For the first two weeks of Into The Light, Bungie wanted to try something new for Trials of Osiris: a Special ammo crate system to replace the current meter one. But it’s only taken one weekend for Destiny 2 players to pan the direction, with most hoping it’s scrapped completely.
During this first weekend, Destiny 2 implemented what was described as an “unrestricted” crate system, with four Special ammo crates available every round. The impact was immediate—many fireteams started to run double Special loadouts, and the Forerunner Exotic sidearm soared to the top of kill charts compiled by Trials Report. It had roughly 500,000 more kills this weekend over its closest competitor, another Special weapon, no doubt contributing to what one player described as “the worst week of Trials” they’ve experienced in recent memory.
“Forerunner just makes using a hand cannon useless,” wrote another player in a thread discussing the current Trials meta under the new system. While Igneous Hammer hadn’t been topping the kill charts in the weeks prior, it was routinely in the top five alongside the likes of The Summoner and Prosecutor. Its usage saw a significant dip this weekend, most likely due to the majority of players switching to double Special as the meta started to take shape.
My own experiences were similar. Especially toward the end of a card, it wasn’t uncommon to find a partied-up trio of Guardians running Forerunner with a Matador 64 or Beloved and exploiting just how plentiful the crate system made Special ammo on the map. The strategy will most likely lose its popularity next weekend when a more restrictive test of the crate system comes into play, but the damage has already been done to player sentiment on the system as a whole.
“The special progress bar was actually a move in the right direction. It still needed polish, but they had the right idea at least,” reads another post requesting Bungie to reverse course. “Special crates felt bad in Destiny and they still feel bad. I’d like to hope that Bungie got enough data to say fuck it and not have us guinea pigs go through this next week again, but I doubt it.”
For the second week of the test, the restrictive version of the crate system will whittle down the total crates on the map from four to two. Unlike the current format, players also won’t drop Special ammo bricks on death despite still losing the ammo they have, with the goal being to have an economy between the meter system and the old respawn values. It’ll probably feel a lot better too, but for those who just want to see the crates gone altogether, don’t worry—by week three, the Special ammo meter will be back in place.
