Last Friday, shortly after the launch of Destiny 2’s new dungeon, players were booted. It didn’t matter what activity you were in, even social spaces weren’t safe: you could barely break into a sprint before succumbing to one of the network bugs that Bungie has given evocative names like “CALABRES‘ and ‘WEASEL‘.
Within hours, the game’s API was taken offline, meaning its own web and mobile apps stopped working, as well as the many third-party gear managers players use to swap gear and move items. That in itself isn’t unusual for Destiny 2. These apps are often unavailable for a few hours during major server sniffs or after expansion releases.
What used to be unusual was the announcement later that night.
We have identified the cause of persistent error code issues and are investigating a solution. To make this possible, Destiny Companion features will remain unavailable on the web, mobile devices, and third-party apps throughout the weekend.December 10, 2022
A whole weekend without use Destiny Item Manager? I immediately panicked. Aside from the awesome DDOS attack of Christmas 2014, when the original game was down for days, I couldn’t remember a bleaker prospect. To explain why, you need to understand why Destiny 2’s API is both a huge boon and a potentially huge problem. By opening the gates to third-party developers, Bungie has created an ecosystem that integrates knowledge libraries such as Ishtar Collectiveweapon databases like Light.gg and D2 Gunsmithstatistical optimization via D2 armor selectorand collection checkers like Destination sequences.
Those are all very cool and useful things to have, but what’s really essential, at least for everyone I play with, are the gear managers, especially DIM and Ishtar commander.
Destiny 2 is unusual in that it allows these third-party apps (mobile and web) to move items between characters, change perks, swap shaders, remove gear mods, and more. Provided you’re not in the middle of an actual mission, almost anything you can change on your tone can be done from a browser window with a simple drag-and-drop UI, or by tapping your phone while in-game.
Bungie’s own app can do most of these things, but it’s less streamlined because it has all sorts of other things to do. DIM also allows you to build craft with a depth that is currently impossible with the client. Specifically, you can create and save an unlimited number of loadouts for each character, curated down to the transmog ornaments and shaders, then neatly switch between builds in seconds. And therein lies the big problem with what happened this weekend.
A return to the bad old days
Over the years, Destiny 2 has evolved from a game where you can essentially hit a single loadout and have a few tweaks made so it can guide you through any activity, to one where builds are very complex and min- maxing really matters. Based on the enemies you’re likely to encounter and specific customizations, the gear you’ll be bringing in this week’s Master difficulty Nightfall mission may be very different from the ones you’ll want for the new Spire of the Watcher dungeon. The same goes for raids, seasonal activities with Champions, and especially PVP that always benefits from a specific set of mods and weapons. But with the API unavailable, the only way to switch gear was to fly your character with the item in question to a social space, place the item in your vault, switch to the other character who has the item needs and fly in to collect it.
It remains absolutely wild that Bungie has outsourced such an essential part of what makes its game playable to enthusiastic community developers.
In one fell swoop, making large-scale changes to equipment had become a huge balache. Not to be dramatic about the situation, but it was hard to argue with this heavily overhauled reddit thread titled ‘Destiny 2 is figuratively unplayable without DIM‘. Another prankster posted this photo from Little House on the Prairie, titled “What It Feels Like to Play Without DIM”
Inevitably, much of the discussion was drowned out by players unkindly complaining that Bungie’s developers would have to work all weekend to fix the problem. (One developer did answersgracious, to note that they goods working weekends to solve the problem.) For me, the real talking point is how Bungie allowed a situation to arise where a game of this magnitude So relies on community apps to function effectively. Yes, it’s incredible that we can move all our stuff quickly, but that’s about it even more incredible that the actual game client cannot handle this feature.
Or at least not yet. When Bungie revealed the Lightfall expansion three months ago, it promised an in-game loadout manager would also be coming next year. We don’t yet know how deep the functionality will be. For me to use it, it will have to provide everything which DIM is currently doing, which means also swapping shaders, decals, ornaments, subclass fragments and aspects, and more. Without that level of customization, I’ll stick with the third-party apps and be at the mercy of exactly this kind of glitch. Let’s not forget that these apps are largely run as a labor of love. Honestly, DIM is so good I’d like to see it bought and included instead of replaced. Let’s not forget that Bungie is a company that Sony deemed worth splurging on $3.6 billion on purchase.
As I write this, the API is still down, but with emergency maintenance scheduled for later today, I expect normal service to return soon enough. Being an inveterate addict, I still did several raids and three dungeon clears this weekend, but limited myself to staying on the same build and only changing what was absolutely necessary between activities. You might think I’m going to tell you that the experience was pleasantly nostalgic, in a first-person shooter and cottagecore sort of way. You would be wrong. The fun of Destiny 2 is the variety of insane builds you can create using the 3.0 subclasses, so being stuck with one felt undermining the joy.
It remains absolutely wild to me that Bungie effectively outsourced such an essential part of what makes its game playable to enthusiastic community developers. To prove the point, here’s a final anecdote: a few years ago, some clan mates of mine bought a Bungie studio tour as part of a charity auction. As they wandered through the Seattle office, something immediately caught their eye: the developers used DIM on second screens to move their stuff around.
If DIM helps make playing Destiny more enjoyable, please support the people who make the app. Our goal is to save players time and energy so that you can fully focus on playing the game. Become a $5 a month lender if that’s worth something to you.https://t.co/omCbbuNhHnDecember 12, 2022
