Bungie Weighs In On Locking Vanilla DESTINY 2 Content Behind DLC

It wasn't long ago that Bungie was under some hot water, but it was overshadowed by the boiling water EA has been soaking in lately. As many Destiny 2 players are aware, there were multiple events and even a difficulty that was originally available to all players that became unaccessable, or even unbeatable, in which people contacted their dissatisfaction to Bungie about. Well Good News Everyone! Bungie has taken action to fix the problems brought to their attention!

Now, for those that are unaware yet interested, Destiny 2 has a "Prestige" difficulty mode in which is basically supposed to be "Hard" while leaving another option, "Normal." Pretty standard, but the problem was that as they were releasing new DLC, which if owned you could increase your power level cap, and were increasing the difficulty of raids and events on the "Prestige" difficulty to match the newest level cap. This locks out any player that does not purchase the latest DLC.

Bungie started their update by explaining:

"The following were our goals when we separated “Normal” and “Prestige” modes:
  • The Normal Leviathan Raid and Normal Nightfall would always stay at a Power level that was accessible to all players.
  • Prestige difficulty would always rise to the new Power cap.  It could be the pinnacle of challenge, with the most prestigious rewards, but it therefore would require you to own the latest Expansion and be at the new Power cap."

Now, that seems like a pretty reasonable plan to execute. However, it would of been better if they had a new mode for DLC enhanced accounts that have their own sets of rewards and trophies/achievements. Locking regular players out of a difficulty they could originally handle removes them from a whole difficulty difference, which ruins the game for a lot of players, and furthermore locks out any chance of them getting the best rewards and completing all standard trophies/achievements.

The team over at Bungie agreed with their user base on this matter and included all this in their latest update, which has already gone out:

  • The Prestige Leviathan Raid will be brought back down to Power 300, and its rewards will drop down to match the new Power Level. All players will regain access to the Prestige Raid.
    • This will allow access to “The Prestige” Achievement/Trophy for all players.
    • This will also allow all players ability to complete the final step for the Legend of Acrius Exotic Shotgun.
  • Trials of The Nine will only require Curse of Osiris when it features a Curse of Osiris map. For all other weeks, it will be available to all players.
    • This will allow access to “Lest Ye Be Judged” Achievement/Trophy for all players.
    • Trials of The Nine rewards that launched with Destiny 2 will still be accessible to all players.
    • New Seasonal Rewards that launched with Curse of Osiris, such as the new Seasonal Armor Ornaments, will require ownership of Curse of Osiris to acquire.
  • The Prestige Nightfall will remain a pinnacle activity, at the new 330 Power cap.    
    • This means Prestige Nightfall will require ownership of Curse of Osiris.
    • Because of this, we will update “The Prestige” Achievement/Trophy to only reference The Prestige Raid.
    • Moving forward, we are investigating adding a 3rd difficulty to all Prestige activities, so that we can provide both a challenge that stays relevant with each new Expansion, and a Prestige version that is available to all players.
  • Normal Nightfall will only require Curse of Osiris when it features a Curse of Osiris map. For all other weeks it will be available to all players.
  • Time limited events – Iron Banner, Faction Rally, and The Dawning, will be made available to all players.
    • We will be postponing tomorrow’s Faction Rally, to ensure all of our players can access the activity and the appropriate rewards.
    • Iron Banner and Faction Rally rewards that launched with Destiny 2 will still be accessible to all players.
    • New Seasonal Rewards that launch with Curse of Osiris, such as the new Seasonal Armor Ornaments, will require ownership of Curse of Osiris to acquire.

After looking over all of the updates coming, I can't think of a problem they missed. This is a massive update that fixes nearly everything that was problematic to the loyal players of the Destiny community. Are you happy with the changes? Do you think they should start focusing on something they missed?