Destiny 2will soon be traversing a period of huge transitions due to the release of The Witch Queen expansion and all the changes that come with it. The expansion is just a bit over three weeks away from its release, and its changes are being detailed by Bungie in TWABs and other official statements on social media, and many of the things coming toDestiny 2are likely going to be the end of an era and the beginning of a new one. One of the most controversial topics ever since it was discussed in a recent TWAB has been that of Orbs of Power and the means to generate them - a crucial part of the gameplay experience.
Orbs of Powerhave always been very strong in that they provide a small amount of Super energy when players pick them up, making for a rather fast recharge time when fireteams are properly organized. However, Orbs of Power have also always been very problematic because they were tied toDestiny 2’s Masterwork weapons, which gained the ability to generate Orbs on multikills with all Masterwork weapons at any given time. The problem lies in the fact that Masterwork weapons became too powerful and limited in their arsenal of perks, and Exotic weapons without a catalyst were borderline unusable because they couldn’t generate Orbs - which also became very relevant with Charged with Light mods. All of this is changing with The Witch Queen, and it’s hard to tell if it’s for the best.
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Destiny 2: Why Planned Orb Generation Changes Are Problematic
Orb Generation inDestiny 2will drastically change with The Witch Queen expansion, becoming unbound from Masterwork gear and rather tied to element-specific mods that are also going to be exclusive to helmet slots. The main issue here is that there are four elements inDestiny 2(Void, Solar, Arc, and Stasis), plus Kinetic damage, which is an elemental-less source of damage that relies on the force of impact. However, there are only two available slots on helmets for mods that are not tied to stat augmentation orDestiny 2’s Combat Style mods.
What this means is that players can, at best, have only two different sources of damage generate Orbs of Power on multikills whenThe Witch Queenlaunches, which in-and-of-itself limits build and loadout choices by a lot. This is further exacerbated by the fact that some other build-enabling and generally useful mods are exclusive to helmet slots, including mods that allowDestiny 2players to find more ammo for specific weapon archetypes. Thus, not only players will have fewer options to choose from, but they will also have to give up handy mods that don’t disrupt regular gameplay on their own.
Endgame activities likeDestiny 2’s Nightfall Strikesoften feature modifiers like Match Game, which requires players to deal damage of the same element as the shields of the enemies to destroy them quickly. Having also mods that limit Orb generation to specific elements can make it very uncomfortable to switch between builds and loadouts in-between activities, and also an unnecessarily frustrating experience.
Furthermore, many Charged with Light builds and even specific item perks - such as that ofDestiny 2Hunters' Star-Eater Scales - rely on Orbs of Power to get going, but there will be a scarcity of them moving forward. Mods like Taking Charge will mostly be unused, and builds that are based on fast Super energy generation will lose out on part of their fuel, making them outclassed by most others. As such, unless the Orbs of Power situation is further addressed with complementary changes to make it more bearable for both theorycrafting builds and switching loadouts, the changes are likely to be a debacle.
Destiny 2is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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