Destiny 2's Witch Queen Day 1 Raids Feel Too Easy Compared To Forsaken

Day One raiding, the pinnacle of Destiny 2 PvE content, has in recent years become far more accessible to the community. It is no longer purely for those who play this game religiously. 

With yesterday being the 4th anniversary of Last Wish, we endeavor to find out why the Witch Queen's Vow of the Disciple and King's Fall had far more completions than Forsaken's Last Wish.

Day One - Power Level Grinding

The time spent grinding your power level for Day One raids this year is child's play compared to what we saw in Forsaken. Drops practically fall into your lap while playing the game. The addition of the Witch Queen's legendary gifted players the ability to be just short of the contest mode cap for Vow of the Disciple. Players ended the campaign at 1520 power level while the contest mod cap was 1530. An hour or so later, you were at 1530, ready for Day One. 

Alternatively, Last Wish did not have a cap for players to reach for Day One. Instead, there was a mere suggestion. Forsaken did not have a legendary campaign nor the pinnacle and powerful drops to match those we have today. The amount of grinding you did pre-Last Wish would determine your level of difficulty going into the raid. And for most, it is lower than the current contest mode placing you 20 power levels under each encounter.

For context Eli “Sweatcicle” a member of Clan Redeem, the team which garnered World's First, was 562 power level at the beginning of the final encounter, Queenswalk, with at the time was 585. Perhaps one of the highest power level players at the time was still 23 power under for Queenswalk. Imagine what the rest of the players must have been.

Damage and Surviving in Day One Raids

In the current era of Destiny 2, weapons, armor, and mods have made clearing content far simpler. Mods like Well of Life, and Well of Tenacity make healing and resistance far stronger than anything players had for Last Wish. Thus dying in high-end content becomes more of a chore than staying alive is. Casting our minds back to watching Lorely Splendor Titans being unable to wipe during King's Fall Day One just a couple of weeks ago. 

A weapon that has caused much controversy in the past week is Divinity. The weapon, which in many players' eyes, does it all. It debuffs the target, allowing players to deal an additional 30% damage while giving an easy bubble to land critical hits.

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In a meta where we have seen Linear Fusion rifles dominate, landing critical this is a must. In a recent thread, David “Saltagreppo”, a member of Clan Elysium who has won the title of World's First in the last three Day One raids, advocated for nerfs of some kind to come to Divinity. The community responded in quite an antagonistic manner, claiming him, among others, to be an elitist.

But to be honest, Divinity does too much; allowing players to land easy crits and deal additional damage is too overtuned. Sure there is a downside to using Divinity, the user deals significantly less damage, but the 30% debuff makes up for it.

The Vault Encounter - Day One Last Wish

The dreaded Vault encounter. While Riven and Queenswalk were higher power levels, thus making them harder. However, the vault was the one that ended many Last Wish runs. It was not because of a lack of damage or survivability, but rather teams just could not figure out this complex encounter.

The first team to clear did so out of pure luck. Clan Redeem passed with some knowledge but too got through on luck. It is highly unlikely in future raids we will have an encounter like the vault, where teams are unable to figure out the mechanics. Knowing the mechanics makes the completion much simpler.

Trying to stay alive while nuking knights was already difficult but having to try to understand what is happening made it far worse. Had it been easier to get a grasp of the mechanics, more teams would have likely cleared the raid on Day One, instead of just two, with one team missing out by two minutes.

Day One for the Community

Inherently Day One raids are intended as the pinnacle of Destiny 2 PvE content. However, we have reached the stage in the game where it is healthy for the community as a whole. For the cream of the crop, it is perhaps too easy, but the ease brings more players to the game.

Having a raid like Last Wish be released is most likely improbable at this point. Bungie would turn away the majority of its player base if heavy restrictions come back. Nerfs to damage and survivability will likely never see the light of day. It is good we are in a position where the community has access to the higher-end content, should it be as easy as it is right now? Probably not, but it is for everyone to decide for themselves. 

And there is all you need to know on why Destiny 2's Day One raids are significantly easier and will remain the same in the years to come.

For more on the game, check our section dedicated to Destiny 2 Season of Plunder news, guides, and features.

Featured image courtesy of Bungie.