With the imminent release of Season of Dawn inDestiny 2, and its narrative centered around the Warlock Osiris andtaking players back to Mercury, many fans felt this season would be the perfect time to reintroduce the pinnacle PvP activity Trials of Osiris back to the game. But, with the reveal of the season and the full content calendar released, it was confirmed that Trials of Osiris is not coming in Season 9.
Season of Dawn did feel like a fitting time thematically to bring back Trials of Osiris, but, by mere fact of how long it has taken to get the mode intoDestiny 2, it is clear that there is much more at work at making Trials of Osiris fit into theDestiny 2mold than many players probably realize. There are many players of the opinion that Bungie should just put Trials of Osiris back in the game, just like it was inDestiny 1. But there is the potential that Trials of Osiris returning as-is in the sequel could lead to a frustrating experience for players. It’s clear that Bungie is taking its time with the mode and doesn’t want a repeat of Trials of the Nine.
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Looking back,Trials of Osirisbecame a weekly pillar inDestiny 1, challenging players to go into the PvP playlist over the weekend with a pre-formed fireteam and defeat other teams in the 3v3 Elimination game mode. Each win moved teams along a Trials card, with too many losses removing them from the playlist until they bought another card and started over, and a nine-win streak allowing players into the Lighthouse, a special social hub that dolled out exclusive Trials of Osiris rewards.
It was the pinnacle PvP activity in the first game and it kept the PvP side of the game going in many respects, even continuing to draw interest during the game’s dry spells. InDestiny 2, a new version of Trials calledTrials of the Ninewas introduced. And it did not live up to the expectations of Trials of Osiris. It still gave special rewards for teams who could go flawless on their scorecard, which only required seven wins instead of nine this time around. But like much ofDestiny 2at launch, the mode felt watered down and much more casual to veterans of Trials of Osiris. Trials of the Nine was eventually removed from the game and put on hiatus indefinitely.
DestinyFranchise Director Luke Smith spoke about Trials over the summer in his “Director’s Cut” blogs, saying that participation in Trials of Osiris had started to decline inDestiny 1, so when it came toDestiny 2, Bungie wanted to create a sequel to Trials of Osiris. But Smith admits that Trials of the Nine is on hiatus indefinitely. Smith hinted that some sort of Trials could come back eventually, but Bungie has said it would communicate ahead of time before Trials would return. Considering that Bungie has laid outSeason of Dawn’s contentpretty clearly, Trials is definitely not returning this season.
What could be a step in the direction of an eventual return though is Trials of Osiris’s Elimination gametype, which lived within the Crucible Labs playlist last season, is becoming a permanent gametype in Season of Dawn. It is likely that Bungie will monitor that playlist and feedback to influence decisions about a future Trials mode.
It has become quite obvious through the Competitive—now Survival playlist—that theDestiny 2sandbox is much different than that ofDestiny 1. And there are plenty of exotics, weapons, and abilities that many players already feel are unfair or unbalanced in PvP. Adding a special Trials mode with exclusive loot and rewards is only going to exacerbate players' tendencies to use the strongest and borderline-broken things in the game to win. And that almost certainly has to be on Bungie’s mind when designing a mode like Trials.
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The other factor that made Trials compelling was the exclusive loot from the Lighthouse. While Trials of the Nine offered a loot table from the Emissary with some good weapons, Bungie would need to invest development resources into making special loot for Trials. And considering how Season of the Undying and Season of Dawn are only introducing a handful of new loot per season, it’s clear that it would take some serious work to add an entirely new loot pool to the game. Fans have shownhow outraged they get at re-skinsso it doesn’t seem anyone would be happy to see a return or reskin of the Trials of the Nine armor.
All said, it is not hard to see the reasons why Trials is still likely baking in the oven at Bungie, as developers work on the best way to bring it back and make it a compelling experience for players. Until that happens, players looking to scratch that itch should jump into Elimination inSeason of Dawn.
Destiny 2: Shadowkeepis available now for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.
