With the arrival of the Destiny’s The Taken King expansion, new exotic weapons and armor were joined by some upgraded Year One exotics. Though the initial wave of returning weapons was commendable, quite a few fan favorites were left out of the fold. Today, fans saw several Year One weapons announced as Year Two exotics, but unfortunately, so many of the most deserving weapons were missing.
The Destiny team took to Instagram, showing off the next wave of Year Two exotics. They kicked it off with the Mida Multi-Tool, a Year One scout rifle in high demand (even though it’s certainly not he most requested Year One weapon). It was definitely a good start to the reveal, which continued to tease left behind weapons and armor for several hours. The weapons that followed, however, were nowhere near the same caliber.
For one, Dragon’s Breath came as an underwhelming reveal. This rocket launcher came as part of The Dark Below expansion, and had the interesting perk of leaving a Solar Flare wherever it detonated. But when most enemies worth the use of a rocket launcher are so mobile, Dragon’s Breath’s lack of tracking makes it much less appealing than its Truth and Gjallarhorn counterparts. Sure, it can be paired with the Taikonaut Titan helmet to add tracking, but for those of a different subclass, that isn’t a possibility.
Then there was No Land Beyond and Super Good Advice, a weapon that you could originally get only if the randomly granted Exotic Quest appeared for you. This was received by a collective ‘meh’ from those following on Instagram. These were considered by many to be low on the totem pole of Year One exotics, and when placed next to all of the brand new ones, just don’t seem… well, worth it.
Bungie has been very clear on their stance towards certain, highly desired weapons like the Gjallarhorn and Thorn, which they believe had a negative effect on the community. Aside from these, there still exist less problematic weapons that would have been fantastic additions.
Take for example the Ice Breaker sniper rifle. It has slowly recharging ammunition, can explode nearby enemies, and although it has some serious recoil, is one powerful weapon. It’s not a weapon that made things unfair, nor were people left out of teams for not having it to such an extent that it needed to be nerfed (sorry Gjally), so to leave out one of the few exotics that truly feels exotic is bit odd, and comes across as a missed opportunity.
Now to be perfectly fair, Bungie has been adding extra perks and functionality to the weapons and armor they bring into the Year Two fold. This means that there is a possibility that many of the announced exotics’ shortcomings could be addressed. None of the Instagram posts came with any further details, so as it stands everything can only be taken at face value. And that value is underwhelming weaponry for now.
The armor side of things definitely looked a lot better. ATS/8 Tarantella (new to Destiny: The Taken King), Apotheosis Veil, and the Peregrine Greaves to name a few are definitely pieces of armor worth owning. Being able to instantly refill your health and abilities, or having a stronger air Shoulder Charge will always be valuable abilities.
But armor has never been too much of a drag in Destiny; each has had great uses and everyone has their favorite piece. So many users, if not all, were following along in the hopes of seeing some of their favorite weapons return to the front lines with a proper Destiny Year Two upgrade.
There are still plenty of things to be revealed in the future. New expansions, new events, and new exotics are undoubtedly in store for Destiny. The armor revealed today is definitely up to snuff, it just looks as if guardians are going to have to wait a bit longer if they want to get excited about those shiny, yellow weapon engrams again.
Safe travels, guardians.
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