Destiny 2’s Trials of Osiris revamp could bring back casual players at last

Bungie has revealed that a huge Trials of Osiris revamp is coming to Destiny 2 in Episode Heresy, designed with the goal of bringing back casual players.

As confirmed in a blog post on January 22, the competitive PvP mode will be receiving a wide range of changes next episode, with these including a complete overhaul of its reward system, a shift away from the focus on going Flawless, and simplified matchmaking.

Bungie wants to redesign the game mode to better appeal to Guardians that wouldn’t normally be interested and those that stopped playing some time ago. Their main plan to achieve this is by making general rewards like weapon rolls and mementos more accessible.

The full list of changes is massive, but these are the key details:

• Improved rewards by no longer requiring Flawless to earn them. Instead, Trials will reward all players while giving exclusive cosmetic rewards to those who demonstrate the highest skill. Even if you lose every game, you will still receive plenty of drops.
• Simplified matchmaking that makes it more obvious how you are being matched with opponents. The new matchmaking is especially favorable to solo players, who won’t be punished as heavily moving forward.
• Improved rules that encourage fighting first and zone control second, while still directing players to points of conflict around the map and encouraging aggressive play over passivity. This coincides with ability nerfs and weapon balance changes that look to put the focus back on gunplay.

Will Bungie’s plans save Trials of Osiris?

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Commenting on why these changes are needed, the Destiny 2 developer states that Trials of Osiris is “not fun or rewarding for average to below average players.”

That’s a stance most Guardians will agree with, as the current version of Trials of Osiris heavily favors high-skill players that can chain wins together, go Flawless, and rake in all of the rewards.

With these changes, you can essentially lose every game and still come away with a god roll of your choice. The main reason you’d want to win now is to either speed up this process or earn exclusive cosmetics rewards from The Lighthouse.

It’s hard to say if this will be enough, but it’s likely that jaded players will at least give the new system a try in the opening few weeks, especially while they still have god rolls to hunt down.

Beyond that, there are valid concerns that PvP as a whole just isn’t casual friendly, and the Trials experience still won’t appeal to those who don’t already play it. Likewise, the Destiny 2 player count is not in an ideal spot, so it’s very possible that casual players have already gone for good.