Destiny 2 player base reaches “final straw” in controversial Sunsetting saga

The morale of the Destiny 2 community has hit an all time low since sunsetting was first revealed back in mid 2020.

For those out of the loop, sunsetting is essentially the forced removal of weapons and armor from end game activities due to them having a cap as to how high their Power can be raised. This is Bungie's way of eliminating problematic weapons from the sandbox while promoting build diversity.

Unfortunately for Bungie, sunsetting has seen an overwhelmingly negative reaction from the community and the latest announced changes have only made this worse.

In the latest 'This Week at Bungie' blog post it was announced by the studio that in Season 13, launching February 9, weapons and armor from both The Dreaming City and the Moon would be reissued with a new Power cap.

While the reissuing of this gear is better than simply not having them, it has shown that Bungie has no qualms with taking away players' gear and then forcing them to grind for it all over again months later.

This has generated a sense of apathy amongst the top content creators and the community as a whole. Here is a small sample of tweets from Destiny 2’s most well known Twitch streamers and Youtubers in regards to the latest sunsetting changes.

Gothalion: “I honestly think they should reissue all gear. Get rid of sunsetting and go back to the drawing board.

I was in support of sunsetting at the beginning but said there had to be as much new gear as there was gear leaving. IMO, reissuing is not new. Time for a new solution.”

Gladd: “Thoughts:

I feel like sunsetting isn't quite what we had hoped for. The re-intro of gear to make loot relevant seems off? Regrinding for the same stuff feels "artificial." By the time you grind something, it's gone.

In the end - WE JUST WANT EXCITING/NEW LOOT!

Mtashed: “Eh. I think the sunsetting + reissuing of gear is the final straw for me.

Stasis pretty much ruined the game for me, but I haven't cared about gear in Destiny for years at this point.

It doesn't seem to be changing any time soon. Not sure I'll ever be back at this rate.

nKuch: “I'm convinced sunsetting is one big elaborate troll, or maybe like an early april fools joke.”

Sunsetting isn't an issue that just affects the hardcore players like the ones above but in fact affects the more casual players even more. At worst, these streamers are paid to play the game so the ability to grind the gear again is content they can work with. I'm not saying these streamers should be happy about this but I am using this to show that more casual players don't have this luxury.

These casual players make up a significant portion of the total Destiny player base. These players likely only have a handful of hours to dedicate to Destiny a week and so every minute counts.

If these players are told “Hey, you can grind 20 hours for this amazing gun that you get to keep forever!” many would dedicate the time to this goal. If they are instead told “Hey, you can grind 20 hours for this amazing gun but it becomes far less usable in a year's time,” many will simply not bother.

Bungie’s purpose behind sunsetting is to extend player engagement but if the above tweets and other anecdotes posted around social media are anything to go by, it seems Bungie has accomplished the opposite. Bungie is still struggling with a disconnect between themselves and their player base.

Gothalion said it best: “Get rid of sunsetting and go back to the drawing board.”