Destiny 2 has made huge change to Trials matchmaking and Guardians are loving it

Brad Norton
Destiny 2 Trials of Osiris

Bungie’s latest Trials of Osiris overhaul in Destiny 2 seems to have stuck the landing as players are now heaping praise on the competitive PVP playlist.

Saying that Trials has had a shaky few years in Destiny 2 would be an understatement. From countless bugs and exploits to numerous delays, Trials was in a constant state of rebuilding up until Season 15.

Although it may have been long overdue, the latest overhaul appears to have finally ticked all the boxes for Destiny’s most competitive Guardians. 

With new matchmaking adjustments, a reworked reward structure, and changes to the flawless system, Trials is now hotter than it’s been in recent years. 

Stats from DestinyTrialsReport and Bungie’s own blog reveal that flawless runs through Trials were more prominent than usual. Of the 701,812 Guardians that dipped their toes in the most recent instance of Trials, 255,908 of them went flawless. 

In separating already flawless players from those without Lighthouse stamps in their Guardian passports, Bungie has drastically improved accessibility for the competitive mode. Now, Trials allows “mid-skills players” to find more success, as they’re matched against others of relative skill.

Moreover, the infamous Trials win-trading scheme is officially a thing of the past as well. No longer are Guardians resorting to matching emblems to bounce around free wins for a flawless run. 

A vast majority of players that reached the Lighthouse this week did so legitimately, actually getting kills and wins on their way to glory.

Destiny 2 Trials

All of these changes have contributed to a smooth Trials experience, something fans have been clamoring for since Destiny 2 overhauled the fan-favorite mode to Trials of the Nine back in 2017.

“I’m loving that Bungie is keeping the momentum on trying to make Trials the best experience possible” Reddit user ‘Acer1096xxx’ said.

There’s also no signs of new improvements slowing down anytime soon. Bungie has already laid the groundwork for the next few weeks, with incremental changes coming into effect shortly.

Namely, Week 3 will see the Flawless Pool enabled on Sunday, giving players more of a middle ground to keep the difficulty intact.

“Delaying ‘Flawless Pool’ until Sunday is a good move,” ‘RiseOfBacon’ chimed in. “It still allows that freedom for all types of players and farming for those who dive right in. Good to see a quick turn around on the changes for Trials, hope it keeps the momentum.”

Destiny 2 Trials gameplay
Trials of Osiris is now far more accessible in Destiny 2.

Evidently, the community is stoked not only with the new incarnation of Trials, but also with Bungie’s open communication. 

It’s no longer a guessing game as to how the challenging PVP experience will be evolving. Instead, the devs have laid out a clear roadmap to keep every single player informed of what’s coming next.

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About The Author

Brad Norton is the Australian Managing Editor at Dexerto. He graduated from Swinburne University with a Bachelor’s degree in journalism and has been working full-time in the field for the past six years at the likes of Gamurs Group and now Dexerto. He loves all things single-player gaming (with Uncharted a personal favorite) but has a history on the competitive side having previously run Oceanic esports org Mindfreak. You can contact Brad at brad.norton@dexerto.com