Bungie is changing the way players gain experience points in Destiny 2, the studio announced today. The change follows players questioning the XP system, which is apparently rigged to pay out fewer loot boxes than the game should.
The issue with Destiny 2 — this time — is the Bright Engram XP setup. Bright Engrams are basically Destiny‘s loot boxes, which are already a sore subject in the wake of Battlefront II‘s controversial system. The Engrams are sold for real money, but players can unlock them for free by gaining XP after reaching level 20.
Over the course of the last week, players have noticed lower XP gains the longer they play, even when repeating the same activities that should provide the same XP every time. Many redditors have been compiling anecdotal evidence of the XP system and ultimately proved the faster you earned XP, the less you would receive for the same activities. Even though the game would tell players they were gaining X amount of experience points, the system was quietly suppressing XP gain, resulting in fewer Bright Engram rewards.
After player feedback and major news outlets running the story, Bungie posted a response on the official blog, stating the XP system in question would be suspended immediately:
“Currently, XP will scale up when playing longer or fixed duration activities like Crucible competitive multiplayer matches and the Leviathan Raid, and XP will scale down when playing activities that can be quickly, repeatedly chained, like grinding Public Events. We are not happy with the results, and we’ve heard the same from the community.
Effective immediately, we are deactivating this system.
As a result, players will see XP earn rates change for all activities across the board, but with all values being displayed consistently in the user interface. Over the course of the next week, we will be watching and reviewing XP game data to ensure that these changes meet our expectations, as well as yours. Any additional updates to this system will be communicated to you via our official channels.”
Based on the statement, it isn’t clear whether the downscaled XP was intentional on Bungie’s part or a bug in the game. Evidence points to the former, as it shouldn’t take dozens of players and journalists to uncover a bug in a game’s XP system.
