The Destiny 2 community has found itself divided today after a streamer was warned by Bungie for using a VPN during a solo raid attempt. The tool was used to manipulate the game’s network to trivialize a raid mechanic, and some are unhappy the streamer wasn’t banned.
Destiny 2 streamer Leopard shared a clip of his latest attempt to solo The Witness, the final boss of the Salvation’s Edge raid. Progressing the encounter requires shooting glyphs on The Witness’ body, but normally you can only shoot one at a time. Using network switching and a VPN, Leopard ended up shooting three at once, skipping a large chunk. When questioned over the legality of the method, Leopard was honest in admitting this was a case of network manipulation—which is against Destiny 2‘s terms of service.
“Oh, for sure. I was just testing to see how much easier this would be if my internet was trash,” Leopard said. While Leopard wasn’t able to clear The Witness during that run, the clip gained plenty of traction across social media, with the Bungie developers even issuing a warning to players that Leopard’s use of a VPN broke the rules. “We understand the desire to take on more challenging content solo, but manipulating network in an effort to gain any advantage can lead to restrictions or bans,” the statement read.
Responses to Bungie’s PSA were polarizing. Many were unhappy that Bungie allowed the breaking of its terms without issuing a ban, believing this to be a case of preferential treatment. Others brought up the messy case (thanks Forbes) of four-time World’s First raider Cruz, who was immediately banned in February after Bungie detected his use of a cheating program he had installed for a different game.
This prompted a follow-up response from Bungie again today, who said it hoped this warning sets an example for those players thinking network manipulation is the path forward. “[Leopard] has not gotten large amounts of rewards or used this in a competition, so we feel a warning is appropriate,” the Destiny team wrote.
Other fans believe this direction of warning the playerbase is the route devs should take. “A company giving a warning when you do things you shouldn’t do is [an] awesome thing and the direction we should go!” content creator Saltagreppo said, adding he believes players shouldn’t be banned “on the fly”—especially when nothing was gained from the attempt.
At the same time, Saltagreppo understood the seriousness of the infraction and called it a “dumb” move on Leopard’s part. “Obviously, VPNing to gain an advantage of any kind is cringe and people shouldn’t do that,” he added, instead suggesting Bungie fixes the Glyph mechanic to ensure network issues of any kind don’t impact a run.
It’ll be interesting to see how Bungie rules on cases like this in the future, especially for those without a following. At the end of the day, a boost in communication from Bungie is definitely the right move, but without consistency in how devs ban those who break terms, Destiny players base will remain at odds with Bungie.
