If you’re a Destiny 2 player who enjoys spending your time playing this FPS trouncing your fellow guardians in the Crucible’s competitive playlist, you need to be aware that some choice Destiny 2 Season 23 Competitive changes are on the way. While those of you who enjoy regular win streaks shouldn’t notice too much change, Crucible contestants who continue to struggle may start to suffer further.
With the Destiny 2 Season 23 release date creeping closer, Destiny 2 developer Bungie is drip-feeding fans information about what they can expect to see in one of the best FPS games available on PS5 and Xbox – that being Bungie’s looter shooter – when the next major update arrives. While it’s quite exciting to learn that the new Destiny 2 Season 23 dungeon could be about to break tradition in more ways than one, and the upcoming Destiny 2 Season 23 Sparrow Control mode means we might just be one step closer to seeing Sparrow Racing League finally return, those of you who enjoy the competitive side of Destiny 2’s PvP playlists will have to contend with some rather interesting changes to how you rank – and the actual ranked playlist itself.
As this recent This Week In Destiny blog post highlights, Bungie is completely removing the Performance Factor from how ranking points are assigned post-match. From Season 23 onwards, in Bungie’s own words, “wins and losses are what matters”. This means making sure you have the best Destiny 2 PvP weapons is more important than ever if you’re planning on playing Crucible competitively.
Adding to this rather dramatic change, Bungie’s also removing Inflation Protection from the equation. This should help players who have a dip in form, as Bungie isn’t going to reduce your rank points if your current rank exceeds your skill level. It’s also thankfully leaving Deflation Protection alone, for now – meaning you should still “accelerate upwards” if your current rank is lower than your skill level.
The current system of promotions and demotions is also being reworked and will now only affect players in the Adept and Ascendant divisions. This should make climbing to Platinum a lot easier, as you won’t need to enter a Promotion Series every time you want to ascend divisions. It also means Adept players having a bad run of form will have the chance to defend themselves from demotion. So, while it might not feel any easier going up against players in these higher divisions, you will get more chances to protect yourself from any unwarranted changes.
On top of all this, as if that wasn’t enough, rule changes for both Survival and Countdown Rush are on the way – the two competitive modes you’ll find in Crucible’s ranked playlist. The respawn count in Survival is being increased from 4 to 6, meaning players will have more chances to change the result of a round before it’s over – and the rounds themselves will go on for a little longer.
Meanwhile, the points you need to win a round of Countdown Rush is dropping from 6 to 5 and the round time will now only be 90s long. To help players adjust, though, the Heavy Ammo spawn time is being cut to just 60s and there will be unlimited respawns throughout and revives are enabled. Bungie explains that these changes should normalize the pacing of matches more, and we agree. However, these changes are also certain to make Countdown Rush more frantic – and hopefully fun – in the future.
If you want to make sure you’re well prepared for competitive Crucible in Season 23, and everything else you can look forward to when the Season of the Wish arrives, you can find the latest on the best Destiny 2 Titan build, the best Destiny 2 Warlock build, and the best Destiny 2 Hunter build right here. You can also claim some free Destiny 2 Exotic gear right now, which could help you get your hands on one of the best Destiny 2 weapons ahead of the new season – which is far from a bad thing.