Destiny 2 Continues to Pose Significant Challenges for New Players

With nearly a decade of dominance in the looter-shooter genre, Destiny 2 stands out with its intricate and rewarding build-crafting system. The game offers players an abundance of choices to tailor their Guardians for particular tasks, allowing them to delve into complex setups like creating armor with triple 100 stats. Unfortunately, this wealth of customization seems to leave new players somewhat in the dust, possibly hindering the game’s ability to make them stick around.

Since sunsetting the original campaign, Destiny 2 has faced hurdles in smoothly bringing newcomers aboard. These new players, known as New Lights, often find themselves overwhelmed by the sheer size of the game and become unsure of what steps to take next. With the Red War narrative now out of play, there’s one essential gameplay aspect that remains out of their reach, which might be more of a burden than an aid.

Weapon and armor mods are just as crucial as subclasses when it comes to building out a character in Destiny 2. Although newcomers might not immediately grasp the optimal use of mods, they are vital for crafting a character that matches a specific playstyle, and exploring them should be part of the new player experience.

With the introduction of Guardian Ranks through the Lightfall expansion, Bungie aimed to create clearer goals and a better onboarding route for all players. However, unlocking mods is tied to progressing through various Guardian Ranks: rank five for armor mods, rank six for weapon and armor energy, alongside three additional loadout slots, and rank seven for armor charge mods.

While Guardian Ranks were designed to gently introduce mod concepts, they might miss the mark. Newcomers often express confusion about mods’ functions and application processes, especially when they see experienced Guardians using features beyond their reach. The connection between mods and Guardian Ranks is evident to veterans, but new players, grappling with the game’s myriad of activities and systems for the first time, struggle to navigate the process of crafting a build. They might not even realize that crucial elements of character improvement are locked behind rank progression, which must be tackled in a specific sequence.

Some might argue that granting immediate access to mods might not make much difference for beginners, who might not yet understand intricate armor charge builds like those for Titan. However, the limitations on experimentation with mods could undermine the overall gaming experience. Despite most early Guardian Rank tasks being relatively straightforward to complete, New Lights often lack the knowledge of what to search for.

Destiny 2 finds itself navigating tricky waters. With an abundance of activities and previous content now removed, the game needs to strike a balance to satisfy its existing player base while attracting fresh faces. Locking vital features such as mods behind progression could be detracting from the New Light experience more than it’s aiding it.

There’s potential for some simplicity on the horizon. Bungie plans to revamp armor in the upcoming Frontiers update, focusing more on builds rather than relying on favorable RNG stat rolls. Possibly, mods might also see an overhaul, which could address the current issues the game faces in capturing and holding the interest of new players.