Live-service games such as Destiny 2 thrive on frequent updates and annual events. Having new events release allows players to chase new items while engaging in new activities. While Destiny 2 has its fair share of events, few garner as much attention as Solstice of Heroes.
Right before a new expansion, players can embark on a massive grind during this four-week event to earn a prestigious set of Solstice armor. This armor is one of the most distinct-looking sets in the game. The event is a great excuse to try out each of Destiny 2’s events, but it certainly has its fair share of issues. From glow controversies to the European Aerial Zone, here are 5 reasons why Solstice of Heroes is both great and somewhat of a flop.
10 Great: Increased Bright Dust Gains
As with most events in Destiny 2, Solstice of Heroes brings with it two new weekly bounties that grant Bright Dust on completion. Daily and repeatable bounties can also be completed for additional Glimmer and experience gains. Considering how many cosmetics get added during Solstice of Heroes, gaining an extra 400 Bright Dust per character per week is a massive boon for earning new cosmetic gear.
9 Flop: Eververse-Only Cosmetics
Consequently, every event introduced in Destiny 2 is jam-packed with dozens if not hundreds of new cosmetics items, most of which are locked behind absurd Bright Dust costs or Silver. Solstice of Heroes is one of the worst in this aspect.
This wouldn’t be as large of an issue if some of these cosmetics were tied behind challenges in the event instead of a cash shop. Bungie tried this with 2019’s Solstice by having a unique Sparrow locked behind Masterworking all three sets, but the Sparrow was objectively worse than most Exotics. Instead of trying to improve in this regard, Bungie decided to remove additional unlocks for the event besides the armor itself. Calling it a wasted opportunity is an understatement.
8 Great: Completing Armor Challenges On Alternate Characters
Year 3’s Solstice of Heroes made a fantastic change where players earn additional progress on armor challenges if the Solstice armor grind has been completed on other characters. Previously, players had to grind out thousands of Elemental Orbs and complete dozens of Gambit and Crucible matches to finish the set on all three classes.
This is, thankfully, no longer the case. Completing a character’s Legendary set will make subsequent Legendary armor objectives take half as long to finish. Completing it on two characters makes it three times faster on the final character. Instead of completing 30 Gambit matches this year for the Magnificent set, players only need to finish 19. It’s a massive improvement for completionists that makes the event’s grind much more relaxed.
7 Flop: Solstice Packages
Completing any activity during Solstice of Heroes will grant Solstice Key Fragments, which can be used to open Solstice Packages. These packages grant rewards ranging from blue-quality armor to Masterwork materials. They are meant to be earned in large quantities to keep the event rewarding, but there’s one major flaw to these packages.
Solstice Packages can only be earned from European Aerial Zone runs. They aren’t guaranteed, either. Kill efficiency is important to make sure the maximum number of chests spawn per run that can grant packages, but this style of play makes players burn out quickly. It can be seen as an issue with the EAZ itself, but the mode’s simple and formulaic rhythm makes it easy to burn out on, resulting in players having thousands of Key Fragments with nothing to use them on.
6 Great: Ornamental Glows
Armor glows are a major part of every Solstice of Heroes event. Every year, players can spend 6,000 Bright Dust to purchase elemental glows for the Solstice armor, causing players to glow based on the Subclass currently equipped.
One issue with the 2018 and 2019 events is that the armor glows were made obsolete right after the next expansion rolled around. For 2020, Bungie made the elemental armor universal ornaments, meaning any Legendary armor can be transmogrified into the Solstice armor. This is a fantastic change that ensures that the armor will not be made obsolete when Beyond Light releases.
5 Flop: Glow Controversies
That said, glows themselves have been a major issue. 2018’s glows are rather dull but could be recolored with shaders. Contrast this with 2019 and 2020’s glows which can’t be recolored at all. To make matters worse, 2018 and 2019’s glows were tied to a vanity slot exclusive to Solstice armor. When these armors became obsolete with future expansions, this meant that the glows were effectively wasted Bright Dust.
Year 3’s event fixed this by tying the glow to the armor piece itself. That still caused issues as the elemental universal ornaments had a much weaker glow intensity than the universal white glows that could be earned through the final set of Solstice armor challenges. Bungie did fix this issue towards the end of the event, but these premium vanity items have always had issues every year.
4 Great: European Aerial Zone
Few arenas in Destiny 2 allow for true vertical mobility quite like the European Aerial Zone. The game mode itself is rather generic, asking players to kill as many minibosses as possible before defeating a proper final boss. What makes this mode so great, however, is the location itself.
Multi-story buildings and sprawling streets allow players to truly utilize their mobility. Gliding through the sky as a Warlock or hiking up buildings as a Hunter provides a scale that no other area in the game matches. It’s likely why Bungie ends every EAZ run with a short treasure hunt to let players explore. If the objectives themselves were varied, this would arguably be one of the best casual PvE game types in the game.
3 Flop: Trials Of Osiris Requirement
One of the largest flops Solstice of Heroes has seen is 2020’s final armor challenges. Most of the challenges are feasible for most of the player base excluding the boots. To earn the white glow on Solstice boots, players need to win seven Trials of Osiris games.
Yes, not play, win. This doesn’t have to be on the same passage nor the same weekend, but asking players to win even a single Trials game is a major task. PC Trials matches are filled with cheaters and console players frequently deal with DDoS attacks. Considering the mode’s lackluster rewards and balance in the PvP sandbox, its shocking that Bungie OK’d this glow requirement. Completing Competitive matches would have been more in line with the rest of the challenges.
2 Great: Elemental Days
Every day during Solstice of Heroes, players can obtain Elemental Orbs from defeating enemies. Grabbing 30 orbs that match the daily singe will grant massive bonuses. Void grants wallhacks and invisibility on crouch, Arc grants Sword ammo and movement speed, and Solar sets nearby foes ablaze. To make matters better, Supers tied to the respective singe last twice as long. Using six-shooter Gunslinger or Stormtrance with double duration is one of the most fun things players can do in Destiny 2.
1 Flop: Obsolete Armor
Alluded to earlier, Solstice of Heroes has had a serious issue with bringing its armor forward during a new expansion. Since the event takes place just before a new expansion, they typically become obsolete due to armor getting changes.
Solstice of Heroes in 2018 was obsolete in Forsaken due to armor perks returning while 2019’s armor was obsolete during Shadowkeep since it came with absurdly low stat rolls and fixed elemental affinities. The armor from 2020’s Solstice seems to not have this issue, yet the community has yet to forgive Bungie for charging 6,000 Bright Dust for armor glows tied to an armor set that became irrelevant in just over a month. A lack of compensation for this issue was enough to make certain members of the community skip Solstice of Heroes entirely.
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