Yesterday’s 1.2.1 update for Destiny 2 introduced a lot of changes, including an initial rework of certain Exotic armor pieces, and it also revealed that Bungie plans to soon reveal how it is revamping the game’s periodic Faction Rally events. Even better, fans won’t have to wait long as Bungie has confirmed it will be detailing the upcoming Faction Rally changes tomorrow, May 31.
Bungie included a brief mention of the Faction Rally changes in the patch notes for update 1.2.1, saying that the changes will be discussed in the studio’s next “This Week at Bungie” blog post which will be published on May 31. The patch notes entry didn’t outline any of the changes that will be discussed, it merely confirmed when they will arrive.
The Faction Rally event for Destiny 2 is unique in that it focuses predominantly on player vs. environment (PvE) activities as opposed to other events like Iron Banner and Trials of the Nine which are more player vs. player (PvP) oriented. As part of each Faction Rally, players can pledge themselves to one of three factions; New Monarchy, Future War Cult, or Dead Orbit. Once pledged, players can earn tokens and unlock reward engrams for their chosen faction by participating in activities like like Lost Sectors and Strikes.
At the end of the event, whichever faction has amassed the most tokens unlocks a unique faction-themed weapon that can be purchased by all players using in-game currency (members of the winning faction can purchase the weapon at a deep discount). Past Faction Rallies have given PvE fans a chance to unlock unique rewards, but they have also been overly grindy in nature, offering a disappointing return on investment for the time players are expected to commit to earn said rewards.
How exactly Bungie plans to tweak Faction Rallies remains to be seen, but hopefully it will make the events more worthwhile for Destiny 2 players who are looking for more to do.