Destiny 2’s upcoming Edge of Fate expansion is set to bring a lot of changes including a brand new weapon type: the crossbow.
Amidst everything new that’s set to arrive, somehow, this feels like the biggest highlight of the entire expansion for me. Yes, the game has a lot of bows, and you can happily live out the ultimate Hawkeye fantasy by running three bows.
But crossbows, they’re a notch higher, and are much cooler to look at. In fact, the way Bungie’s designed this weapon, it’s the first Power weapon with an infinite supply of ammo, if you manage to pick up the crossbow bolts that is.
The overall idea with the crossbow is very cool, and it lives up to the power fantasy, which is the very core of Destiny 2. But, Bungie’s previous new weapon experiment has been a major disappointment, and the weapon type has almost faded into obscurity.
Yes, we’re talking about the glaives here. Introduced with the Witch Queen expansion, these weapons had promise, but for some reason they fell flat on the face. It’s hard to say what went wrong with this weapon type.
In some sections, it does fit the medieval power-trip that Destiny 2 provides in certain instances. But for some reason, it just didn’t sit well with the playerbase.
And while they still continue to release atleast one glaive with every seasonal storyline, dungeon, or raid, it still hasn’t received enough attention. The biggest gripe, however, is the fact that there aren’t enough buildcrafting avenues with glaives at the centre.
So, no matter what Bungie does, unless they have enough glaive build options which are at par with the other weapons available in the game, there’s no bringing them back from the grave.
The same holds true for crossbows in Destiny 2. Just dumping a new weapon-type won’t do. Bungie will have to make it so that it fits some strong builds.
Now, the devs, in the devstream have clarified that it’s going to function as a bow only, so it may not be that difficult to find a working build. But, on the same hand, if the crossbow doesn’t have its unique identity in Destiny 2, it’s not going to last long either.
It’ll be worth seeing how Bungie handles this situation once the Edge of Fate expansion drops for Destiny 2 Year of Prophecy. Being able to handle a heavy crossbow is something everyone is looking forward to, so Bungie, please don’t mess it up!
