Some recent rebalances inDestiny 2have once again brought up the topic of how PvP and PvE rub against each other when it comes to trying to balance the game’s weapons, abilities, and more. However, while many of these fans are determined that their own opinion on the matter is correct, there are plenty of players on either side of this argument on balancingDestiny’s modsand abilities separately between PvP and PvE.
There’s evidence for both keeping the balance in a way where PvP and PvE inDestiny 2are married together, and separating the balance to give two unique experiences for each game mode. As nice as it would be to simply make weapons and abilities strong here and weak here, there is a debilitating amount of nuance to these rebalances that could cause major problems if they were divided by activity.
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The Argument From Vanilla Destiny to Beyond Light
While the arguments for separating PvP from PvE continue to appear as recently as the current rebalances ofDestiny 2’s Stasis subclasses, this is an issue that Bungie has faced since the first game launched. This would especially compound whenever the Iron Banner event would appear, making player levels have more of an effect on attack power and damage resistance. The result is a tear between theDestinycommunity about how to best keep gameplay relevant between both game modes, without either one being damaged.
This only got worse asDestiny 2launched, with some players becoming frustrated by the tweaks made to make PvP more competitive and PvE more difficult as early as the beta. Similarly to how the balance of the first game changed as more Crucible modes andRaids were added toDestiny, the sequel has also evolved in a lot of ways not only from beta to release, but with each new season. However, while much of the rebalancing has been beneficial, some changes meant to fix exploits in PvP have caused major problems for the opposing end of the game.
Why Players Want PvP to be Separated From PvE
When it comes to how Bungie often chooses to alterDestiny’s sandbox in order to fix exploits or keep the PvP meta from narrowing down to either one or just a handful of options, the effects are usually reflected in content against AI combatants. The most recent example of this being the recent Stasis nerfs that evendevelopers at Bungie have acknowledgedas being on the company’s radar. In the case of the Stasis nerf, some fans have been especially vocal about the Titan Behemoth and how mobility has been reduced has eliminated the utility of the subclass in PvE content.
This has been a problem withDestiny 2’s Stasis nerfssinceBeyond Lightstarted, but the issue isn’t limited to the new abilities that arrived in this most recent year of the series. Looking back at the complaints fromDestiny 2’s beta and launch, there were the issues of the sticky grenades and shotguns that caused a huge change in the first year of the game from its predecessor. The complaint comes from abilities like fusion grenades being weakened to not be able to kill players who are shielded by either supers or other buffs, as well as shotguns being moved from being a special weapon to heavy.
In all of these cases, the result in PvP was mostly positive, but the effect on PvE madeDestiny 2players feel weakerand caused many of the strongest enemies to become even worse bullet sponges. From the launch complaints, the nerf on sticky grenades like fusion meant they couldn’t kill standard enemies when attached to their heads, and players had little choice in secondary when backed into a corner without a shotgun or fusion rifle. Much of this has since been changed, but many of these rebalances have made players who preferred PvE content over PvP feel like an afterthought as oversight never seemed to catch how Crucible changes affected Strikes and Raids.
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The Case For Keeping the Balance Connected
On the surface, it might seem like there are less players on the side of keeping the sandbox between PvP and PvE connected. However, while these fans might be less vocal about creating posts in the Bungie forum or on Reddit, they often appear in droves to the comments sections of these topics to argue for the other side. Considering that this is already the status quo ofDestiny 2’s gameplay, it makes sense that these players aren’t as incentivized to bring their opinions to attention.
The most common argument on this side is that separating the sandbox would be more hurtful than it would be helpful to both PvP and PvE in the end. Essentially, if anerf effectsDestiny 2in only one of these areas, then making the transition between the two would be drastically altered. Things like the mobility of the Titan Behemoth working differently would make strategizing on the fly difficult, as players would have to readjust to the different game modes every time they transitioned from one to the other.
While it’s true that PvE and PvP already have different metas, with different guns andstrategies prevailing forDestiny 2’s different activities, the core sandbox is where this argument lies. If the aerial mobility is altered for one of these, then it has to be altered for both, otherwise the muscle memory built up from one activity to the next would conflict. Bungie is always looking to create an environment where players can jump from Strikes to the Crucible to Raiding without ever feeling like they’re playing a different game between each mode, which is only possible by tying the sandboxes together.
Bungie’s Next Move For Destiny’s Sandbox
There is unfortunately no winner-take-all answer here where one side as absolutely right over the other, since both have enough valid points to not be wrong. However, the fact that these arguments exist on both sides does mean that there is something inherently flawed in the sandbox as it attempts to merge PvP elements with PvE across multiple activities. A good place to start looking for making adjustments across both sandboxes could come fromDestiny 2’s PvPvE activity Gambit, but there’s no guarantee that such a limited view will be able to give players enough data to go off of.
All of that being said, Bungie has been consistently working to ensure thatDestiny 2is balancedin a way where there isn’t a single build or weapon that acts as an obvious choice for either PvP or PvE content. It’s a delicate balance that the developer has to strike, and while the mark is missed in ways that sometimes frustrates players, changes usual come quickly to try to readjust when needed. So, in some cases, it might be nice for players to feel like their guardians are powerful again by adjusting weapon and ability damage outside of PvP especially, but keeping the core gameplay connected might still be the best way to continue.
Destiny 2is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
