First off I think we need to get it out of the way that I am in fact a Titan main in Destiny 2, always have been, and likely always will be. It is the class that I enjoy the most and I don’t see anything changing that. However I have not been actively playing the game because I am more or less checked out on this season. However yesterday I heard about a controversy that is happening over there which lead me to log in and check it out for myself. So for those who are unaware the Guardian Games are going on right now and in theory they are an Olympics themed event where all three classes compete to collect Gold Medals by doing activities, getting laurels by getting ability finishing blows and by completing bounties.
Going into the games however Bungie had a problem that they would have to deal with. Hunters are simply the most popular class in the game period. As I understand it there are more than enough Hunters to account for the population of Titans and Warlocks combined. So going into the games they decided to weight the contribution from each of the classes in an attempt to even things out a bit. To the best of my knowledge there is no real information in how this “leveling of the field” has worked, and I would not be surprised if in an attempt to quell the rumors we see something posted in the TWAB (this week at bungie for the uninitiated). However in the state of things currently there are so many tinfoil hat theories going on about what is happening, and how the hunters who are apparently super vocal are being robbed of what should have been otherwise a certain victory.
If you look at the image above you can see the total progress for each of the classes and Titans are leading by what appears to be a massive margin. So clearly they are cheating right, or at least that is what the rumors are focused on. However last night I decided to hop into the game and check out the games for myself. I queued up for some activities and in each case I was grouped with at least one other Titan, which is highly unusual. I’ve played most activities for years as being the only Titan in a group. However it appears when class pride is on the line, the Titans are showing up in droves. It also helps that Titans have a lot of builds that center around constant regeneration of grenades or melee attacks.
For example last night I was running around with middle tree Sunbreaker and the Hallowfire heart chest piece. Middle tree alone allows me to throw my hammer at targets and pending I pick the hammer back up in time, regenerate my melee instantly so I can throw it again. Hallowfire Heart chest massively increases the recharge rate of your solar abilities while you are holding onto an unused super charge. So this combined with the Grenadier affix that was currently in play meant I had nearly instant recharge on my thermite grenades which do a phenomenal job of wave clear. I was generating so many laurels that it was hard to keep track of them all and make sure that I pick them up. I wish that they would have changed this mechanic so that your and your team mates just automagically gathered them.
So ultimately, are hunters probably getting screwed by math? Absolutely. I have a feeling that Hunters probably account for a lot of the player base who has logged in, created a character and then wandered away from the game. Titans on the other hands are probably played by far more loyalists because they have never been the flashy or popular class. What I also think is happening is a snowball effect and once Titans got the lead, it is bringing wayward Titans like myself out of the woodwork to try and make sure they keep it. I have a feeling that Hunters have just given up, because while I got matched with Warlocks, I didn’t see a single Hunter last night. Titans for days, the occasional Warlock but nothing from my triple jumping friends. Admittedly this is just anecdotal evidence and Bungie might be doing something to try and match make you with the same class. However I also saw a ton of my Titan brethren in the Tower.
Lastly we are going to close this mornings post out with a bit of elation. As I have talked about before, we have a number of neighborhood cats that come to visit… namely to try and find food. “Big boy” as we call him is the most common and the only one friendly enough to actually pet. However the one we try our best to keep tabs on is the three legged female calico that we refer to as “tripod”. We can go months and months without seeing her, and when she finally does show up it is an occasional for cheering. Last night we managed to catch her on the front porch security camera and she looks alive and well. We are always concerned when we don’t see her for any extended period of time, because I get afraid that something “got” her.
Big boy had gobbled up the food that was out there, and after she did a bowl check I fed again. Unfortunately she did not show up on the feed over night, but a new cat that we have never seen before did. We’ve also not really seen much of the cat we refer to as “three”, because are are super creative in our naming of animals. We didn’t want to give any of these a proper name since they are not exactly “ours” but instead just passing by. The camera had been malfunctioning for an unknown amount of time, and I recently had to replace it. So here is hoping we have better luck catching our visitors in the coming weeks. I think all that is wrong with the old camera is the batteries, so I am researching what it would take to swap those out since they are soldered in place. I never expected to get so much joy out of catching glimpses of the random animals that visit.
