In the original Destiny, Trials Of Osiris was a 3v3 PvP mode which ran on weekends. Teams had the grand goal of winning nine matches in a row, facing tougher opponents each time, to score exclusive loot. Longtime Destiny 2 players will have seen something similar – though gentler – in the Trials Of The Nine mode which hasn’t been seen since 2018. Bungie are a bit light on specifics of how Trials Of Osiris will work this time around but I’d assume the same broad plan. Some natty Trials armour is coming and the video does mention that players who go all the way will get a special glow to show off for the week. Three maps are returning from Destiny for Trials: Cauldron, Exodus Blue, and Anomaly. Oh, and Saint-14 will commentate matches. One thing to note is that Trials Of Osiris will have Power score advantages enabled. Ye olde Trials did too, but back then we didn’t have seasonal Artifacts boosting Power ever higher as we level it up. So the sweatiest level of play will want a load of grinding too? Ah, I don’t know. Bungie are a bit vague about everything for now. Trials was notoriously sweaty, with the pressure of winning so many games in a row pushing people to run the cheapest, most meta loadouts. It even earned a small reputation for players running DDoS attacks against opponents to secure wins. While I’ve long wished for Bungie to give PvP more attention, I do worry it might not be in a good enough state. Changes are coming to some dominant weapons but I don’t know if they’re enough to fix the current problems. While I do have loads of the sweatiest gear and ‘god rolls’ myself, they don’t build a fun and varied meta. Bungie haven’t revealed their full rebalancing plans yet, mind. Hell, they kept it half-secret that they’re (mildly) buffing Fighting Lion, my very favourite plaything. I’ll reserve judgement. “We want to make sure that we really stick the landing with Trials,” art director Rob Adams said in the video. “It’s important that this doesn’t go out half-baked.”
While the official announcement is light on specifics, Bungineers have clarified a few points. “Trials uses connection-based & card-state matchmaking,” game director Luke Smith tweeted. “When you’re on the cusp of visiting the new Lighthouse, (the one you all built with TONS of Fractaline & effort) we want you to be facing someone in a similar spot.” It’s good to hear Trials matchmaking will consider connections. Following recent PvP changes, too many matches have laggy people from half-way around the world. Let’s have that factor into regular Crucible matchmaking too, yeah? Also on Twitter, Bungie community manager “dmg04” confirmed that Trials isn’t limited to people who buy the season pass - all Destiny 2 players can get in. Sounds like banned people and smurfs won’t be able to leap right back in, mind. “There will be requirements to unlock the mode,” he noted. “You can’t just make a new account and jump straight in.” So if Trials is free, what is my season pass buying me? Bungie say they’ll announce more about the Season Of The Worthy over the coming weeks. Oh, do note that with the Empyrean effort complete, you can claim that final seasonal triumph and its mustard-coloured shader. Visit the Tower’s Obelisk for a short cutscene showing us lighting the beacon for the Lighthouse, then it’s yours. You can still donate timegems to grind Timelost weapons for the rest of the season too, or use them to upgrade Obelisks and grind random drops if you’re happy with what you’ve got. Destiny 2 will start Trials Of Orisis with Season Of The Worthy on Friday, March 13th.
