Destiny 2 released a new exotic weapon this week, a sidearm called Devil’s Ruin that has an alternate fire mode that allows it shoot as a high-powered laser. But after the quest went live and was quickly completed, many players complained about the quest sharing their disappointment. There are many factors in regard to the current state of Destiny 2 that undoubtedly led to many players feeling this way. And this quest in particular brings to light the push-and-pull nature of making a live service game like Destiny 2.
As mentioned, the quest for Devil’s Ruin was brief. Players signed into the game on the weekly reset to get a message right on the first screen saying that the quest was available and to head to this season’s Sundial activity to start. Players did just that, finding that completing one run of the Sundial made the exotic weapon frame for Devil’s Ruin available to pick up from the rewards panel at the end of the Sundial. After visiting Saint-14 in the Tower, a mission on the Twilight Gap PvP opened up. Players needed to search the empty map and find ten of Shaxx’s fallen robots. And then Devil’s Ruin dropped and the quest was over, taking less less than 30 minutes.
Before getting into players who were disappointed and why, some players surely enjoyed the brevity of the quest. It wasn’t a grind whatsoever. Especially for an exotic that is more fun and interesting than it is “meta,” or ultra-powerful and widely-used, some didn’t mind skipping a big grind for the weapon. Being able to jump into the game and spend a little bit of time getting a weapon that, for many, will be played with for a bit and then vaulted, was welcomed. Plus, the quest’s mission had some interesting and humorous dialogue between Saint-14, Osiris, and Shaxx about the Battle of Twilight Gap, providing some additional lore, backstory, and character moments (including the proper way to pronounce Gjallarhorn, the exotic rocket launcher from Destiny 1). It wasn’t a groundbreaking quest, but surely some did not need it to be.
But there were many who were hoping for much more out of this quest. First off, the Devil’s Ruin quest appeared on the content calendar for Season of Dawn, which (whether fairly or not) raised the expectations of players that this was going to be a significant moment and piece of content for the season. With Destiny 2’s new Year 3 seasonal model drip-feeding content over the course of three months, a noted checkpoint like this that appears on the roadmap was taken by players to signify something that would take much longer than this quest did.
An alternative could have been a quest that was a big grind and a lot of busywork. This quest could have been something like “Get 300 sidearm kills in Gambit, Get 25 sidearm kills in Crucible, Play 3 strikes” and so on, but a grind without more of a purpose like that could have just as easily frustrated a lot of players as the quest that players got.
Some exotic quests of the past have received their own missions and bosses, such as the missions for Whisper of the Worm and Outbreak Perfected. Bungie has said that those missions took months to build, and with Bungie now self-publishing Destiny 2 without the additional development help of some Activision studios, it is looking like those kinds of missions could be much more rare. While none of this is probably a surprise to fans who know the backstory behind the development of Destiny 2, the disappointment over the brevity of this quest is still understandable.
This may very well be a sign of where Destiny 2 is headed for Year 3. Last season and this season, players received one exotic on the season pass (right off the bat for the premium path or at level 35 on the free path). Last season provided the Leviathan’s Breath exotic that was more along the lines of that more grindy experiences mentioned above. Later this month, another exotic quest for a weapon called Bastion will go live and it is very much in this vein. That may very well be what players can continue to expect in the next few seasons of this year.
The bottom line may be that it is impossible to make everyone happy. And the truth is that not every piece of Destiny 2 content is going to satisfy every player and meet every expectation. By no means does that mean feedback and discourse should stop among fans and Bungie, but the Devil’s Ruin quest was an interesting event as something that served to define the current state of Destiny 2 as it continues to evolve in this third year.
Destiny 2: Shadowkeep is available now for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.