All things considered, it’s safe to say that this isn’t a bad time to be playingDestiny 2. The game is in a reasonable state, all in all, and there’s solid relevant seasonal content aplenty. Things aren’t perfect, though, and weapon crafting in particular is in an awkward spot.
Of course,Destiny 2: Heresydid kick things off with acrummy set of technical problems, but it bounced back up fairly quickly. Further, Bungie’s managed to deliver a reasonable selection of seasonal goodies to chase after, with the extremely excitingRite of the Nine event slated for Act 3 of the season. None of this is likely to resolve the huge elephant in the room that is weapon crafting, however, and that too is just a continuation of astrange backtracking of some ofDestiny 2‘s biggest community wins. What the heck is up with all that, then?
Players still want weapon crafting back in the limelight, but it’s unlikely to happen anytime soon
The specific problem being discussed by theDestiny 2community right now is Bungie’s decision to make the latest seasonal weapons non-craftable for the duration of the ongoing season. This choice was made withEpisode 2: Revenantand it’s been inherited byEpisode 3: Heresyas well. There were a lot of changes being made at the time, but the result of this de-emphasizing of weapon crafting is that players hunting for genuinely relevant gear have to grind activities over and over again in hopes of good drops. Pre-Revenant, it was possible to roll the dice with RNG dropsorto slowly grind out a craftable weapon with exactly the Perks you wanted, but that’s no longer an option. Is it because of FOMO? I reckon the answer is yes, though Bungie is unlikely to admit as much.
Weapon crafting wasn’t perfect by any means, of course, but it did enable two entirely different playstyles that would give the players what they wanted on a long enough timeline. With one of these two options completely out of the question now, it shouldn’t be a surprise that there’s a growing sense of anxiety in the player base about timed, seasonal gear availability. Heck, I wrote aboutBungie’s insistence on not bringing back Black Armory gear early in 2024, and here we are in 2025 with no BA items on the horizon in any way, shape, or form. Once this stuff is out of the game, it may take over half a decade before it comes back, and that’s not great.
Bungie’s mishandling of weapon crafting and customization is precisely what I was talking about when I voiced my thoughts onwhat I feltDestiny 2‘s biggest issue is: uncertainty. With Bungie, you never really know what’s next and what might happen to your favorite gameplay and progression features. Ever since weapon crafting was introduced as part ofWitch Queen, it was a powerful tool to reduce the reliance on rapid-fire FOMO and excessive grinding.
The community embraced weapon crafting and though it wasn’t perfect, it was an excellent feature that did wonders for the long-term health of the game and the community. For months now, it’s been relegated to a mere support role for old, out-of-date items as the game returned to its old, FOMO-centric gameplay progression systems. Sadly, that’s where it’s likely to stay, even if the community hates that development.
In the end, I supposeThe Final Shapereally was just an outlier, even if I might’ve hoped that Bungie had a few more tricks up its sleeve. MaybeFrontierswill pan out, in this respect? I’ve got my doubts, but let’s wait and see.
