Bungie’s recent removal of Destiny 2’s Encore farm has sparked backlash, giving early grinders a major advantage in the upcoming Desert Perpetual raid race.
If you’ve been following the Destiny 2 news, you might have noticed the mood is a little tense right now. Bungie has just made a change that’s left a big chunk of the community frustrated, especially for anyone who was hoping for a fair shot in the Desert Perpetual raid race.
Here’s what went down: Following the launch of the Edge of Fate expansion on Tuesday, players found out that running the Encore exotic mission in the Pinnacle Ops (from the Portal) was the fastest way to climb to the new 450 power cap. It was efficient, quick, and helped dedicated players gear up fast for the big raid. This strat allowed some hardcore players to reach over 350+ Power level in just 2 days.
But Bungie wasn’t happy with how easy this method was, or how quickly players were leveling up. Yesterday, the developer pulled the plug on both the Grapple modifier and the Encore mission itself, swapping it out for another exotic mission (Starcrossed) with fewer rewards.
In the devs’ words, Encore was “substantially easier to complete, and dropping higher quantities of rewards, than intended.” The change came in suddenly, just a day before the Desert Perpetual raid opens.
Hardcore Destiny 2 Players Get a Huge Advantage in the Desert Perpetual Raid Race
This single decision means anyone who farmed Encore right after the update now has a big edge over everyone else going into the Desert Perpetual raid race. Hardcore players with plenty of free time were able to run Encore back-to-back, grabbing higher-tier gear (like Tier 4 armor and weapons) before Bungie shut it all down.
If you started even a day late, or just didn’t have time to grind non-stop, you’re now heading into the raid with lower-tier gear and fewer options.
Now, here’s why that actually matters: for the Desert Perpetual raid, everyone’s power level will be capped thanks to Contest Mode, so on paper, the playing field should be even. But the power levelling changed with the Edge of Fate update. The real difference comes from gear tiers; higher-tier gear comes with better stats, more energy, and tuning options that let you customize your build for the raid mechanics.
Players who farmed Encore early and reached over 300 Power level can get higher-tier gear, which now allows them to build out the strongest, most flexible loadouts, giving them a serious edge for the day one raid. Meanwhile, everyone else is still scrambling to catch up the slow way, making it much harder to get the perfect setup before the race starts.
As of now, Bungie hasn’t said anything about rolling back the change or doing anything to balance out the playing field before the raid goes live. Unless something changes, the raid race is going to kick off with a huge chunk of players already left behind.
Community reaction has been overwhelmingly negative, with the Destiny 2 Team’s announcement post on X racking up over 1,500 replies and more than 1.2 million views in no time. Plenty of players called the decision “tone-deaf” and unfair, especially for those who couldn’t spend hours grinding right after the update.
“Prime example of Bungie making a tone-deaf change that negatively impacts the player base,” said community member Benjjjyy. “We’ve seen it so many times over the years, and yet they still continue to do it. This needs to be reverted for damage control ASAP.”
Another content creator, HOUNDISH, called it “major mood killing material” and said punishing people who missed out or just wanted to play the DLC at their own pace is exhausting for the community. “Punishing folks who missed this, or chose to play the actual DLC instead, is wild given how much content some players will be locked out of for the foreseeable. This is major mood killing material, and the game doesn’t need any more drama.”
iSpecialHero echoed that, saying, “If this happened early on, it would have been okay, but doing it no,w you are only punishing those who didn’t/couldn’t commit to the grind early and leave the ones who did with a big advantage.”
MissVioletShade said, “This leaves a really bad taste in my mouth and has soured this Day 1 prep experience… yikes,” pointing out that anyone who took their time with the new content now feels completely left behind.
Speaking of the raid, if you want to see what’s up for grabs, we’ve got an early look at the Desert Perpetual raid loot, including the new exotic weapon, legendary armor sets, and all the cosmetics. You can check them out here.
How do you feel about Bungie’s decision and the upcoming raid race? Drop your thoughts in the comments!
