Summary
When there aren’t any seasonal events occurring in patrol destinations, like the Season of the Deep’s fishing activity, exploring patrol destinations inDestiny 2can be very underwhelming. With some of the older patrol destinations getting retired and the remaining locations mostly lacking in worthwhile rewards, futureDestiny 2updates should bring new life to its older patrol zones. The patrol zones from the recent expansions are a step in the right direction, butDestiny 2’s old patrol zones are long overdue for an update.
Besidescompleting Lost Sectorsor finding Xur, there aren’t too many good reasons for players to exploreDestiny 2’s patrol destinations anymore, particularly the older locations. With many of the activities from the old patrol destinations having been overhauled or the locations themselves being retired to the Destiny Content Vault, what remains isn’t very productive to engage with. While the newer locations from the recent expansions have features that can be worthwhile, the old locations are only a fragment of their former glory.
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Destiny 2’s Old Patrol Destinations Need Better Rewards and Activities
One major feature from patrol destinations that have become highly neglected inDestiny 2is the faction vendors. Players could once earn faction reputation in the patrol destinations to obtain loot from the vendors, but nowadays, this is a luxury that is only available on patrol destinations from the latest expansions. The old patrol destinations like Nessus, EDZ, and the Cosmodrome still have vendors, but they have lost their reputation mechanics.
Another underlying reason why the old vendors are obsolete is thatDestiny 2’s planetary materials have lost their value. Back in the originalDestiny, planetary materials were constantly required for unlocking new perks and mod slots for armor and weapons. In the current state ofDestiny 2, though, most of the planetary materials now only function as vouchers to exchange for the game’smain Glimmer currency. Yet again, destinations from the latest expansions don’t suffer from this issue since players earn faction reputation for collecting the planetary materials there.
Between exploration and the activities, the old patrol destinations are generally only good for earning Glimmer inDestiny 2. The lacking rewards from Public Events have been a meme in theDestiny 2community since as far back as the Curse of Osiris expansion from 2017, known as “two tokens and a blue”. While this expansion has since been retired to the Destiny Content Vault, it still lives rent-free in the minds of longtime players who find themselves completingPublic Events inDestiny 2.
Bringing temporary activities related to the current Season inDestiny 2to the patrol destinations has proven to be a fun experience, but this isn’t enough to redeem the old patrol zones. Given how Season of the Deep turned out, future Seasons should learn fromhow the fishing activity impactedDestiny 2and tread carefully when introducing activities to patrol destinations.
The main grievance that the community has with fishing inDestiny 2is that Public Events will end any ongoing fishing activity, forcing players to engage with the Public Event. Even when pressed to participate in Public Events like so, many players still avoided them or used tactics to lessen their interference with fishing. Given the contrast of rewards between these two activities, fishing is a much higher priority for now.
WhatDestiny 2’s old patrol destinations truly need is the same treatment as the new locations from the recent expansions. Even these still have their weaknesses, but ever sincethe Beyond Light expansion, the latest patrol destinations inDestiny 2manage to offer plenty of rewarding activities that are absent from the old planets. Whether it be in future Seasons or future expansions,Destiny 2should bring new life into its patrol destinations.
Destiny 2is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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