-off has opened up the weapon meta for other archetypes. Auto Rifles are now a viable option when it comes to close/mid-range encounters, and the lack of range for Hand Cannons also opens up the use of Scout Rifles for long-range encounters. Hand Cannons now fall somewhere in the middle.
Opening up the meta by nerfing the most (arguably) dominant weapon archetype allows for a more diverse weapon meta. Diversifying the meta leads to more flexibility for different situations both in PvE and PvP. More flexibility means that your items won't rot in your vault for much longer.
5 Damage Buff Changes Hurt (Some of) the Pinnacle Weapons (Worst)
Outlaw with Rampage/Kill Clip used to be something of a "god-roll" before the release of Shadowkeep. The combination of increased reload speed on a precision kill with an accompanying damage buff was too good not to chase after. This meant that any other combination of perk rolls were often left dismantled. Rampage, Kill Clip, and other damage perk multipliers were scaled back. The 'Breakneck' Auto Rifle doesn't tear through ads like it used to.
'The Recluse' SMG is another story.
4 'Vex Offensive' is A Decent Start (Best)
The 'Vex Offensive' is a 6-player activity introduced in Destiny 2: Shadowkeep. The activity revolves around wiping out hordes of Vex enemies, destroying 'Oracles', and killing the boss at the end. It's a nice way to farm for armor, weapons, and gunsmith parts, as each activity nets around 12 pieces of gear and tokens to give Ikora. It's also one of the few ways to get Pinnacle Tiered gear.
Vex Offensive is fun, but once you've played one round of the mode, you've played every round of the Vex Offensive. Perhaps having different bosses at the end would keep it from being stale. We'll see more when the Final Assault launches on November 19.
3 Why Does Valor Rank Up Take So Much Screen Real Estate? (Worst)
Seriously - it's unskippable and the sequence takes quite a bit of time to go away. At least the Season Pass rank up screen is easier to look through. While ranking up in Valor is a nice shot at some decent Crucible gear, the notification for it is an eye-sore.
Perhaps Bungie can shove the notification at the bottom. Instead of switching around armor and weapon mods in between Crucible matches, the game has to remind us what Valor Rank we currently are. Imagine if any time the enemy team activates their Super ability, a notification the size of the Valor rank up screen shows up instead.
2 'Garden of Salvation' is More 'Vault of Grass' (Best)
It wouldn't be a Destiny 2 expansion without the addition of another raid encounter. The 'Garden of Salvation' raid is another fine example of game design that focuses on teamwork and communication. Mechanics are purposefully vague in order to facilitate discussion in the Fireteam, and many of the mechanics have very small margins of error - so execution is key.
It also hearkens back to the first raid in the first Destiny game, considering they're both centered around the Vex. But make no mistake, the encounters in Garden of Salvation are by no means similar to the 'Vault of Glass' raid in any way. It's fine if you've never done a raid, there's plenty of groups looking for and are willing to sherpa for newer Guardians on any Destiny LFG website. The end-game is the friend-game.
1 What's With the Shadowkeep Ending? (Worst)
Spoilers ahead if you're not familiar with Destiny lore. In the final mission of the Shadowkeep campaign, you breach the mysterious pyramid, and you're put into a boss gauntlet of past enemies. After downing Crota, your Guardian is then transported to the 'Black Garden,' the birthplace of the Vex species. The person that's speaking to you - is you.
Your doppelgänger tells you that, "We are not your friend. We are not your enemy. We are your salvation."
And then the screen fades to black.
It's assumed that the doppelgänger is the 'Darkness' personified, and we're left to question the morality of our actions. Of course, there will be more exposition and context as the season goes on, but it can't help feeling abrupt - especially for players new to the franchise. Perhaps they didn't have time to explain why they don't have time to explain.