Destiny 2 launched exactly six months ago today, though at times it feels more like six years. A bunch has changed since September, and the game has gone through some dramatic highs and lows. (Mostly lows.)




Destiny 2’s long, slow crawl toward its possible (hopeful?) redemption is underway. Let’s step back and go over the events of the last six months.


The week-long Faction Rally event had players pick one of three factions

had players pick In October, Bungie’s official “Okay, We Want To Fix Destiny 2” campaign got underway. It started with a vague but promising blog post

It started with a The competitive Crucible changed significantly from the first game: Team size had been reduced from six to four, abilities and super meters recharged much more slowly, the new weapon loadouts meant fewer active one-hit-kill weapons like shotguns and sniper rifles at any given moment, and weapons generally did less damage, rewarding teams for playing conservatively and sticking together. We spoke with a number of top Destiny 2 players




Ikora Rey’s notification was bugged and had been blinking for me for months. It was driving me batty. Bungie finally patched it on January 30, and I felt such relief, I cannot even tell you. I know this isn’t really as substantial as the other entries in this post, but man, it was so annoying.



for months. It was driving me batty. Bungie finally patched it on January 30, and I felt such relief, I cannot even tell you. I know this isn’t really as substantial as the other entries in this post, but man, it was so annoying. On a more positive note, the improvements Bungie had promised in late 2017 (slowly) began to appear in the game. Masterwork weapons had been introduced in December but by January, enough players had masterwork guns that their orb-generation ability began to noticeably increase the amount of supers each player got during strikes. The game has also gotten an overhauled Nightfall strike system

Masterwork weapons had been introduced in December but by January, enough players had masterwork guns that their orb-generation ability began to noticeably increase the amount of supers each player got during strikes. The game has also gotten The game’s weapon balance has remained more or less stagnant since September , which has frustrated PvP-focused players who had hoped for more frequent balance updates. There was one significant(ish) balance patch a significant rebalancing update due on March 27

, which has frustrated PvP-focused players who had hoped for more frequent balance updates. There was Destiny 2 also wasn’t hiding any noteworthy secrets like the classic D1 mystery hunts—Sleeper Simulant, Black Spindle, Outbreak Prime—that we recently revisited on a special episode of Kotaku Splitscreen Barrett responded

like the classic D1 mystery hunts—Sleeper Simulant, Black Spindle, Outbreak Prime—that we recently revisited on Bungie created and then updated a clear timeline


And that’s where things are at. Season pass owners will get one more Curse of Osiris-size expansion sometime in the next few months, followed by another more substantial paid expansion in early fall, similar to how the first game got House of Wolves in June of 2015, followed closely by that September’s The Taken King.



Destiny 2 has had a rough half-year, but the steady drip of changes and improvements indicates an upward trajectory. It feels as though the game won’t hit a comfortable new path until the big fall expansion at the earliest, assuming that is indeed the Taken King-style overhaul most of us assume it’ll be. In the interim, the next big change to look forward to will be the weapon balance update at the end of March, which coincides with the return of Rumble and 6v6 Iron Banner.




Are you still playing Destiny 2? Have you taken a break, or maybe uninstalled the game and traded in your copy in disgust? Did you switch to Monster Hunter: World and never look back? I played for a few hours over the weekend, which was my first extended foray into Destiny 2 in more than a month. I had fun and appreciated the small improvements Bungie has made so far, though the game still feels a few substantial spritzes shy of fully freshened up.