Destiny 2 Players Return In Large Numbers With The Game’s Final Live Service Update – WGB

Destiny 2 may be coming to the end of its live action road, but gamers are making sure it doesn’t go quietly into that good night.

Today marks the launch of Monument of Triumph, the last content update for Bungie’s Destiny 2 live service before it throws its weight behind Marathon, and faces an uncertain future. The game itself is not closed and Bungie said that it will always be playable, like the original Destiny, but the active development will end after almost nine years of expansions, seasons, raids, conflicts, victories, disasters, and the one who beats your fireteam who still does not understand the mechanics.

Players have been coming back in droves. According to SteamDB, Destiny 2 has surpassed its normal daily concurrent player count, reaching around 166,000 players on Steam alone. At the time of writing – it may go up. Those are the most concurrent players the game has had on Steam in over 2 years, since the launch of Final Shape. And who knows how many others have entered the console?

That’s an incredible jump for a game that has spent the last few months reeling from extremely low numbers, and today is turning into something more than just another game day.

It’s part farewell, part protest, part celebration, and part “look, Sony, people still care about this stuff.”

It seems that there was some organization behind this attack. In the days leading up to the Monument of Triumph, fans came up with the idea of ​​signing in on June 9 to show support for the future of Destiny, especially since calls for Destiny 3 have grown so much. Bungie community leader Dylan “dmg04” Gafner also helped fan the flames by reposting calls for players to come in, while the Destiny community has been arguing that the franchise deserves more than just going into maintenance mode.

Whether the player spike will have any effect on anything is impossible to know. Sony and Bungie aren’t going to fire Destiny 3 because of one good day on SteamDB, even if the public is staring in wonder at the player chart at the same time. Recently, Paul Tassi said “Unfortunately, the application or planned entry on the 9th has the possibility to postpone the final decision or the green light.” Destiny 3even if they have good intentions.”

But it makes one hell of a statement: for all its flaws, fatigue and baggage, Destiny 2 still has a lot of listeners willing to come back when there’s something meaningful to connect with. The latest Sony-owned State of Play was flooded with people in the live comments calling for Destiny 3, and the fan petition reached more than 373,000 signatures.

To Bungie’s credit, the Monument of Triumph isn’t just a sad little goodbye card with a shader painted on it. This is a beast of an update.

The patch notes reportedly run to 71 pages and nearly 17,000 words, which is ridiculously comprehensive for Destiny. Among the additions are the permanent restoration of the Pantheon and the Sparrow Racing League, a restored Director, a simplified Portal, renewed loot for all pirates, dungeons and destinations, new ways to chase drops for certain weapons, 25 new items for rare weapons, 300 additional slots, eight additional loading points, seven new slots, new Startifa selected bombs, buffs to the main weapons, balance great to pass even the return of Gambit.

Check the official blog for more details.

At the center of it all is the Triumph monument itself, a new Tower feature built to celebrate all that players have accomplished since the launch of Destiny 2. Players can complete Triumphs to earn Legendary Marks, and spend those on free armor decorations, accessories, weapon engrams and other rewards from Guardian Tenet vendors.

In other words, Bungie is trying to leave Destiny 2 in a better place than it has been in a long time. Good. It’s also very funny, because apparently the best time to return to Destiny 2 might be the exact time Bungie moved away from it. Hey, they even announced Destiny 2: The Collection, which brings together the main game and a bunch of expansions and packs. But it doesn’t include all the content locked in the Vault, a sore spot for fans who were hoping Bungie would unlock it all as they retired Destiny 2 from the live service.

There is a bitter edge to the whole thing. Destiny 2 was brilliant, confusing, frustrating and occasionally magical. It gave players some of the best FPS attacks ever, some amazing music, amazing skyboxes, epic social moments, and enough confusing currency schemes to make an accountant cry in their Ghost shell.

It was also a game defined by missed opportunities, rushed content, poor rides, expensive expansions, uneven storytelling and a live service structure that often seemed bent on devouring itself. This is the game that was said to have ended two years ago with The Final Shape, but it continued.

But today’s spike in players shows that, despite everything, people still care. There is a lot.

Maybe they came in to say goodbye. Maybe they come in looking for a future. Maybe they just want to run the Sparrows again because, honestly, they’re good enough.

Whatever the reason, the last big update for Destiny 2 has become a big moment for the community. Not really a funeral. It’s not really a resurrection. Just like the other last night when everyone was back, the servers started sweating, and the fire crew somehow still had their place.

Eyes up, Guardian. Finally.