Bungie rolls back controversial plan to time-gate Into the Light loot [Updated]

GamesFPSDestiny 2Bungie rolls back controversial plan to time-gate Into the Light loot [Updated]When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Bungie)

Destiny 2: Into the Light art - three Guardians fighting a horde of enemies

Update:Bungie has put out athread on X, responding to community criticism of its plans to slowly roll out the second batch of reprised ‘Brave’ weapons coming with the Into the Light update. You will now be able to collect the entire set as of April 30, giving players more than a full month to scoop the limited edition versions of whatever god roll perk combos they’re chasing. The thread goes on to emphasise that the new Onslaught mode, from which these guns will drop, is going to have guardians swimming in loot. The news appears to have mollified players, which means we can reset the ‘days since last Destiny 2 crisis’ clock. Honestly, the hands have almost worn out at this point.

Original story:We’re less than two weeks away from Destiny 2’s Into the Light update, and, for the most part, it looks like an enjoyable diversion—a fine way to keep Guardians busy as they wait for The Final Shape to release on June 4. The new,much requested horde modeshould promote some build-crafting in the final months of this extended season. And the returning ‘Brave’ weapons are, on the whole, looking good—a selection of returning favourites, with refreshed perk pools set to create somemeta-defining combinations.

Yes. the mad lads have put Recombination on The Mountaintop. They’ve given Hammerhead the ability to run Rampage and Killing Tally at the same time. They’ve even put Envious Assassin and Bait and Switch on meme grenade launcher Edge Transit, meaning players won’t have to suffer through Trials of Osiris in order to grind out the current DPS meta king Cataphract. Sure, there’s some weirdness in there—I’m not sure why they’re reissuing Hung Jury SR4again, despite its last reissued version still being available for focusing with Zavala—but on the whole this should be an easy dub for a Bungie team indesperate need of one.

“Half of these will be available starting April 9, including The Recluse, Hung Jury SR4, Succession, Edge Transit, Elsie’s Rifle and Falling Guillotine. The remainder will unlock one at a time each week through the week of May 21.”

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(Image credit: Reddit)

A reddit thread showing many users complaining about timegated weapons.

Whatever the pros and cons, for the community timegating is totemic of a growing distrust in Bungie’s motives—the idea that the studio values player engagement metrics and weekly active users over what’s good for the game. Whatever the actual reasons behind this decision, more important is the perception. And the perception here is that Bungie is making another desperate play to monopolise its players' time. It doesn’t help that Bungie clearly knew that this would be a source of consternation. The weapon timegating wasn’t mentioned in the almost hour-long stream discussing Into the Light’s loot, and it was tucked away at the bottom of the post announcing the perks.

It’s worth noting that Into the Light isn’t going away. The Onslaught mode and its weapons will still be available when The Final Shape launches in June. But each weapon has a limited edition variant with a special ornament, andthoseare only available before the expansion arrives. That means, when the final weapon is released on May 21, players will have just two weeks to farm for its limited edition version. God help us if it’s The Mountaintop or Midnight Coup.

This release cadence also lessens the impact of Into the Light’s launch on April 9, because the first six weapons aren’t exactly a slam dunk in terms of desirability. The Recluse is a monster, sure, but much of what it does is already replicated on other Void SMGs currently in the game. Edge Transit is definitely going to be a big deal—especially as more people realise just how good grenade launchers are in the current sandbox.

The others, though? Succession is a repackaged raid weapon that’s already available for crafting. Hung Jury, as I said above, only left the Nightfall rotation back in Season of the Witch, and is still available for focusing—even if this new variant does have some pretty nice perks. Elsie’s Rifle is going to struggle to find a niche in the meta as a high-impact frame pulse. Falling Guillotine has a similar problem—it was the best legendary sword for years, which is precisely why Bungie nerfed the ammo reserves of vortex frames to the point where they don’t have a strong place in the sandbox.

(Image credit: Bungie)

Into the Light’s weapons

If we’d had the full 12 weapons available at launch, there’d be plenty to chase around the less exciting rereleases. If Bungie really wanted to avoid overwhelming players, releasing them in two batches, six at a time, would have at least lessened the blow. Even that feels unnecessary. The last time we had a non-seasonal release was the 30th Anniversary update—a paid DLC pack designed to keep players busy after The Witch Queen was delayed. Between its dungeon and the Dares of Eternity activity, there was enough loot to chase that, even without timegates, plenty of players happily stuck around.

Now the mood music feels very different. In 2022, I argued that the seasonal burnout players were experiencing wasonly going to get worse—in part because Lightfallwasn’tdelayed. It didn’t help that Lightfall itself was a mess, but since then we’ve had a strong run of seasons. Deep, Witch and Wish have all had some fun experimental flourishes that made them stand out. And yet community sentiment feels as low as it’s ever been.

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