Usually,Destiny2’s expansions add two new Strikes, but Lightfall only added one, and meanwhile reintroduced old seasonal content as Strikes. Having updated versions of old Strikes and old seasonal content helps, but the activity could really benefit from having a wider variety of content in general. Strikes are the most susceptible activity inDestiny 2to being too repetitive as PVE content, and recent changes that Lightfall introduced have only dug a deeper hole for the activity instead of bringing it into the light.
Destin 2’s Content Vaultretiring the old expansions and campaigns has had the largest impact on the Strike activities of all ofDestiny 2’s current content. Other content has been more affected, but removing the content entirely is a different situation than removing pieces at a time. Nowadays, the Strikes playlist is only a fraction of its former glory inDestiny 2’s history, and it doesn’t hold a candle to the Strikes playlist of the originalDestiny. The Strikes playlist is long overdue for a wider selection of content, as well as a reconsideration of the changes that Lightfall has brought on.
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Vanguard Strikes in the Lightfall era of Destiny 2
The new Surge modifier is on a weekly rotation instead of a daily rotation, which is a major upset toDestiny 2players that are active daily. While the other modifiers in the Strikes playlist are on daily rotations, the most important modifier is the Surge. This modifier has the most influence on which element of weapons to bring into the activity, as well as which subclass will have the most offensive capabilities. The surge can put players at a severe disadvantage not to play into the increased elemental damage for the week, especially on the higher-difficulty Strikes. After introducingDestiny 2’s new Strand Subclass, one would think that Surges would incentivize using this new Subclass, but its featured weeks come and go just like any others.
Beyond the Surge modifier being stagnant for a whole week, the Strike playlist challenge for earningDestiny 2’s Pinnacle gear rewardsalso saw a bump in difficulty. Instead of completing three Strikes with a particular Subclass equipped, players now have to complete 5 for the challenge, or fewer on increased difficulties. Since the Nightfall Strikes already have their own separate challenge, the new challenge punishes players for grinding out the casual playlist.
The main downside to grinding in the higher difficulty Strikes is that it is the same singular mission for a week at a time. The Strikes playlist is in quite the pickle thanks to Lightfall’s changes to the Vanguard rewards. Players ultimately have to choose between a playlist with a variety of Strikes with poor rewards or a static Strike with improved rewards. The increased monotony of the Strikes playlist doesn’t stop at weekly Surges and a lengthened Pinnacle reward challenge. Lightfall also changed the way that Strike rewards are earned and that’s been really rough.
The casual Strikes playlist was introduced toDestiny 2’s Strikes scoring systemthat Nightfall Strikes have had for a long time. This change to Strike rewards was geared towards making the activity’s rewards more meaningful by favoring exceptional performances over speedy completions of Strikes. Consequently, the Vanguard Engrams from the Strikes playlist became much harder to earn. For players that prefer to frequent the lowest difficulty Strikes playlist, this is a serious roadblock.
In a time when Strikes are frustratingly repetitive, they need to be grinded harder than ever before to get their rewards. For players that don’t have access to the Nightfall Strikes due to not meeting the level requirement or not owning the relevant expansion, the options forearning Vanguard Engrams inDestiny 2on these weeks are extremely limited. Lightfall has unintentionally put the Strikes playlist in a tough spot that’s only incentive is its variety, which nowadays is relatively limited.
Destiny 2is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
