Destiny’s pinnacle multiplayer experience, Trials, has seen some major issues in Destiny 2. But on Sept. 10, Bungie will upgrade the game mode with a host of changes.
First, Trials of the Osiris won’t be available every weekend anymore. The mode won’t open during the first week of new seasons or before world first raid races. And Trials won’t launch at all on Iron Banner weeks.
Bungie’s biggest change for the game mode is to matchmaking. Players won’t need to have a three-player team ready in orbit before launching the activity. Starting Sept. 10, players can matchmake with other groups. Bungie will add a solos only “freelance” playlist in the future, which will only match solo players together, just like Iron Banner’s freelance mode. Players will only be able to matchmake with people who have a similar number of wins or Trials performance that weekend.
Trials will see three new modes tested during the season: freelance, a capture-the-point mode, and a mode that removes the lengthy intro quest for Trials.
Season of the Lost added several new features aimed at making PvP more fair. Emotes won’t take players to third-person view while in the Crucible, and swords will only allow for third-person if Guardians have ammo. This should eliminate “three-peeking” entirely — a tactic that gives players a better view of their surroundings by abusing third-person cameras. Bungie will also ban players who “win trade” or give their account to professionals.
Saint-14 — the Trials vendor — also works on a reputation system now, similar to other playlist activities. Guardians will earn rewards and reputation by winning individual rounds of Trials of Osiris, not entire matches. Saint’s reputation will reset each season or once players reach a certain level.
Guardians won’t be able to fail their Trial cards anymore — the card is either Flawless or flawed. Each week offers two challenges as well: win seven matches and win 50 rounds. Players receive more rewards when they don’t reset their cards, but they can only reach the Lighthouse and pick up Adept weapons by hitting seven wins without a single loss.
By ranking up with Saint, players will get a variety of rewards, including guaranteed Trials weapons and the new Trials engram. Guardians can decrypt their Trials engram at Saint-14 for a random piece of Trials loot — whether they’ve unlocked it before or not. But players can also pay currency to focus their Trials engram into a specific piece of loot, including Adept loot if they’ve gone Flawless that weekend.
All of these changes should make Trials more accessible to players who are just interested in picking up some fancy weapons.
