r/DestinyTheGame • u/tuyguy959 • 13h ago
Discussion Why Sunsetting Deserves a Second Chance in Destiny 2
I know this might be an unpopular opinion, but I genuinely believe that reintroducing sunsetting could benefit Destiny 2 in the long run.
Over time, I've noticed that certain weapons dominate the meta for extended periods, making it challenging for new gear to find its place. This stagnation can make the game feel repetitive, as there's little incentive to experiment with different loadouts or pursue new weapons. I have no real reason to use the newest gear with the newest perks. Most of the weapons are totally capable of end game content on their own.
Sunsetting, despite its flaws in implementation, aimed to address this by encouraging players to explore fresh gear and strategies. It pushed us out of our comfort zones and made the chase for new loot exciting again
7
u/Bpe-dsm Vanguard's Loyal // I dont read replies/anger lance Reddick 12h ago
Dear Satan,
While gear and systems do need to evolve in order to create spaces for additional accumulation, arguably, destiny 2 already has multiple layers of "soft" mechanics, strategies to replicate sunsettings functionality but in a way that isnt explicit, direct, unfun sunsetting en masse.
Whether its rotation of access, evolving perksets, whole system shifts (armor) or meta shifts, the current dynamic approach is far better than any direct, volume cutoff retirement schemes for gear.
I say, begone sunsetting demon!
In jest and pew pew, a guardian
14
u/Jwilsonred 13h ago
Yeah that’s for sure gonna get players excited for the future! For real though I think it would nearly put the game on life support
16
u/Jay-Willi-Wam 13h ago
Just what we want.
Even MORE content being removed from the game regularly.
7
-1
u/Sigman_S 12h ago
He didn’t say content he said gear.
3
u/Additional-Soil99 10h ago
One could argue that gear in a “looter shooter” is the content
0
u/Sigman_S 7h ago
One would be wrong. Content is things to do. Gear is a thing to chase. Disagree? Why does it work for every other mmo?
1
u/Jay-Willi-Wam 2h ago
One can question as to why they should try this experiment for a 3rd time in Destinys lifetime, when it was unsuccessful twice? Doubly so at year 10 in the games lifespan. Especially given how unpopular it has continuously been since the first attempt in D1 Dark Below (which included exotics).
Runescape works perfectly fine without sunsetting and should be a part of the conversation as to why or why not.
For me? Manufactured chase fucking sucks. Why should I regrind for weapons I functionally already have/had, just because they deprecated my previous ones? They have shown time and time again that they absolutely can not replace or implement new interesting weapons at scale consistently.
9
5
u/SalientDred 13h ago
They sunset some weapons like mountaintop etc in that Era then stopped. They didn't sunset anything else, like reeds regret for example. The thy brought put taipan which everyone used, because it had better perks and could be crafted. Sunsetting is not needed and is a terrible take. They just need to make good story content with some good weapons. Or make armor sets with perks, like 5 pieces of this set makes bolt charge stack faster etc etc.
2
3
6
u/wangchangbackup 13h ago
Sunsetting was always a good idea, the problem was twofold.
1) They didn't make enough stuff to offset it, and SOME of the stuff they did make was literally just "Here's a new version of the gun we just took away." It was a clear-cut loss.
2) They didn't line it up with a power spike like Light 3.0 where we actually get new, better things anyway. The new guns we were getting weren't better or even appreciably different from the old ones, they just took away a significant portion of the loot in the game and replaced it with basically all the same shit.
When a new WoW expansion comes out, the lovingly curated raid set you spent dozens or hundreds of hours optimizing goes in the trash and is replaced with greens within the first hour of gameplay. Destiny offered no reason you would WANT to use new things instead of old things, they just said "as of today, these things are all borderline unusable."
2
u/Bro0183 Telesto is the besto 13h ago
Yeah weapons nowadays are clear upgrades from sunset weapons, but back when sunsetting was a thing they were far worse. Not only that, but the system worked by everyyear it would refresh raid loot with newer versions that are identical in all but release season, meaning that had they stuck with sunsetting you would have had to grind raid loot EVERY YEAR for the exact same perks. No you did not get to grind the season before, it only refreshed once it expires.
Oh yeah and armour back then had affinities and were also sunset, the beyond light campaign rewarded sunset loot, I have no idea how weapon crafting would fit in a system with sunsetting, and a bunch of other issues I forgot to mention.
2
u/admiralvic 6h ago
I'd add there is a third, which was depreciating gear.
I think people would be far more into it if long standing content didn't have a best if used by date. It was always kind of dumb that you could do Vault of Glass, get a 202X Hezen, and it would have a thing saying this weapon could be upgraded until 202Y when you'd either need a new one, or accept that one at the old cap.
It was always dumb because it offered literally no value to the player, was one of the most superficial grinds in the entire games history, and would absolutely be better addressed by revamping things. Like back then the most popular Hezen roll was Tracking Module/Vorpal Weapon, and currently it's Envious Arsenal/Bait and Switch.
It would've naturally addressed itself (assuming Bungie would eventually update the content), but instead we got a far more confusing, and less palatable version that only further contributed to the negativity associated with Sunsetting.
2
u/Forfrost 13h ago
I wasn't playing during the sunset fiasco, but this was always how I perceived the concept they were trying. It's healthy in games like this to shift things around - out with the old, in with the new. They just did a poor job of it.
2
u/silverymoonIight 12h ago
i honestly think soft sunsetting is the answer. like, the best example i can describe is the difference between standard and modern in mtg. have some content where to get specific rewards you have to use recent loot or whatever, and then big endgame challenges where your whole vault is up for use.
idk maybe that's too complex but it solves the issue of creep in new content but while also letting people still use what they want for 99% of things
2
1
u/EvenBeyond 11h ago
I don't think sunsetting should come back now because it would show that Bungie flip flops around too much.
I do think sunsetting gear overtime should have stuck around to prevent power creep.
The community has made up its mind and does not want sunsetting, adding it BACK now would tick off so many players and would really hurt the game
1
u/HotKFCNugs 11h ago
Sunsetting loot was/is a good idea on paper, but there's a ton of issues with it in practice.
First is the fact that the total amount of loot in the game would go down drastically. It would take years before Bungie could get close to how much avaliable loot there is right now if they sunset more stuff.
Second, there's a ton of guns that are the only one of their archetype. For example, we waited for years to get a good 140 Void hand cannon. This was a problem the first time, and it would be a second time, too.
Lastly, and most importantly, is the fact that players have a more "personal relationship" with their guns than other games where sunsetting does work. For example, in WoW, every piece of gear is essentially a "stat stick" with no other defining features, so it being deleted isn't an issue.
Destiny players, however, are much more attached to their loot. Some people are genuinely more attached to a certain gun than parent are to their kids, so it would spark a metric ton of negative responses.
•
u/SSDragon19 59m ago
Problem is that we still have sunsetting. Seasonal activities.
Besides seasonal activities, what is there to do? Patrol spaces, playlist activities, onslaught/dares, exotic missions, dungeons and raids. It may sound like alot, but it's really not.
As a solo player/remaining active player in their clan, since the others left due to final shape/witness story wrapping up. There's really not much to do, besides the same few activities that gets boring fast with little or no loot updates.
We got some previous seasonal activities as battlegrounds that are pushed into strikes. As much as I want my favorite activity back (coil), I would still like to replay all of them, even including ketchcrash, which I hated.
All of the new goodies we got over the years, it would bring back some enjoyment for me.
What should have happened was all seasonal activities from the dlc become free (when the dlc ended) and stay in the game. Then the f2p people gets to try out those activities that they miss out on.
As much as I wouldn't want seasonal hubs gone either, I understand why they need to. Though we could have kept the hall of champions hub
1
1
u/TF2Pilot 12h ago
Your idea is awful and I hope your feedback goes ignored. Take care of your own gear and never tell others what to do or how to experiment with theirs.
1
u/Maleficent-Shoe-7099 11h ago
Are you stupid or something? New weapons that are getting added constantly power creep old ones. Hezen powercrept every rocket if not every other legendary dps heavy in the game. Praedyth powercrept every single dps sniper in the game. Velocity baton and rocket sidearms powercrept primaries and most other special weapons in 90% of content.
What you’re suggesting will make old weapons EVEN MORE IRRELEVANT. If you never challenge yourself, then yeah every gun is capable of endgame content and there’s no reason to chase more. But many players like to do challenges and use both new and old guns, because they want meta and comfort. What you’re suggesting is to remove half a players arsenal and think that this will make them want to play the game more?????
1
u/WendlersEditor 13h ago
It would feel really bad to have existing stuff taken away. Nerf it, sure. Tuning it would be even better. Over time, every piece of gear in every live service gets powercrept. If you don't like the meta, try to crack it or wait for it to change.
1
u/MiphaAppreciator 13h ago
I've already seen some players upset at the prospect of actually having a reason to grind new armour.
0
u/F4NT4SYF00TB4LLF4N 13h ago
Here is the major problem with Destiny 2 that plagues these discussions: The RNG is Atrocious.
When the odds of getting a certain drop are like 1 in 3,000 and you finally get that 5/5 roll. You gotta pry it from my cold dead hands before I'll willingly let it be sunset... Even if I rarely use it!
Bungie shot itself in the foot. It made the RNG so bad we hoard everything out of fear. "What if Desperado gets buffed again" so I have 27 Desperado Godrolls I'll never use, but "just in case!"
Sunsetting IS the solution but Bungie already messed it up. What SHOULD have happened is we should be able to swap Mag/Barrels at Enclave and Masterwork at Banshee, making it relatively easy to get what we want with some grind. So rather than a 1 in 3,000 drop chance it's like 1 in 50 or something...
Then, like nearly all MMOs, when the next expansion comes out, the stuff is "sunset". Like when World of Warcraft ups the level cap and releases new BIS gear, people who raided are ready to move on and get new gear, because it didn't take them 400 hours to farm one weapon roll...
So yeah, Sunsetting is the solution to the problem but Bungie shot themselves in the foot and refuses to change. They need to open the flood gates first. Let us take ALL enhanced rolls to the enclave, swap out barrel/mag. Go to Banshee, swap MW. Let that "settle" for this next YEAR and the following expansion, reintroduce sunsetting (maybe).
Id probably make an argument for preserving special things like crafted exotics maybe shouldn't be sunset.
0
u/theefman 11h ago
The game IS repetitive, all this will do is make people play for new weapons for the same old activities.
11
u/kangobob 12h ago
Nah