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Edited by Emprore:
7/20/2025 8:06:14 AM
52
Average player base Out, Streamers In – The True Purpose of Contest Mode?
I haven’t bought the DLC —I uninstalled it. I’m sticking to my principles. Bungie has shown a lack of respect for players' time and investment, and I won’t support that.
[b]Going back to the topic...[/b] The new raid release and its contest mode difficulty is just ridiculous. It's becoming more and more obvious that Bungie is prioritizing streamers over the average or casual player. The connection between Bungie and popular streamers is starting to look a little too cozy.
Honestly, I had a good laugh this morning watching those same streamers still live, struggling for hours on the same encounters with minimal progress.
It’s becoming clear: contest modes—both for raids and dungeons—are turning into exclusive events for elite players and streamers who can go without sleep and live off energy drinks. Meanwhile, casual players are left on the sidelines, with little choice but to either sit out or watch streams and donate money for hours on end.
There’s a big difference between a healthy, balanced challenge and a difficulty that’s pushed to the extreme (absurd!). The broader player base just want a fun, rewarding challenge.
Bungie is just breaking the D2 community. I am now waiting for the post mortem after this Contest Mode.
[b]Sad but true...[/b]
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Also we now learned of the 500 clears of Contest 317 teams had cheaters. 70% of clears are cheaters. Luckyy10p has video on it that game can only be beat by the elite streamers no lifes and cheaters, even no lifers couldn't beat this raid. lolz
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Bungie makes things either way too easy or way too hard. There is no middle ground with them. Bullet sponge bosses are super annoying though. it's more boring than anything.
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Lol do you have ANY idea just how much money the top couple Destiny streamers you enjoyed "suffering" made this raid!? It's A LOT!!!
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1 Replyfor the last 2 years this game has become 90% streamers friendly, the rest of us don't matter
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1 ReplyThe fact the game only peaked at 108k on a new launch says volumes. My guess is most of the casual and solo players have dipped and the rest won't stick around much longer. I won't be shocked if the game is back under 30k players within a few weeks. My biggest issue so far is that it seems the game is even worse now about respecting your time. Even on contest mode...dropping tier 1 gear is insanely disrespectful to players for the amount of effort/work they put in to clear the encounters. Also now since Final Shape, new zones are solo/fireteam only, the world feels empty. I still remember Taken King when we got the dreadnaught and it was fun to explore for awhile, secrets to find, other people in the area, triggering the big fight between the Taken and the Cabal at the crashed ship, etc. Forsaken with Dreaming City just being this amazing zone that felt alive and ever changing for a long time that you kept going back to replay, etc. That feeling has been gone from the game for awhile now. The only place I see people anymore is Cosmodrome when new players come in and spawn the spider tank, lol. Bungie's response to everything is also still the same head in the sand nonsense and "we're listening." There are so many bugs in the game currently it's not even funny.
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1 ReplyI think this contest mode is the most ‘average player’ friendly there has been. An easy power grind to 100. Contest on the weekend. And if you don’t want contest, the normal mode is open after the first completion. I actually loved that change especially when streamers got annoyed because they knew they’d lose numbers after the first completion and players would stop watching them and play the raid.
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I mean yeah I guess?? Contest mode is kinda built for the best of the best players (which happen to be all lot of streamers)
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1 ReplyIf the viewerbase for the streamers begins to dry up alongside the content, I bet you they will start jumping ship and clinging to the closest liferaft they can find to support their streaming livelihood. We were always at a decline, but it's only getting steeper from here on out.
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It’s viral marketing. …and it only lasts two days. So if streamers want to put their lives on hold for a week..,let em. My issue was is the fact this mindset spilled out into the entire game with Lightfall and The Final Shape. Bungie was so invested in making the game more difficult that they forgot to make Lightfall and Episodes enjoyable to play. I could see that mentality taking hold in Edge of Fate in the last few missions. As the movement puzzles became so complex and esoteric that you spent more time trying to solve them than actually fighting bad guys, My frustration peaked in the final boss fight, when the movement and platforming were actually more difficult (and randomly so) than the actual firefight. 🙄
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7 RepliesRick Khackis has played for 11yrs, he has made a living making Destiny raid guides and videos, he got crushed in this raid and made a video about it. IF HE is having troubles, imagine a normie. I don't understand bungie business model, the vets have 11 yrs and getting older, the gamer dads have disposable income, many casuals and normies and those dads & vets have kept game alive as it struggled and it seems all those groups are being pushed away by Bungie not my call, but Ok Bungie, lets see how this works out for your business.
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3 RepliesTotally agree with you. Just look at what happened after RoN. Every streamer and content creator up in arms about it since they didn't get to be one of the firsts. Now we are at a cross roads where Bungie swayed too hard the other way because of said grown babies whining and complaining about a game they have made into a career. It seems that every person who has replied to you, currently as of this post, is just another sycophantic Bungie pleaser. They call you out for your game activity as if it invalidates your concerns. Gotta love it as that's all they can do. That and emoji spam when they have nothing intelligent left to say.
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4 RepliesI've only beaten two activities on Contest: Root and Vesper's. Apparently, Root doesn't count because it was "so easy". And Vesper's was the most soul draining thing I've ever done. I was in there for over 24 hours, and used cheeses on the first and final Encounter. At this point, they're the kind of thing where you go "that was fun, now I never want to do that again."
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Just as long as you realize that you spent your actual time hatewatching people doing something they enjoy lol. Just so funny to me how you people move. I'm not a big fan of content creators either, but this is just too funny. Not to mention, it's so low brow. They're not favoring streamers. They're favoring elite players, which you did finally get at. Sure, some people fit in both pools, but they've geared contest mode towards high skill players, as they should. This happens like 4-5 times a year max. I think the rest of the people, myself included, can either just get better or wait for normal to open up. Not even remotely a big deal.
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The streamer itself is not the problem . Their fanboys are .. I was watching a streamer trying to attempt the raid but all of a sudden the one brainfart after the other started subscribing ... Why in the name of god would you pay money to a streamer while you can watch their stream for free ??? Why ??????? You don't even need to be a follower to watch their stream . They are litterally getting free money from their brainfart fanboys . So if they would spend their money on a freakin streamer then they will buy every new dlc instantly simply because their favorite streamer does it . Without these fanboys bungie has no reason to praise streamers ... Are these fanboys getting paid or something ?? If 50 people would do that i would get it but some have thousands if not millions of fanboys ... How ????? They are the reason why streamers are getting praised by bungie . Wake up you bunch of subscribers . You guys are the reason why the game is getting changed constantly . Who cares what a streamer says ?? Just have your own opinion and don't follow the -blam!- army bunch of idiots . Can you guys not see ???? Open your eyes !
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9 RepliesIt's funny watching them cry now 🤣🤣 Bungie made contest too hard. Dumb sons of bihes
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As far as the DLC goes it was surprisingly easy to do solo legendary, definitely easier than Final Shape or Witch Queen. It was somewhat fun but also half of it was annoying puzzles and trying to get what mechanic you needed timed right with the other mechanic your doing for one dumb puzzle. Very puzzle-mechanic heavy DLC, the raid looks like it isn't mechanic heavy and is more about team-DPS checks and perfect boss-burn. New raid on contest looked insane, and sure all the good players that stream know how to do what they want to do, but that said even a non-stream clan or cracked raid team could have got WF, its not exclusive but if you aren't ready you'll have a bad day. I'm not at that level, but I do look forward to normal raid mode for those of us whom are normal. I would say 8/10 for DLC, mostly because the puzzles get grindy and boring, half of all boss fights is puzzles so, yeah, but its a cool story in my opinion.
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That just feels like the game direction in general at this point.
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7 RepliesI heard contest is unbeatable on console, that only the wyvern boss had been beaten on them. Players wanted less puzzles and more shooting? We got it. This'll be the last time I try a contest raid bc it's just not worth the sleep loss.
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iJonnyOff - old
Lol. Imagine If Bungie comes out now and say that The Raid was bugged and that the bosses health really aint that much. It makes no sense. I think Bungie did this raid thinking we are 2300 power level lol. The DPS is just crazy and the amount of loadout swaps seems just insane. -
11 RepliesThis Contest mode was definitely a bit too much. The DPS Check is basically asking you to loadout swap MID DAMAGE PHASE. There should never be a health pool that requires that. You should be able to beat an encounter without swapping mid encounter. Contest isn't meant for casuals, its be for the most hardcore of hardcore and even many of them are stating its too much.
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I’m reserving all my judgement for the normal raid. Contest mode has always been a bit out of reach for the vast majority of even consistent raiders. A theory I’ve heard is that bungie cranked up the difficulty/power disparity to prevent this raid from becoming a 2nd Root of Nightmares - simple mechanics.
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They totally rushed/missed/didn’t execute this whole expansion. They are going to have to remake quite a few parts of the game after this to keep or bring players back. Just wait for it
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Never watched a streamer…..never will.
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2 RepliesWhy do people expect everyone to be able to clear a contest raid? Like it’s made to be really really hard.
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Ya no i completely agree normally I atleast attempt the contest every year but them in putting this through with the sheer amount of bugs and the with the level and damage cap above that of mythic is absolutely insane i would bet that not a single team at bungie actually finished the raid with these put in place it was more of slap all these put together and shove it out for players
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9 RepliesContest mode is meant for sweats. Didn’t a group of regular players win last year? Seems a lot people here always are in need of a box of tissues. Enjoy the other genres you play.
