It’s clear as day that Bungie has shot for the moon with the new Final Shape DLC for Destiny 2. On top of a compelling campaign, a stellar Raid, and an impressive assortment of cool new goodies, there’s also the Dual Destiny mission, which features Exotic class items.
Dual Destiny is, essentially, a bog-standard Exotic missions much as the ones we’re all accustomed to seeing as part of the usual seasonal content cadence. Dual Destiny’s unique party trick, though, is that it is very communication-heavy and it comes with no matchmaking and very specifically requires a two-person fireteam. In most cases, Destiny 2 opts for three, or six-player fireteams with an occasional foray into four-player activities. Aside from the rare Crimson Days forays into two-player combat scenarios, we’ve never had something quite like Dual Destiny before, and the community isn’t sure what to make of it all just yet.
Destiny 2’s Exotic class item mission is a two-player ordeal
Of course, some players are quite thrilled with the Dual Destiny’s revelation. The mission feels like a two-person micro Raid, thanks to its hectic gameplay mechanics and a surprisingly aggressive timer working against the players. Its rewards, too, are quite phenomenal and highly coveted: the Exotic class items (i.e. capes, marks, and bonds) that roll randomized Exotic perks.
Exotic class items obviously enable a huge array of previously inaccessible combat builds, and so the good news is that as long as you’ve completed Dual Destiny at least once, they will seemingly continue to drop at random from a variety of Pale Heart loot sources. However, not everyone is thrilled with how “limiting” the Dual Destiny mission feels.
Since Destiny 2 is most pointedly not a single-player game, it’s a given that some of its activity simply won’t be playable for those who don’t want to jump into matches with other people. Raids, for one, have been established as tense six-player activities that basically necessitate constant communication from the get-go. It shouldn’t be that big of a shock to see Bungie experiment with this same concept on a smaller scale.
On the other hand, I do get it, as a solo Helldivers 2 player. There’s certainly no concrete precedent for two-player PvE activities in Destiny 2, and Dual Destiny was, perhaps, always going to be controversial in this context. Whatever the case may be, there are some downsides to Exotic class items worth keeping in mind: you can’t transmog them (and they’re extremely visible), and you’re almost certainly going to have to grind a fair bit until you find something that suits your playstyle.
With that in mind, some players are bound to just avoid Dual Destiny altogether and move on with their lives. Form my point of view, though, that’d be a bit of a shame, as the mission looks like great fun.
