Destiny 2 Players Are Frustrated Over Loss of Popular Dawning Farming Method

With The Dawning now live in Destiny 2, players have noticed that one guaranteed method for earning some quick Bright Dust has seemingly been removed completely, leaving fans disappointed and frustrated. As a live-service title, Destiny 2 players have been enjoying special limited-time events for years, many of which coincide with real world holidays. The latest event known as The Dawning has come back to Destiny 2, bringing the familiar winter and holiday themes back to the game.

Alongside Solstice, Guardian Games, and Festival of the Lost, The Dawning is typically the final limited-time event Destiny 2 players see in a calendar year. Centered around snow and the holidays, The Dawning in Destiny 2 pushes players to earn ingredients to bake cookies, then delivering them to the various NPCs within the game to earn rewards. Players could also use snowballs during combat to slow and damage enemies during missions, while this year’s event also features a unique Snowball Fight PvP mode as well. However, one particular change to this year’s event has left fans confused and frustrated.

Destiny 2 Renegades Leaves Players Frustrated After Nerf to Popular Farming Spot

Bungie shuts down a popular farming spot at Tharsis Station in Destiny 2 Renegades due to some of the drops that players were unexpectedly getting.

The Dawning No Longer Rewards Bright Dust for Bounties

In addition to the weapons and armor, The Dawning would previously be a great opportunity for players to earn special resources like Destiny 2‘s Bright Dust, which could be used to purchase cosmetics in the in-game shop. After The Dawning went live, players attempting to farm bounties, noticed that the rewards no longer gave Bright Dust as part of its rewards. Players would purchase bounties from Eva Levante at The Tower, bake the required cookies, and then deliver them to complete the task and earn easy rewards. The gameplay loop was fairly simple and fast as long as players had the right ingredients and glimmer to utilize.

Unfortunately, Bungie has closed that popular gameplay loop and fans have taken to social media and Reddit to vent their frustrations. Many have pointed to the fact that Destiny 2 continues to struggle with retaining players, so these perceived “stingy” changes only serve to continue pushing many away from the experience, while others have indicated that they’ll likely not devote nearly as much time to the event as usual. With Bungie largely off on a holiday break at this point in the year, this issue likely won’t be resolved for this year’s event.

For many fans, the loss of Bright Dust farming bounties aren’t the only issues with this year’s version of The Dawning. Others have noted that Bungie has also restricted the amount of ways to earn Essence of Dawning, generally pushing players into Portal activities like Destiny 2‘s new Vanguard Alerts system while removing quicker methods like public events, lost sectors, or patrols. Others have been attempting to provide information about where to get Essence, with the popular Caldera Solo Ops mission once again gaining traction. However, players who have the Season 12 ship known as Starfarer 7M should equip it during this event as it has a chance to reward Essence when an ingredient is earned, making it a great passive farming method.

The Bright Dust issue has continued to be a hot topic among players as the launch of Renegades also featured another frustrating change to Destiny 2‘s seasonal challenge system. Alongside the Pathfinder system, Seasonal Challenges were a big way that players could earn large portions of XP and Bright Dust, though the system was replaced by the new Orders screen, which isn’t as rewarding even though many tasks are easier to complete. The XP and Bright Dust gains are not only much smaller, but Bungie even added a cap to how much can be earned, resulting in a much slower seasonal gain than previously.