The main issue with the summer event is that Destiny 2 is conceived as a looter shooter where players are supposed to find all sorts of weapons, armor pieces, and other items while completing activities. This year, the event offers just two weapons that are exclusive to Solstice, which share the new Origin Trait Dream Work, and one set of armor per class, which can be upgraded both in terms of stats and looks. The main focus of the new Destiny 2 summer event, now called Solstice instead of the old Solstice of Heroes, is primarily build-crafting; in the game, this translates into a heavy focus on farming armor, which is mainly beneficial to do for newer players.
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Why Destiny 2’s New Solstice Event Should Improve Rewards Moving Forward
Even though Solstice comes with some powerful new weapons, the main reward for engaging with the event is high-stat armor and the ability to reroll said armor. This is fantastic for new players and those who haven’t tackled many endgame activities in the past, as it allows them to now possibly get their “dream armor” just by playing casual-friendly PvE and PvP activities. However, these features are of little-to-no use for those who did engage in high-end game modes, such as Grandmaster Nightfalls and Master Dungeons.
Furthermore, it poses once again the problem that Artifice Armor from Master Dungeons is really the best thing one can farm because it has an extra slot dedicated to seasonal mods, which will always be useful no matter what. With Artifice Armor, stat distribution matters less and less now that Destiny 2’s Dungeons are fully farmable, including both Duality and Grasp of Avarice, which are currently the only ones that do come with Master difficulty and thus Artifice Armor.
Destiny 2’s Solstice armor may be good for its customization potential, but the truth is that it will still take the backseat when players get more meaningful armor pieces. The grind is massive for the little rewards Solstice offers for veteran players, and the only ones who can benefit to a degree from this armor system are new players, which the rest of Destiny 2 doesn’t really focus on too much. In fact, the game’s introductory questline is often addressed as one of the most lacking aspects of Destiny 2, and it’s not the best way to pull newcomers in.
Overall, the renewed focus on build-crafting in Destiny 2 is great, especially when combined with the various updates to existing subclasses to make them more in line with the Stasis model from Beyond Light. However, build-crafting is usually part of the natural progression of the game, meaning that the more players engage with endgame activities, the better their builds will become both from experience and from more powerful loot. An event that offers more high-stat armor is not worth playing all that much for veterans, who will likely not find it interesting to farm for a single new weapon. Ultimately, this approach should stay in the future, but it should come with more variety in terms of rewards to have something for all Destiny 2 players.
Destiny 2 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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