Next to raids Nightfall strikes are one of the hardest PvE activities in Destiny, requiring players to set up a fireteam without matchmaking to take on the high-level strike with rotating difficulty modifiers. Nightfalls will return in Destiny 2, and they, like always, will give out endgame level loot. And to up the ante on Nightfalls, Destiny 2 will lock loadouts within the Nightfall.

Players will be required to decide what weapons and subclass they want to take into the Nightfall while in orbit before starting up the activity. Once they go in, they are unable to change any equipped items for the duration of the Nightfall. A new feature in Destiny 2, Bungie announced locked loadouts for certain activities in order to make players think harder about bringing the right tool for the job and force them to make sure certain roles are filled within the team.

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That becomes even more important when considering the new weapon system that groups a large amount of weapons in the Power weapon slot, including snipers, fusion rifles, shotguns, rocket launchers, grenade launchers, and swords. Bungie has spoken before about how one player may be designated as the CQB (or close quarters combat) person by equipping a shotgun, while someone else may be the sniper, while another takes the demolitions or explosives role by equipping a rocket launcher.

The information about locked loadouts came from an interview by PCGamesN, who talked to a Bungie developer at Gamescom. It was misreported that locked loadouts would also be a feature of the hard mode raid, but Destiny 2's game director Luke Smith quickly took to Twitter to correct the report, stating that raids do not lock loadouts.

So while raids will not restrict the loadouts of players, it was later clarified that the Nightfall will indeed lock loadouts. It's likely there will be other activities that could have the same feature, but at this time the only confirmed activity is the Nightfall.

Locked loadouts for Nightfall strikes is sure to be a controversial design choice, but it might add a new form of urgency to the endgame experience. Without the wipe penalty that sent fireteams back to orbit if all players died, some felt the strikes became too easy. For Destiny 2, though, some of that challenge may return in a new form.

Destiny 2 releases on September 6, 2017 for PS4 and Xbox One, and on October 24, 2017 for PC.

Source: PCGamesN