The Destiny 2 Lightfall was in the making for quite a while and dropped last week (28th February). The launch was overwhelmingly successful for Bungie, as over 316,000 concurrent players joined the game to enjoy this long-awaited expansion pack.
The previous record for concurrent players stood at around 290,000, and the Lightfall expansion took the lead by more than 26,000 players. This count shows that players anticipated this patch and wanted new “juice” to the game.
While the 316,000 players only present a fraction of the player base, it was still a massive achievement for Bungie. The servers were clogged with players, and the queue times were extensive. However, that didn’t stop more players from pouring into the Destiny 2 Lightfall expansion.
Steam DB recorded this astounding number of new players at an all-time high of 316,750. The Lightfall reignited the Destiny 2 spell in old players, and the subreddit discussions and community forums became amazingly active.
Lightfall Expansion Review
The hype carried the community sentiment at first, and all the posts around the 1st of March to the 3rd of March were positive. Everyone was having a good time until some players started to get bored of the repetitive objectives.
Yes, the grappling ability was terrific, and you could move around pretty freely through the game, but the cooldown did bring down the hype around this action. Still, players were having a blast and pushed through the slightly bland first section of the campaign.
Silver Lining
I loved the Lightfall expansion, but I can’t ignore the confusing changes introduced in the latest patch. The amazing views from Noumena’s skybox and the City murals provide an immersive and fantastic experience with a unique artistic feel to them.
The headless Tormentors add fun to the action as they run at you to squeeze the life out of the traveler. While I wish that I come across a horde of these headless Tormentors, I highly doubt that I’ll be able to survive for long.
Strand Grappling is another great mechanic, allowing players to be creative and cross massive ravines without breaking a sweat. While it looks impressive, strand grappling is broken and might be nerfed in the upcoming patches.
Lastly, the minor tweak of warlock gestures further adds more depth to the game. You can focus on the hand gestures that precede the ability chargers, and it will feel like the warlocks are casting an ancient spell on the spot.
All these changes have gained nothing but praise from the players, old and new alike. It is pretty incredible how Bungie outdid itself to create this masterpiece for the players.
The Confusion
While there is no debate that the Lightfall expansion was significant from Bungie, there were some things, like the grapple hook, that glitched half of the time. It was next to impossible to beat the final boss while relying on this ability after the mid-phase.
The first half of the fight with the final boss was decent. Everything seems under control, keeping me on my toes regarding each move. However, the midpoint was atrocious, to say the least. The fact that I am expected to rely on these broken abilities to beat a super-hard boss monster still appalls me.
Armor Charge is the next thing that might sound “cool,” but it is far from practical. It is tiring to track all the little orbs just to charge the armor abilities (which are not even that good, by the way). Moreover, the subclass sprite further reduces the depth of the gameplay, and you’re left with a bland experience.
Lastly, the whole story revolves around the veil — a failed attempt to create mystery. The campaign side of things left a lot to be desired, and the best that came out from Destiny 2 Lightfall was the minor changes in abilities, gestures, and bug fixes.
All in all, the attempt to create mystery only added to the confusion, and the “Traveler is dead” finale was incredibly underwhelming. While the NPC mentioned that the link was severed, even though everyone still had “light.”
It might have been intended to be a dramatic climax, but there wasn’t any depth behind this finale. Still, it is only the first week, and there will be more changes in the upcoming patches.
Wrapping Up
As long as we don’t discuss the storyline and the campaign, the Lightfall expansion has been overwhelmingly successful. This expansion broke the concurrent player record with 316,750 players and introduced many minor tweaks and unique mechanics.
The highlight will remain on the grappling abilities and modifying the traveler build to limit the cooldown around this feature. Furthermore, the aesthetics and the attention to detail created a superior gaming experience for new and old Destiny 2 players.
