Last year during the Destiny 2: Shadowkeep reveal stream, Luke Smith discussed the studio's plan for Destiny 2 to become an evolving world through the use of seasonal content. Attempting to strike a similar note to other surprising events like The Whisper quest, Bungie attempted to create a feeling of you had to be there moments to excite and inspire the player base.
While the plan initially excited players about the possibilities, it seems that most players have started to tire of this format resulting in countless posts for change on sites like Reddit. With much of each season's content going away after a three month cycle, many players have begun to feel turned off by the experience due to a feeling of missing out. This aggressive feeling of Destiny 2 FOMO ultimately seems to have had the opposite effect, pushing players to log in every day or else risk missing out on something by running out of time.
The Problem with Destiny 2's Seasonal Grind
That constant pressure to play the game is leading many to feel burned out or tired of the experience, especially with the multitude of issues that currently faces Destiny 2 such as a lack of end game content, long term goals, or a reason to grind out seasonal loot. If the current loot is going away at the end of the season, only to be replaced with new weapons, the incentive to grind out specific rolls becomes less meaningful. Not to mention that most high end activities like Nightfalls force players to use specific weapons and mods to succeed, which many would argue, isn't fun.
Seasonal Mods and the Power Grind is also becoming a problem namely because both disappear at the end of the season. This means that all of the work players put into the game essentially goes away and forces them to do the same thing again the next season. Power is in a strange spot as Season of Dawn only raised it by 10 points and most activities launching under that cap at 950. The extra 10 levels really don't change anything and can be achieved very quickly by most players.
The armor grind is also another sore spot as gear with the best stat rolls is pretty much tied directly to the seasonal armor, which is also locked into a specific element type that further reduces the available mods that can be selected. While Bungie has previously said that it is possible for high statistic armor to drop from activities, the percentages for this to happen appear to be extremely roll. Most drops continue to be low end gear or the undesirable blue tier rarity. Not only is this extremely limiting for players, but it removes a lot of the excitement from grinding activities like Menagerie or Reckoning.
What seems to be exacerbating the issue is the fact that next season is more than likely going to follow the same structure and path, which means players will have to endure the same core problems for another three months. In addition, Bungie has yet to really discuss plans for what comes after the next season. Clearly, the company isn't ready to talk at all about Destiny 3, so it stands to reason that more seasonal content is on the way including a Solstice of Heroes event. Outside of that, players continue to wonder if a more traditional expansion could be coming in the Fall to hold players over until the next big thing.
Hindsight is 50/50
Ultimately, the main pain point for most players is the amount of time required to make progress, with a reward that doesn't feel on par with the effort put into it. The most recent example of this can be seen with the Corridors of Time, which players could run to gain 19 lore pieces, an emblem, and earn the Bastion exotic quest if they didn't want to visit Saint-14. Bungie removed the Corridors from the game as of January 28, which seems to have triggered another bout of FOMO in players to enter it before it vanished, not because they wanted to run the activity because its particularly fun.
Comparisons have been made to the Annual Pass, which also ran on a three month seasonal structure similar to what is happening now. However, the big difference when Black Armory, Joker's Wild, and Penumbra were added through out the year is that Bungie wasn't pushing its "you had to be there" mantra. Essentially, this meant that players could take a break from the game at any point and the content would remain there ready and waiting. Players picking up the Annual Pass months later during a sale could still grind out the forges or help The Drifter in The Reckoning without feeling pressure to get it all done within a certain time limit.
In addition, special events that weren't known ahead of time are still looked at fondly to this day, even from players running through them for the first time. The Whisper of the Worm and Outbreak Perfected were prime examples of this.
Destiny 2's Future
On paper, it makes sense why Bungie would not be able to keep the game growing and expanding on a technical level. The game already takes up a large amount of hard drive space, which may not matter as much to PC players as it does to console ones. However, removing content for the sake of this fact doesn't make sense when considering that the Shadowkeep expansion remains in place, while smaller seasonal content is getting removed. It's hard to believe that seasonal mods, gear, and single activities actually equal the size of something like a dedicated expansion.
However, fixing this issue could prove to be problematic as the studio balances work on Destiny 2, Destiny 3, and a brand new IP codenamed Matter. In addition, the studio has admitted that work on past Destiny 2 seasons nearly caused developer burnout, so in addition to this added work, the studio has to tread carefully to not completely over tax its staff. Naturally, this likely means that significant change will be hard to justify as the current system seems to suit the development team, even if players are unhappy.
Perhaps instead of creating brand new content, Bungie could retrofit older activities like the Forges, Menagerie, or Escalation Protocol to add in some of these lost seasonal Destiny 2 weapons. It would give players another farming source, reinvigorate past activities, and prevent Bungie from having to add and then remove content which may make the fanbase a bit happier.
Whatever happens, Bungie's going to have to make changes to its current seasonal plans as not only are the hardcore players starting to tire of the game, but now it seems like the casual players are starting to feel left behind as well. Clearly, this method won't be sustainable for the long term health of the game. In fact, many have called for a return to the old content release method where Bungie would take more time to create smaller expansions. Whether or not Bungie listens, only time will tell.
Destiny 2 and the Shadowkeep expansion are both out now for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.