Destiny 2 director outlines major PVP overhaul on the way in near future

Destiny 2 director Joe Blackburn has outlined plans for the future of PvP in the looter shooter, with further focus on the mode coming sometime soon.

PvP in Destiny 2 has always been a bit of a unique beast. The Crucible has forever stood as a place of confusion in the looter shooter, as developers Bungie have attempted to keep the mode balanced in its ever-changing environment.

As such the mode has become somewhat dormant over the years, often being left by the wayside as Bungie looks to create new PvE content for its players instead.

PvP mains have felt a tad left out with all the new content, and considering it’s been almost three years since the last PvP map, who can blame them. Destiny 2 director Joe Blackburn is now looking to soothe these issues, however, speaking about new plans that should bring a bit of life back into the mode.

In a recent interview with PCGamer, Blackburn spoke about the uncertainty of PvP when they re-joined Bungie in 2020. The director shared they felt uncertain about the mode in the long run, especially since they weren’t sure about their ability to satisfy PvP players.

“I’m not so sure about this thing in the long run. We haven’t seen it move the needle. Have we ever been able to satisfy the PvP audience? How do we deliver players what they want?” Blackburn questioned.

They expressed how difficult it was to find examples of games that could blend both PvE and PvP together, but the director believed grabbing a gun from anywhere and taking it into PvP was a part of the Destiny experience. However, with the introduction of the PvP strike team joining the fray, Blackburn hopes to deliver more to PvP players, instead of attempting to tend to both.

“We don’t want to say: ‘Hey, we’re going to try to make every single person happy’. There are really divisive camps, so the way we want to really change our strategy is to be clear about saying: ‘This is the PvP audience for Destiny, this is what they want’. We’re going to center PvP around our players that enjoy playing Crucible for 20 hours a week. And we’re going to make it more optional for players that don’t,” Blackburn told PCGamer.

With a renewed focus on those who love PvP, the director hopes a more targeted audience will take the game mode in the right direction.

“I think that if we are clearer with who we are trying to make PvP for, we can make the right decisions for that group and we can build a thing that people enjoy.”

The team at Bungie is also open to taking risks when re-building the Crucible, stating that they “aren’t afraid of being wrong here”.

“We’re not going to let a fear of being wrong stop us from doing something and trying to really nurture this part of the game.”

There’s no telling when exactly this changed focus will see fruition in-game, but it does sound like Blackburn and the team are willing to try whatever until it works.