Destiny 2‘s Renegades expansion in December promises new goodies to chase, and doubly so if you haven’t played the game in some time. Bungie is adding extremely generous bonuses to returning players in an upcoming bounty rework, aiming for a bigger audience as player counts reach historic lows.
The group of bountiful incentives announced in today’s This Week in Destiny blog post marks the first time Bungie has done something of this magnitude in Destiny 2. With a focus on lapsed guardians, it heralds special rewards for completing orders—the future replacement to bounties.
With Renegades on Dec. 2, Destiny 2 players will automatically receive orders when logging in. These are streamlined to take your loadout and activity preferences into account, which should be a “natural thing to do as you play.” Bungie also made assists grant progress to orders, albeit at a reduced rate, so you don’t necessarily have to fight teammates for kills.
Orders come in different levels, which affect how much Bright Dust you get from each. And, as expected, there’s a cap on how much of this resource you can earn in a given time period. Common orders grant 10 Bright Dust each, while Legendary ones grant 100 per completion. There is a catch, however: your progress slows down considerably after you’ve earned a total of 1,000 Dust per week from Common and Legendary orders. At this point, Common orders don’t drop Dust, and Legendary orders only drop 10 Dust each—or 10 percent of the usual value.
If you’re lucky, you can obtain an Exotic order, which awards 300 Dust upon completion. There’s a bigger catch here, though: you can earn 6,000 Dust per season from this rare type of order, at which point you’ll receive only 30 of this resource per completion. Daily and weekly challenges in the Portal also award Bright Dust.
While the order system can have its perks, it may also not inspire faith in jaded players, especially given how parts of the community perceive the studio’s undertakings toward new systems. “I literally said out loud: ‘this is what they’ve been working on? Another new system no-one asked for?,'” one Reddit user asked. “Total waste of time to keep overhauling minor game systems that work just fine. Bungie needs to innovate, not spin its tires in the mud,” another wrote.
The order system applies to everyone in the game, and current players also get benefits if they’re in a mission alongside a returning veteran. The sweetest part of the pot by far, however, is in the hands of those who dive back into the game.
Bungie outlined the extra incentives for guardians to reinstall Destiny 2 under a section called “Are You a Returning Player? Read This!” in the weekly blog post. Players who haven’t logged in or gained 30 levels in the season pass since Edge of Fate are eligible to become “returners,” with a suite of benefits.
Returning players will gain more experience for the following six months, and completing orders can award them with a gift (capped at 30 max). They may include gear, Exotic Engrams, 1,000 Bright Dust, and a special variation on the beloved Nonary Engrams from Rite of the Nine.
If you’re not eligible to be a “returner,” playing with one will grant you increased XP gain, bonus Portal engrams, the chance for an exclusive emblem, and possibly auto-completing orders while helping, which doesn’t seem impressive at all compared to the prize for returning players.
Destiny 2 has struggled with retaining players, especially since its highly controversial Edge of Fate expansion. The new incentives to come back may bring more guardians to the fold, but it hinges on how well it’s implemented. Otherwise, the studio may risk losing both returning and loyal players.
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