One of the most interesting additions in Destiny 2's The Witch Queen expansion is weapon crafting, which is a very different take on obtaining good gear for a looter-shooter. The concept of weapon crafting allows Destiny 2 players to fully customize all aspects of a given gun and eventually get a god roll after obtaining a bunch of levels on the weapon through kills or activity completions. This changes everything because it means as the game moves forward, the grind for the best weapons will not necessarily revolve around random drops anymore.
Weapon crafting also provides a way for hardcore players to have even better versions of their favorite guns by adding Enhanced Perks at the cost of rare crafting materials. However, Enhanced Perks are not always that much better for what they cost to craft, and in some cases Bungie has already changed the weapons since their release, often resulting in overall nerfs for the sake of Destiny 2's balance. A bigger issue with weapon crafting is that it may have launched at the wrong time because of how meta-changing The Witch Queen was on its own, and the fact that Season of the Risen also included the Void 3.0 update.
Why Destiny 2's Weapon Crafting is Not as Rewarding as It Seems
Destiny 2's expansions are often destabilizing for the meta because they change and add many features, coming packed with plenty of items to chase for different activities. As such, introducing weapon crafting also meant the number of available weapon patterns to unlock had to be monitored in order to better identify potential exploits. The reduced number of patterns is limiting in its own right, and the fact that the meta is rebalancing around new Void subclasses does not help its cause.
The fact that weapon crafting was released at the same time as the first of three Light subclasses being reworked is not great, because player's don't have an eagle-eye view of what to expect from this new system in the future. Void 3.0 drastically changed what these Light subclasses can do, adopting the already tested Aspects and Fragments system from Beyond Light's Stasis. As such, Destiny 2 players know what the best rolls for craftable weapons are at the moment, but those same rolls are likely to change a lot when the other reworks come in.
Arc 3.0 and Solar 3.0 could very well make specific guns better, or even must-haves, and for those players who craft weapons now, adapting to a new meta may become difficult and unrewarding. The idea behind weapon crafting is that players are ultimately rewarded for putting a lot of time into obtaining kills and progression on their guns by being able to pick any perk in the weapon's pool, provided they own the materials required. Because some materials are hard to come by, such as Ascendant Alloys, and others are simply random, such as Neutral Elements from Deepsight Resonance guns, a major shift of the meta can kill someone's motivation to craft anything.
A great example comes from the recent nerf to Destiny 2's Firmly Planted perk on fusion rifles, which is understandable given the game's current PvP meta, but doesn't reward those players who spent their time and currency to get it crafted on their weapon. Because Arc 3.0 and Solar 3.0 are likely to have the same impact as Void 3.0, it's safe to assume that no currently craftable gun is going to be as viable in the future. Ultimately, weapon crafting is a great system, but the fact that Destiny 2 is an ever-changing game doesn't make it a rewarding feature in its current iteration.
Destiny 2 is now available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.