Just a day before Destiny 2’s Desert Perpetual Epic raid race, veteran player and World First champion Gladd drops out, calling the game “bland” and saying a full sequel is the only way to fix it.
We’re just one day away from the next big content drop in Destiny 2. The “Epic” version of the Desert Perpetual raid. Set to release tomorrow, September 27, at 10 AM PT, this version builds on the original raid that was released as part of the Edge of Fate expansion earlier this summer.
The Epic raid is expected to feature new encounter mechanics, new rewards, and secrets not found in the original version. Like with most Contest raids, there’s also a World First race. The first team to finish will earn a real-world championship belt, a badge of honor in the Destiny community.
On paper, it sounds like another big event for the game. But not everyone is on board with the idea. One of Destiny’s most prominent players has decided to walk away entirely.
“I’m Just Not Interested Anymore”
Just one day before the big event, one of Destiny 2’s most well-known players and former World First winners, Gladd, announced that he’s dropping out of the Desert Perpetual Epic raid race. Gladd was part of the team that got the World First clear for Last Wish back in 2018. In a long post shared on X (formerly Twitter), he said he no longer feels excited about the game and doesn’t want to drag his team down by forcing himself to play.
“Yes, I dropped out of the upcoming Contest Day 1 Raid Race last minute,” he said. “I’ve apologized to my team; I feel terrible. I truly do. But it’s just better that I’m actually not there, instead of forcing myself to be there.”
“This is my first ever Contest/WF Raid Race that I’m not interested in,” Gladd wrote, saying Destiny 2 feels “bland” and “a chore.” He also criticized the current state of the game’s systems, like the power grind and the loot economy. According to him, chasing 500+ power gear or Tier 5 loot just isn’t fun anymore.
“The loot system and the Portal system need work,” he added.
“The power grind is…. boring. The activities and Portal system need mad work still, and the loot system isn’t interesting enough to engage someone like me, who wants an interesting grind and chase,” he said. “I just cannot sit there and chase T5 loot with the current system or increase my level above 500, especially after playing something like Borderlands, where the most interesting loot is thrown at you regularly lol. Much of the interesting loot now is just handed via some quest or bounty. The ‘certainty’ factor is a turn-off.”
Gladd also pushed back on Bungie’s recent changes like the “Not Swap” modifier, calling it confusing and unnecessary: “It’s just something… no one asked for? Contest raids are made for high-level players. High-level players min-max. They optimize. Loadouts are in the game. Changing things within an encounter is all of that.
“Why create an activity for a player type, then insert something into that activity that those players didn’t ask for. It feels like a band-aid fix to power creep. Just put on locked loadouts at this point. Locked loadouts also sucks. There has to be a better solution over time here.”
But the most striking part of the message came toward the end: “The. Only. Thing. That. Will. Save. This. Franchise. Is. A. Brand. New. Game.” Gladd says he told Bungie back in 2019 that they should start fresh with Destiny 3, and still believes that’s the only path forward.
“That’s final. Fresh start. I’m a broken record at this point. And the fact that D3 could have been, but wasn’t and won’t be, is f***ing insane. Biggest throw. Of. All. Time. Back in 2019, the devs (at the studio) asked me if I thought it’d be more interesting to build upon D2 long term, or relaunch a new game and call it Destiny 3 in the future. I 100% said D3 was the play. Many of us knew it. It’s still the truth.”
While Gladd’s exit is the biggest spotlight yet, he isn’t the only one expressing frustration. Social media is full of posts from Destiny fans saying they don’t feel drawn to this raid race like they would if it were a brand-new raid. Some argue that the “Epic” label doesn’t carry the same excitement as new content.
This comes at a tough time for Bungie. Destiny 2’s Steam player counts have dropped sharply since the launch of Edge of Fate, falling from nearly 100,000 on day one to under 20,000 peaks this week. At the same time, Steam has started issuing full refunds for the $100 Year of Prophecy bundle in regions where the game was suddenly blocked due to “restrictions by law.”
So with all that going on, how are you feeling about the upcoming raid race? Are you jumping in, or sitting this one out? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
