Because of how massive Bungie's space magic shooter is, Destiny 2 players may experience the so-called fear of missing out (FOMO) when delving into new or soon-to-be vaulted content. This is not something Destiny 2 does exclusively, and it is often a technique used to add value the time and effort of those who played during a specific period, while making game inherently more appealing. However, it arguably consolidated over time with things like the Season Passes and the Destiny Content Vault taking away chunks of the game in a semi-permanent way.
As for Season Passes, players found a way to redeem old seasonal items through an old version of the Companion App, and while this system works fine it also poses the question why Bungie doesn't make it official - not unlike Halo Infinite's Battle Passes. This is not the only issue with content being removed, as there are Exotic guns affected by the Destiny Content Vault, leading players to lose their chance to farm for catalysts. These weapons are the Fourth Horseman shotgun, the Whisper of the Worm sniper rifle, and the Outbreak Perfected pulse rifle, all of which rely on the catalyst to become viable in endgame content and generate Orbs of Power.
Destiny 2's Missing Exotic Catalysts, and How Bungie Can Address the Issue
Destiny 2 also became popular thanks to its secrets and puzzles, which reached peaks with missions like Presage, but also with quests like The Whisper and Zero Hour. These were the missions in which players could get Whisper of the Worm and Outbreak Perfect, respectively, and they were vaulted when Beyond Light started, leaving the guns available at the Monument to Lost Light but without their catalysts. Players who had gotten the catalyst from these missions prior to them being vaulted are still able to use it, but new players or those who missed out on the catalysts can no longer acquire them.
This is unfortunate not only because of the utility catalysts add with extra perks, which often turn a mediocre weapon into a very good one, but the issue is also that this prevents players from generating Orbs of Power. The way Charged with Light mods work, Orbs of Power are often incredibly important, and they grant Super energy on their own, plus other side effects if paired with specific mods or Exotic items. This issue extends to other Exotic weapons that have been in Destiny 2 for a long time, and yet they still lack a catalyst that makes them viable in all activities.
One such example is Thorn, a popular hand cannon that has seen a lot of use in both PvE and PvP since its release, but it still lacks a catalyst. As such, having over twenty Exotic guns without a catalyst is only more aggravating if some are still in the game but are no longer obtainable. Destiny 2's Season of the Lost would have been a great time to let Outbreak Perfected get its catalyst back because of the Unstoppable Pulse Rifle mod, but this didn't happen and it's likely to be slated for after The Witch Queen expansion.
In fact, Bungie did say that vaulted Destiny 2 Exotic catalysts would return, but the company never gave an exact timeframe. Thus, what Bungie could do is to make each and every Exotic gun generate Orbs of Power independent from its catalyst, making the extra perk a nice addition, but not mandatory for harder activities.
Destiny 2's Immense World Loot Pool, and How to Dilute it
Another lingering issue with Destiny 2 is how its loot system works, with a bunch of weapons and armor pieces dropping from specific activities like seasonal content and Raids, but with most of the pool available as world drops. Bungie calls this the "world loot pool," which includes a plethora of weapons and armor that cannot be farmed with an efficient targeted system, making it inconsistent at best. Players can potentially wait for months or even a year before they get a specific weapon or piece of armor from the world loot pool, and that's not factoring in all the possible perk and stat combinations, which might not be ideal.
There have been many solutions proposed by players to tackle this issue, and Bungie proved to be listening when it added a Legendary loot pool for direct purchase in Xur's inventory, rotating items every week. This doesn't provide a way to target-farm those same items however, and players have still to decide whether to pick them as they are or skip them, hoping for better rolls at a later refresh. This solution is not ideal, but it does make sense in the long term as there will be many refreshes for Xur every Season.
Another solution could be allowing players to farm for specific gear at lore-related sources, like Fallen weapons from enemy Fallen, or vaulted Cabal Exotics from enemy Cabal. This likely means the Monument to Lost Light would go away, but it would introduce ways to get what players want without having to rely on RNG. Ultimately, while vaulting might have been necessary in terms of file size, the game has suffered from this, and it's time for Bungie to change things again.
Destiny 2 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.