Guardians have been known to do strange things to get the loot they're looking for. Destiny had its infamous Loot Cave where people would farm drops in a certain location on Earth for high tier loot, which has since been immortalized as a recurring easter egg. Destiny 2 had its Umbral Engram exploits with the Black Armory and Forges, as well as one-shotting bosses with Stasis super attacks. Now, the latest "exploit" (even though "shortcut" may be a more accurate descriptor) being abused stems from Trials of Osiris. All in the name of The Messenger pulse rifle, fireteams entering Trials are doing the exact opposite of competing for a strange manipulation of RNG.
While the rest of the Destiny 2 experience has been on the come up, especially with Beyond Light and the latest Season of the Hunt, Trials has arguably plateaued. The endgame competitive mode has seen significant improvements with things like the inclusion of Adept weapons, but has otherwise been plagued with issues. Cheaters continue to make the experience nigh unplayable for most players, not to mention the matchmaking putting lower level players at a distinct disadvantage in many cases. It's quite literally lead to guardians who are more willing to kill themselves 10 times to get The Messenger rolls, instead of actually playing through Trials of Osiris.
Why Guardians Are All After The Messenger
Back in the previous season, Season of the Hunt, Destiny 2's Trials of Osiris had finally introduced Adept weapons. Similar to the original Trials of Osiris in the first Destiny, Adept weapons were special pools of weapon loot exclusive to the Trials of Osiris mode. Each weapon featured special characteristics not found in other standard modes in the game. In Destiny 2 they're functionally similar, with bonus stats and unique perks on top of the Masterwork +10 stat boosts available on them. One of them in particular was a highly sought after pulse rifle known as The Messenger, which is the first of its kind since Redrix's Claymore that rolls with the Desperado perk.
Redrix's Broadsword and Claymore used to be some of the best pulse rifles in Destiny 2's meta, largely because of how potent and powerful the Desperado perk was. However, with the implementation of sunsetting, and those being the only pulse rifles with that perk roll, no other pulse rifle could compared to Redrix's glory. Now that seems to have changed with The Messenger, which pairs Desperado with some incredible weapon stats to easily become one of the best rifles in current Destiny 2 meta. As a High Impact Frame rifle, Desperado with the additional Rapid Hit perk is widely considered the "God" roll for this weapon, but there are other solid secondary perks.
How To Get The Messenger Quickly in Trials of Osiris
Not everyone necessarily wants to play Trials all the way through to get one, though. Some savvy guardians seem to have realized that there is a much simpler way to cheese the RNG for rolls. For many who did play Trials of Osiris last weekend, several fireteams were slowly discovering that they were eliminating enemy teams without even trying. Fireteams were killing themselves as soon as the match started because, as it turns out, 10 team wipes in Trials of Osiris is much easier to farm compared to actually trying to compete. Players could acquire a bounty from Saint-14 that actually guarantees a The Messenger drop after 10 matches, regardless of victory/defeat.
Of course, numerous players on the Destiny subreddit pointed out this method, and how in some cases it was making Trials of Osiris a more enjoyable experience. Obviously that's an antagonistic take on the competitive mode rather than a constructive criticism, but it also serves as evidence for the state of Trials of Osiris in Destiny 2 currently. Consistently, the mode has found itself rife with cheaters and a limited playerbase, full of players that are either incredibly strong, or very weak/under leveled. The end result has become tons of Fireteams wiping themselves and intentionally losing, while other fireteams are getting easier paths to Flawless.
Rampant Team Wipes In Trials Are Indicative of a Serious Problem
In some fashion, this absurd bounty manipulation has become indicative of what the Trials of Osiris experience is like now. At the beginning of Season of the Chosen, the new Trials loot pool with The Messenger was meant to be another incentivization for additional players to start jumping into the endgame competitive mode. Yet, with the seemingly random matchmaking criteria putting casual clans up against seasoned veterans, many are dissuaded to continue giving Trials of Osiris a real chance. Pair that with an initially disappointing loot pool that, when improved, only encourages players to intentionally lose games and then play another mode, something's got to give.
Besides Trials, Destiny 2 generally finds itself in a very good spot as Season of the Chosen continues. Much of the Stasis overpowered abilities and supers have been adjusted, and the inclusion of more classic Strikes and activities in the Cosmodrome, is only good for Destiny 2. Story-wise, the overarching plot of Beyond Light and the sub-stories in these last two seasons have provided some of the best Destiny 2 seasons of content yet. However, as the rest of Destiny 2 continues to move forward, Trials of Osiris continues to lag behind as the dark horse mode. It's unclear what this weekend's offering of Trials will be, but it's hard to expect any sudden improvements.
Destiny 2 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Reddit