We know Destiny 2 is largely a PvE experience, with Raids and Dungeons offering Guardians a decent amount of co-operative content to complete outside of main story missions and various ongoing events. However, the PvP parts of this looter shooter are still worth checking out; well, almost all of them are, anyway. Bungie’s making it quite clear that it’s done trying to get people playing the Destiny 2 Gambit mode. However, a faction of fans have come up with a series of Destiny 2 Gambit changes that they think will breathe new life into the dying PvP mode.
We know Destiny 2 is far from the best competitive FPS game, but when you think about its gameplay mechanically, it is actually one of the best FPS games out there. Whether it’s rewards or otherwise, Gambit has struggled in popularity for a long time, and it looks like Bungie’s finally giving up. Although, it’s a rather unique experience in the landscape of PvP multiplayer game modes – offering both PvP and PvE action – and it deserves more attention.
However, in the August 2023 ‘State of the Game’ blog post, Bungie candidly admits that it “[doesn’t] have plans to dedicate more resources to significantly transform Gambit”. It’s also “reducing the number of Gambit-specific Seasonal Challenges” and “combining both Gambit playlists” to improve matchmaking quality – because it’s that quiet.
These are things we’ve seen Bungie act on already ahead of the Destiny 2 The Final Shape release date, and it looks like that might the be-all and end-all for the multiplayer mode.
It doesn’t necessarily have to be, though, as Redditor ‘sboy97‘ states. This Destiny 2 fan thinks that Bungie should introduce Relics to Gambit, and we’re inclined to agree with them.
As they state in the aforementioned Reddit post, Relics would help defending Guardians fight off any invaders while also introducing an element of unpredictability to the PvE parts of the experience. We think, though, that Bungie could even take things one step further by completely removing Heavy Ammo and heavy weapons in favor of these larger-than-life armaments.
In previous iterations of Gambit, Heavy Ammo was a tool to be used by invaders – mainly, anyway – and it left the experience quite one-sided. So, Bungie made some alterations and now everyone can enjoy a healthy amount of Heavy Ammo, no matter where they are in their Gambit game. Sure, this is handy when you’re trying to take down the main Primeval and win the round, but it also means that a rather heavy weapon-dependent meta has evolved over the seasons – which isn’t necessarily bad, but isn’t necessarily good either.
Introducing relics could alleviate this problem and offer Guardians a more reactive and responsive meta where heavier weapons are few and far between. It could also offer those Guardians defending their motes more ample avenues of fighting off invaders. When you come up against someone using one of the best Destiny 2 PvP weapons out there, it can really ruin your experience quite quickly. Relics would, at the very least, give players a fighting chance.
Here’s a look at some relics we’ve seen in PvP modes in the past:
Ultimately, though, all of this is just ‘on paper’ predictions; it’s hard to tell how anything would affect Gambit, if anything like this would bring the players back to the mode after so long. You have to wonder whether an emphasis on better, more achievable rewards would do the trick, but that seems to be in direct opposition to Bungie’s approach right now.
So, all you can really do right now is make sure you’re using the best Destiny 2 Hunter build, the best Destiny 2 Warlock build, or the best Destiny 2 Titan build, and hope you’re able to find a populated Gambit lobby.
Will we see anything change when The Final Shape rolls around? We doubt it. Destiny 2’s “undisputed king” of PvP is being nerfed and the seasonal story is ending with a whimper. So, we can imagine Bungie will be working hard to address concerns over the latter with Destiny 2 The Final Shape pre-orders to worry about. Do we want to see something change with Gambit, though? Absolutely.