Destiny 2 Accidentally Nerfs Exotic Loot Drops As Morale Craters

Prismatic exotic class items are some of the most powerful gear in Destiny 2: The Final Shape because they can randomly roll with special perks from other loot, letting players mix-and-match them to craft extra powerful builds. But thanks to a recent update, their drop rate has once again hit rock bottom a week after Bungie announced dramatic cuts to the staff working on the game.

Patch 8.0.5 went live earlier this week and seemed like it was going to improve grinding for the rare and highly sought after gear with better drop rates. Instead, it seems like a bug or other issue has actually made exotic class items harder to get. Players immediately noticed that Overthrow, an activity on the expansion’s new Pale Heart destination and the most popular way to farm class items, was not dishing out any additional drops. The likelihood of a drop was supposed to be going up more with each completion. Instead, it seemed to have ground to halt.

“I spent more than 2 hours and 3 full overthrow runs and did NOT get a drop,” wrote one player in a popular thread on the Destiny subreddit. “I just KNEW when they announced the changes that it was gonna be worse. At least revert back to the old way PLEASE BUNGIE. And actually fucking BUFF the drop rates instead of NERF them. Smfh...” Another wrote, “3 Overthrows for 1 Exotic Class Item, this is absurd.”

The other main way to obtain exotic class item drops is from the Dual Destiny exotic mission. At least one is guaranteed on the first completion each week, but it can otherwise be a long and tedious affair to keep grinding. Unfortunately, the new surprise nerf means that this suboptimal method is now the defacto best way to farm this specific type of loot.

“We’ve identified an issue impacting Exotic Class Item drop rates,” Bungie confirmed on August 7. “At this time, Tier 4 Overthrow Chests are not contributing to increased drop chances, nor can Exotic Class Items be awarded through them. We’re currently developing a fix, aiming for a near-term hotfix. We are also looking into giving players a way to chase specific perks in a future update. More details as plans solidify.”

Players weren’t too forgiving. “So I WASN’T going crazy after 5 hours and only getting 2 drops,” one of them wrote back. Other Destiny 2 fans feel the exotic class item situation, which is a core draw of the post-Final Shape end-game at the moment, needs more urgent attention. Some want the item to become craftable, while others just want Bungie to turn on the loot spigot and let them rain down on players.

That’s in part because morale in the community is in tatters after the latest round of deep cuts at Bungie and reporting that Destiny 2 is moving away from big expansions with no fresh sequel coming anytime soon. The sci-fi MMO shooter’s future has never felt more up in the air, and it’s been a real whiplash moment for fans still coming off the high of the expansion that successfully wrapped up 10-years of live service storytelling. It’ll take more than just a new This Week At Bungie roundup to repair that trust, but fixing the exotic class item debacle would be a start.