Loot is a major component of Destiny 2, rewarding players for just about everything they do in the game from defeating enemies, to finishing missions, and much more. Each new season brings with it new content for players to earn from locations like the season pass as well as activities like the popular Astral Alignment in this year's Season of the Lost update. Ritual weapons have also been an important addition, serving as a form of pursuit style loot where players would following through a long set of quests to earn pinnacle gear.
In year's past, these would be given by the Weaponsmith Banshee-44 in the form of quests, typically leading players to strong weapons like the Mountaintop, Recluse, and Luna's Howl. Over the years, these quests have been toned down a bit, offering curated weapons with perks pulled from the existing pool of options, though the quests have been made much easier as a result. For Season of the Lost, the Ascendancy Rocket Launcher has been a hit with fans, though its ornaments are tied to specific challenges that are leaving many frustrated and burnt out.
Unlike previous seasons, the powerful precision frame Ascendancy Rocket Launcher can be earned by simply playing and resetting rank on any of the core ritual activites: Vanguard Strikes, Crucible, and Gambit. However, the weapon's ornaments are a different story entirely, as players will need to ultimately reset their rank 2 full times in each activity to unlock each the cosmetic item. The reason many fans are ultimately going for it is due to both triumphs and challenges requiring it to be completed, including a pile of Bright Dust.
The change for the seasonal weapon ornaments to require 2 full resets each is insane from DestinyTheGame
This is the first time Bungie has tried something like this for ritual weapon ornaments and ultimately, most Destiny 2 players do not like the grind or time commitment required for this process. Numerous threads have popped up online regarding this process, though one has offered a substitue solution for future seasons. PeterOrno provided their take on a potential solution, making the weapon earned from a short quest again, while reseting a core activity only once being enough for the skin after the weapon is earned. Alternatively, once the weapon is earned through any activity reset, the other activities then switch over to the ornament instead of handing over another weapon and then requiring another reset on top of that again.
At this point, Bungie hasn't commented on the Ascendancy unlock process, though the company has been very vocal in terms of responding to community concerns. In fact, last year, Bungie altered one of its community challenges during the 2020 Dawning event, tripling the amount of earned Dawning Spirit as the player base was struggling to generate enough that the challenge was going to fail if the developer didn't step in and help.
Destiny 2 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.