Destiny 2 beta is a "months old" build, sandbox already has higher power ammo drops and punchier grenades
Destiny 2 beta testers have complaints. Some of them have already been actioned.
The Destiny 2 beta has drawn criticism from PvE fans, many of whom feel changes to the combat sandbox favour PvP and leave co-op and solo gameplay cold.
A beta is a beta, and many fans have pointed out that Guardians are under-levelled for the strike included in the Destiny 2 beta, only have access to limited gear, and can't progress at all - so perhaps it's not fair to make judgments just yet.
But even so, the Destiny 2 beta as it stands really is a bit of a chore. A lack of power ammo means the strike boss takes ages to bring down, and grenades do about as much damage as you'd expect to achieve by throwing an egg at it, which is not much of a pay-off on those long cooldowns. I'm with you on this, fellow Guardians.
The good news is that Bungie has heard the complaints, and in fact has already made the same complaints internally, and addressed them in newer builds of Destiny 2.
"The PVE game tuning has changed pretty significantly since the Beta build was deployed. The nature of a Beta of this scale requires that it’s based off a build of the game that is now months old," beta design lead Rob Engeln wrote in the latest Bungie Weekly Update.
"So, in many cases, your feedback is helping us validate changes that were previously made based on internal feedback and playtesting."
Engeln provided a specific example. We already knew Bungie would be more generous with ammo in the release build of Destiny 2, but the designer outlined precisely how:
"In addition to retuning the drop rates, we built a system that guarantees power ammo drops for you and your Fireteam from certain enemies, giving power weapons a more reliable and predictable role in your arsenal," he wrote.
That sounds good, and should make it less tempting to lean in infinite ammo glitches, hem hem.
Ammo drops are just one of the many balance changes Bungie has made to Destiny 2 since the build we're all enjoying (or not) right now. The developer has also tuned "grenade effectiveness in PvE, Boss vitality, and weapon damage against non-player combatants".
So in other words: don't freak out just yet. Bungie's working on the boom-boom, and we can expect it to feel very different when Destiny 2 releases in September.
The Destiny 2 beta opens the doors to everyone tomorrow - or today, depending on which time zone you're reading this in - so Bungie's going to be hearing a lot more feedback on this topic soon enough. Let's hope it is suitably braced.