Destiny 2: PvP Review

In my last Destiny review I talked about what Destiny could offer the solo player. In this review I want to cover my favorite activity: PvP.

For those who don't know PvP stands for "Player versus Player". This is the online multiplayer part of Destiny where the players battle each other to find out who has the best skills.

There are 3 PvP activities in Destiny, the Crucible is the regular mode where Lord Shaxx supervises and comments while the guardians battle it out in Quick play and Competitive mode. Then there is the notorious "Trials", this is the PvP end game. There is also one activity that we haven't seen yet, Lord Saladin's "Iron Banner".

Lord Saladin, we are awaiting your call to arms

The Crucible has become a different place with the release of Destiny 2. No more six vs six or three vs three matches, only 4 player teams are allowed. The crucible is much more balanced. The matches are tactical instead of chaotic and you will actually need to use your guns instead of spamming abilities and supers.
It is time to put your gun and tactical skills to use or you will be humiliated in your online endeavors.

There are two kinds of play available in the Crucible, Quick play where the modes, Control (Domination), Clash (Team deathmatch) and Supremacy (Kill confirmed) are rotated and Competitive mode where the modes Countdown (Search and Destroy) and Survival (Last man Standing) are in rotation.

Team play is much more rewarded and you will really need to work together to get a win. The maps are designed for tactical maneuvering so use those flanks to get the drop on your opponents.

The team that works together.....

• Clash
  This is your basic kill or be killed mode. Try and kill as much of the opposing team's members to win.

• Control
  Capture the flags and gain extra points while you are holding them. In this mode dominating the flags and controlling the areas is more important than killing your opponents.

• Supremacy
  In this mode you have to collect the crests of your opponents, you can get those crests by killing the opposing guardians and then picking up the crest that they leave behind. Just shooting and killing the opposing guardians won't be enough, you will have to defend your allies crests, pick them up and collect your enemies' crests to win.

• Countdown
  In this competitive mode your light level matters, high level opponents will be harder to kill. The objective is either to activate an explosive device or to neutralize it. To make things even harder, you can not respawn like in the other modes, you will have to wait 20 seconds before your teammates can revive you. Don't hold your breath though, when you get killed chances are very slim that you can be brought back into the fight. When all the members of your team are killed, you lose the match.
  You can take different approaches to secure your victory, wipe out the opposing team or go for the objective, you decide.

• Survival
  This has to be my favorite mode. This is also a competitive mode so watch your light level. Both teams get 8 lives (or respawns) when a team member respawns the number of lives goes down one until all lives are spent. After this it will not be possible to respawn after you die, the team that survives the onslaught wins. Like Shaxx likes to say "Nothing complicated here, destroy your enemies"

Countdown: Shut down that explosive flying bomb

Bungie has tweaked and balanced the PvP portions of Destiny 2 a lot and it shows. The gameplay is much better than in Destiny 1. The maps allow for more strategy and the decrease of damage of the weapons and most importantly the abilities and supers force the players to play as a team. It is not all about who can shoot the fastest but also about strategy and teamwork.

Iron Banner has not been announced yet but this monthly event will most certainly make an appearance soon. Trials is already playable but I have not played it yet because I still want to perfect my Crucible skills (still adjusting to the changes from Destiny 1) and I am trying out the weapons to see which ones will serve me the best in Crucible. I take Trials very seriously and will not jump in unprepared.

All in all, PvP in Destiny is a joy to play and luckily so, after you have grinded all the PvE activities you will find that the Crucible is where you will spend most of your time. My advise is to find some online buddies before you jump into those Crucible matches because chances are that if you go solo you will get punished.

Read more about: Bungie | Destiny 2 | PVP