The Edge of Fate expansion forDestiny 2has finally arrived, and so too has the newest Raid: The Desert Perpetual. Not only are content creators and their audiences of back-seat gamers competing against the clock to finish this new Raid inDestiny 2within the first 48 hours for the promise of bonus loot during the Raid’s Contest Mode, but these players are actively competing against each other to take home the bragging rights of the ‘world’s first’ completion in The Desert Perpetual Raid Race.
With so much at stake, players ultimately need to bring their best gear andmeta builds inDestiny 2to stand a fighting chance in this new Raid and the associated race. However, despite a variety of new and improved buildcrafting tools available inDestiny 2’s Edge of Fate expansion, the builds that many players are bringing into the Raid Race spill the tea about this new generation of loot and its place in the current meta. As is evidenced by many players neglecting these new buildcrafting tools coming into the Desert Perpetual Raid Race, Destiny 2’s Armor 3.0 builds are surprisingly a long way off from replacing the old Armor 2.0 meta just yet, especially when it comes to the new legendary and Exotic weapons.
Destiny 2’s New Buildcrafting Tools in the Edge of Fate Expansion Are a Gift Horse
When they were first revealed, the new generation of loot inDestiny 2’s Armor 3.0 update, such as loot tiers, gear sets, and new weapon archetypes, admittedly sounded quite promising. At the time, many players were debating whether hunting down a full inventory of this new generation of loot would be necessary for players who planned on participating in the upcoming Raid Race, and the consensus seemed to lean towards yes. Now that the Raid Race is here, though, the new Armor 3.0 loot hasn’t exactly shiftedDestiny 2’s meta as initially expected.
Whether it be due to a lack of variety, a lack of accessibility, or both, it’s seemingly clear that the new Armor 3.0 buildcrafting tools aren’t going to be replacing the existing meta anytime soon, since most of the content creators who are participating inthe Desert Perpetual Raid Raceare using little to none of the new loot from this expansion just yet. To be more specific, players are using the new gear set armors to take full advantage of the Armor 3.0 stat specializations, though the new tiered weapons are generally being neglected in favor of pre-existing legendary and Exotic weapons, which speaks volumes toDestiny 2’s Armor 3.0 update.
Destiny 2’s Fate Saga Playing the Long Game Puts The Edge of Fate Expansion in an Awkward Position
So far, there are only a handful of Armor 3.0 gear sets and new weapons for players to earn, which is part of the problem. This will naturally grow into an expansive catalog in due time asDestiny 2’s multi-year Fate sagaunfolds, but this long-term payoff isn’t very helpful right now that The Edge of Fate expansion’s Raid Race has begun. Whereas, now more than ever, players could have desperately used some new gear to overcome the challenges that await in the Desert Perpetual Raid.
This kind of awkward transitional phase leading up to a Raid Race inDestiny 2is quite common, but it’s generally far more extreme in The Edge of Fate expansion now that several core loot systems have just been simultaneously overhauled.
Aside from the limited variety of new loot available, the unforeseen hurdles players need to overcome to earn some of this gear haven’t exactly given players a fair chance to earn enough new weapons and armor sets to put together proper builds in time for the Desert Perpetual Raid Race. For starters, there’s a pesky bug that prevents players from earninghigh-tier gear onDestiny 2’s Kepler, where the prerequisite Triumphs to earn this gear currently aren’t being completed despite players meeting the necessary conditions.
To make matters worse, some of the new gear seems to be exclusive to the Raid, like thenew heavy crossbow weapon type inDestiny 2. Hence, whether or not players wanted to update their Armor 2.0 builds with some of the new Armor 3.0 loot, it ultimately wasn’t viable to do so in time for the Desert Perpetual Raid Race.
Sorry, Armor 3.0, Destiny 2’s Old Armor 2.0 Meta Isn’t Going Away Anytime Soon
Ever since thecontroversial ‘Sunset Reversal’ inDestiny 2removed the restrictions that were once placed on old gear and made this loot once again viable in endgame content, plenty of longtime players likely have hundreds of loot from past expansions stored in their vault. So, as good as the new Armor 3.0 gear is, it unfortunately has to compete with several years’ worth of god-roll weapons in players’ vaults, which are readily available at the press of a button.
Despite ultimately seeming inevitable, it will likely be a while, if ever, before the new Armor 3.0 buildcrafting tools as a whole will dethrone the Armor 2.0 meta gear that most players already have. Even withDestiny 2’s new Seasonal Artifactin The Edge of Fate expansion providing increased weapon damage and additional damage resistance when using the new Armor 3.0 gear, this alone doesn’t seem to be enough to encourage players to use Armor 3.0 weapons over pre-existing meta weapons.
Given that the Contest Mode Raid Races are arguably the most difficult content in all ofDestiny 2, the fact that little to no players are using the new Armor 3.0 weapons in their Raid meta builds ultimately speaks volumes about where this loot fits into the current meta so far. Unless there are plans to Sunset the Armor 2.0 weapons at some point, and riskrepeating an old controversy inDestiny 2, it’s painfully clear by now that the Armor 2.0 meta isn’t going away anytime soon.
