Bad Bungie: Don't drip feed us the Brave Arsenal

Today, Bungie announced that the Brave Arsenal coming to Destiny 2 would see six of the weapons released immediately, with six more being released one week at a time over the course of the Into the Light content drop. Because of course.

I’ve taken about six months off from Destiny 2, with my only play time being to grab some footage of Xur each week so that we can post his location to our social channels. I took this time off because Destiny 2 stopped feeling like a game and started feeling like a job. Don’t get me wrong, part of my job is to be in the know when it comes to Destiny, but playing the game started to feel bad. I was tired of time-gated content and the need to show up when something drops, then wait for the next thing. So, around the start of September of last year I left. I went video game fishing (no, not Destiny fishing), and it was swell.

Over the last six months I considered playing Destiny several times, but each time it almost made me feel ill. I was immediately reminded of the grind. Nobody can say Destiny 2 isn’t a grind, and I just couldn’t stomach that. Then, just over a week ago we got our first glimpse of the Into the Light content drop.

That first livestream with the showcase of Onslaught and the talk of build crafting piqued my interest. The second livestream that showcased the Brave Arsenal had me fully in. I was thinking about what gun to chase first, collecting all the curated rolls and the shiny ornaments. I even logged into Destiny 2 last night to get my bearings, figure out how to play again, and be ready to go when Into the Light drops. Then, Bungie did the one thing it shouldn’t have done with Into the Light; it went back to its old ways.

Into the Light is supposed to be a celebration as well as preparation. We’re getting the horde mode we’ve asked for since back in the original Destiny. We’re getting all these iconic weapons back and they will seemingly look and feel better than ever before. Did someone say the Tower was being repaired? How long have we waited for that to happen? Everything was sunshine and rainbows until Bungie tripped over its own shoelaces with the developer blog today.

There it is, that time-gated infection that just won’t go away. Six weapons out of the gate, but six more released at a once-per-week cadence leading up to the Final Shape. Why? You really want to know? Because Bungie needs you to log on like a good little Guardian regularly. You must invest for the long-term, not on your schedule. Show up, have your attendance taken, and then get your fancy old new gun. Bungie didn’t dare reveal this to you on the livestream because this is exactly how we would have reacted during the reveal, so this time-gated nonsense was stuffed into a written developer blog.

Let me be clear about this, Bungie. We’ve done our time. Look at my play time heat map. I’ve done my time, and almost every other Guardian out there has done their time. This was supposed to be your cool gift to us, not your chance to manipulate us back into your gameplay loop. You’ve asked us in the past to tell us how something feels? This feels bad. You should reverse this decision, not because I’m whining to you, but because you know I’m right.

Anyway, I’m going fishing.

Bill Lavoy

Managing Editor

Bill, who is also known as Rumpo, is a lifelong gamer and Toronto Maple Leafs fan. He made his mark early in his career through guide writing and a deep understanding of editorial SEO. He enjoys putting in the work to create a great content, be it a wild feature or grinding out an in-depth collectible guide. Tweet him @RumpoPlays if you have a question or comment about one of his articles.