Destiny 2 recycled content is becoming an issue. Players have pointed out that stagnant seasonal activities, reissued weapons, guns that look similar to precursors, and even map areas that resemble previously-used assets make it feel as though the Bungie team is taking shortcuts with its content development process.
Destiny 2 content repurposing is nothing new. The recent Destiny 2 King’s Fall raid is a reworked version of the original version of the raid, which appeared in the original Destiny’s The Taken King. This season, players who engage in the FPS game‘s competitive Crucible can earn Rose, a hand cannon also reprised from the first Destiny game. This season’s Iron Banner armour set is also a reissue of a popular set from Destiny.
However, players have recently pointed out the reuse of assets in very different contexts. Recently, Guardians noted that some weapons in the Destiny 2 Lightfall gameplay trailer appear similar to weapons already released.
Players have also noted that dungeon and raid content reuses character models. In other cases, visual assets are copied from previously-existing content.
so, I put this together in photoshop really quickly – we've been doing this upgrade system for 24 months. I'm tired of it. hoping we move away from this system in the future. every season feels copy & pasted. pic.twitter.com/GEUBYmxk1z
— Fps Krystal (@FpsKrystal) December 7, 2022
The issue with the reworked weapons is that players say they have already paid for the content and went through a significant content grind to earn weapons in the game. Even when Bungie reworks such weapons with new perk options, players still feel like they’ve already chased something they now have to grind for again.
However, regardless of their appearance, the Lightfall weapons may be entirely different or at least be different in terms of handling and overall feel. Unfortunately, players won’t know until Bungie releases the expansion in 2023.
Destiny 2 has hundreds of weapons in the game, and most feature varying stats and randomly-dropped perk combos. There are also Adept versions of many weapons, which feature additional perk slots. Players can also Masterwork their favourite weapons and add mods that make them even stronger, such as mods that make use of Warmind cells, which can explode and cause area-of-effect damage or other modifiers.
Therefore, it’s not a massive surprise that Bungie might choose to reissue or improve weapons instead of adding more to the tree. However, as a game in the ‘looter shooter’ genre, players will always be hungry for something new and different.
Regarding asset reuse, some players say the issue is overblown as long as it doesn’t detract from the base mechanics. Concerning the reuse of map areas, some players argue that Bungie couldn’t be bothered to make something fundamentally different from a previous activity. However, if developing all-new assets for such sites makes it challenging to continue to produce new activities and seasonal events at a rapid pace, then asset reuse should be acceptable in some cases.
Ultimately, it comes down to whether Bungie is making its new content feel fresh enough. At the very least, the entire city of Neomuna has a unique new aesthetic. Further, the forthcoming Destiny 2 Strand subclass differs from anything players have seen before, so players know the game will not recycle old content for other aspects of Lightfall.