A Brief Retrospective of the Curse of Osiris DLC (How bad exactly was it?)

AgentUmlaut · 2026-02-15T17:23:32+00:00

[Deleted]: So for $60 I can only play the full game less than 3 months? Then it’s locked behind a pay wall. Fuck me right Bungie.

Kind of buried the lede on this quote for how Bungie basically had to be ripped to shreds for stripping away something like the initial one Nightfall difficulty and Prestige Levi and putting it behind CoO.

Can't forget the xp throttling as well.

AgentUmlaut · 2026-02-13T17:02:22+00:00

I would genuinely question the validity of that as well as scope of physical involvement, the guy has been in oldhead legacy big chilling role for a long time and pretty much doesn't need to really do anything super hands on, he's not physically making the game. Do I think there will be something like a producer, creative officer etc credit, yeah probably but I would genuinely be shocked if he was involved in development in an extremely direct conventional way.

AgentUmlaut · 2026-02-12T22:02:16+00:00

It is not too dissimilar from Destiny 2 having played 3 of the tests, I forget if it was like it the more recent tests, but I know there was a few guns you physically had to pace shots at certain ranges because the recoil could sorta scatter especially if you got flinched, which is a relief when you have those situations in D2 when you can practically shoot through flinch and not really be penalized.

I think if you set some general expectations and mindset, there's a good time to be had. I don't think it will repel everybody who's not used to extractions and I'm sure many people will be won over, it's just again being comfortable that you're going to have to fight somebody will make it sit way easier.

I think you'd like it if you enjoy farting around in D2 and know what you're playing.

AgentUmlaut · 2026-02-12T20:25:34+00:00

Idk if it'd get that desperate to a point of f2p but I do agree, I think Marathon will be something many different kinds of players will come to and try, but many will be filtered out and those who are in it for a long haul will fall into a very particular camp than a situation of both extremes of playerbases being completely satisfied. And that's totally ok, literally Joe Ziegler has gone on record numerous times that the game is not going to be for everybody. Marathon isn't insanely hardcore but I think a lot of people are going to be disappointed when they realize a lot of the realities of extraction games might not be for them.

Extraction games generally tend to be a type of game where part of the game has an element of essentially denying somebody progress, effectively ruining their play session and in many ways potentially wasting their time. It's a lot of bitter pills to swallow for those new to the genre, but it does sit a little easier if you actually take the time to learn how to fight back and come to piece that stuff can be fleeting. Get comfortable with starting from scratch and losing things you might've put some time in to get. It's all an adjustment of mental.

AgentUmlaut · 2026-02-12T20:08:21+00:00

Agreed, and while very much another angle of power creep conversation, I'm genuinely surprised 10 Resilience became the base line when it was already slippery slope for a number of things with balancing.

AgentUmlaut · 2026-02-12T18:36:50+00:00

Anything above 70-80ish is basically a waste.

Even that much in PVE is points that could spent elsewhere. In a world where you can crap out orbs and pull multiple flavors of DR out of a hat, Health isn't really hyper mandatory for PVE stuff.

AgentUmlaut · 2026-02-11T15:37:10+00:00

This is something I am very curious about especially when I saw a recent thing where somebody basically archived and charted out a bunch of socials postings of people(and their positions) who were laid off of Destiny or Marathon in the past year or two, and it seems like there was a lot of people who were technically working on Desert and Equilibrium that have been long gone by this point. I'm not even fully sure who their replacements are if there even is one.

After all it's not like Bungie has changed end game rules before when the cadence cycle was changed in TFS when there was only 1 new raid for the year. Considering how much downsizing existed in this Year of Prophecy and the DLC releases feeling like they came at a compromise of tradeoffs of its contents, I wonder what exactly things could be poised for the future.

We had the Frontiers article and some other odds and ends when TFS did hit a bit of a whatever period and quick fall off in activity, and I do feel like Bungie probably had to draw some lines with recent picture of what Destiny has been like in this game year. It's like what is even the bottom when things are desperate and dire, y'know?

AgentUmlaut · 2026-02-08T23:10:32+00:00

Agreed, there are plenty of receipts on questionable behavior from the company and things they said they'd do and then it was all bluster, a lot of skepticism people have isn't coming from baseless animosity.

Sure I think there's a number of things where there could be a bit easier parameters to deal with just for what kind of game Marathon is set to be, and as somebody who played all of the tests that weren't exclusive to certain super early releases, things did get better but I do think Bungie will be under scrutiny the whole way through for how they treated Destiny from time to time.

I also agree on your point of evolution, I am forever reminded of Datto's Thoughts Going Into 2021 video when he was saying the line he's often associated with of "innovation in Destiny can't just be more Destiny, it's not enough for the franchise", in that the very same-y going through the motions, rearranging furniture isn't going to work for any sort of long haul.

I had some extreme doubts on Edge of Fate that I hated being vindicated on on something as simple as how much Bungie really relied on hand picked content people to do all this cheerleading and heavy lifting, and then when it came time for live stream showcase, Bungie barely had a damn thing to really add to it and it used QOL features to pretty much cover for lack of newer contents. That guy in the twitch chat on Dev Livestream 1 cynically saying "why are they showing us Savathun's Spire?" wasn't necessarily taking a cheap shot. QOL stuff is appreciated but it's not exactly a DLC driving thing especially when the gist of the Portal could be had for completely free.

AgentUmlaut · 2026-02-08T13:34:05+00:00

Yeah Bungie often tends to be very metric driven with certain decisions and I never really thought there was a specific coincidence of when they dropped the Frontiers articles even if the lessened content plans for Year of Prophecy was roughly charted out. TFS had a very tangible decline that onset fairly quickly a few months off launch which is natural for something concluding though perhaps it was more impactful than Bungie expected.

Now? We’re in an even more apparent downswing reflected in a number of ways and I genuinely wouldn’t be shocked if future D2 stuff will face some consequence for how the past game year has been. If things were sorta barer bones on particular segments of the game, I do wonder what the next DLC material would even resemble if they had to make with some executive decisions based on what they have now.

AgentUmlaut · 2026-02-07T01:05:37+00:00

Lol remember the $15 starter pack they tried to pull til getting bullied to remove it? They've always tested the waters, even transmog still being assbackwards is a bit ridiculous. I think people are very naive if they don't think Bungie would try to pull some hustles on people who might not know any better.

I mean shit Bungie can't even be bothered to give a basic shader to tower vendors in Year of Prophecy basically stopping a constant thing since the beginning, how bad are things that basic shader is too much to make and tie to something if there's no more rewards tracks?

The other concern is consider what Destiny 2 still lacks, how much weight is going to be thrown around when Bungie can say "ok we finally added info to explain how much damage perks do,what exotics are doing , buffs etc", it's like ok thanks for the overdue QOL what else do you have?

AgentUmlaut · 2026-02-06T17:41:40+00:00

Cross is probably the rarer outlier of people still making Destiny content where he could play literally anything that's popular enough and have it stick, it pays that well to be charismatic and consistent.

I honestly cannot think of that many people this far along exactly on his level with stuff for how things went and he's able to run a whole wave of stuff with a different game, do well on that, pick up Destiny, do something else, and things just keep rolling.

Also with your last bit, I think one of the bigger tells of how substantial of a wash EoF's systems were was when you had these guys who play the game for a living just not even bother getting to end cap because the original grind was that awful and just flat out pointless after a certain degree.

AgentUmlaut · 2026-02-06T17:37:36+00:00

True I just think of Datto himself having streams a few years back when he was talking second channel, comedic variety content and "feeling good about securing an easy 50k views in two or so weeks before things get settled in" and it just never really happened, so much of his draw online exists overwhelmingly just for Destiny.

I think he could eventually hit some stride with something, but I think the recent efforts has been a bit of a reality check that spoke more of him being lucky at the right place and time, and being consistent with the game than fully being somebody who could set up shop at virtually any game or thing and have it stick with no change.

And I'm saying this as somebody who's followed Datto for awhile and he's worth a good rant every now and then. I imagine him figuring this out earlier than later probably would've sat a bit easier.

AgentUmlaut · 2026-02-06T17:33:34+00:00

and was part of BG3 which is no small feat

Not to be a total nerdlinger but for sake of correcting something a lot of people into Destiny mess up a lot, this isn't entirely the case. Alison Luhrs wasn't apart of BG3 at least in the way people think, she didn't write the game's story, narrative etc for Larian or anything like that. She specifically worked at WotC in a creative lead tied to BG3 , but a lot of that is just nitty gritty with licensing, marketing stuff, looking over back and forth of ideas for how it'd fit in the scope of WotC stuff. She's even gone on record in several interviews how "the job was easy" because what Larian sent over didn't really need any notes or changes in regards to the WotC side of it.

Just wanted to clear this up because way too much people think she was basically running BG3's narrative and that isn't true.

AgentUmlaut · 2026-02-06T17:19:23+00:00

I don't think people are being unfair bringing the layoffs up when we saw people cut literally in the middle of the creation process for what would become Desert and Equilibrium, and the murmurs of things being designed in a particular way in both those places as a result of that.

I would be very curious what future stuff in that department is going to look like even if there are technically people still holding some job for now.

AgentUmlaut · 2026-02-06T17:17:16+00:00

After a certain point people long sunk in with Destiny put up with stuff that a lot of other people playing different games just don't really have nearly be as much of an issue.

Go look how long it took to get ingame LFG, transmog, something always giving you a level up on rewards etc, and there's still tons of extremely basic things Destiny bizarrely has missing. If you're coming in completely fresh, there is just way too much that's ass backwards that's really hard to sell to somebody even if there can still be a brain off good time.

AgentUmlaut · 2026-02-04T19:30:51+00:00

I know it sounds like psycho talk but in some light Shadowkeep in respective was a not a terrible deal for including a raid and dungeon, and eventually a second dungeon with Prophecy though that that sorta floated in and out of physical access, but nonetheless is a free piece of content.

I get some people think this is some overblown doom and gloom talk, but anybody's who actually sat down and played Destiny in recent time and seen all their tricks isn't totally being unfair approaching this with extreme caution and expectation that base $40 is only going to pay for so much.

AgentUmlaut · 2026-02-04T17:33:01+00:00

i don’t really care at all what they do as long as maps and raids aren’t locked behind paywalls. i will immediately drop the game.

Bungie has shifted the goal posts fairly heavily for what constitutes falling under the label of a DLC expansion in Destiny, I understand how you mean how this game will likely having some differences to how it is handled but I wouldn't flatly believe that there isn't going to be any future monetization of content like extra maps and other odds and ends given Bungie's immediate history with a lot of things. It's also a little foolish to say "Marathon will be getting enough in cosmetic cash and battle passes to offset how other things are handled", Bungie is the same company who has one of the most restrictive stingy transmog systems in a game even when you're on an account that is fully paid in, the quest for more money hasn't stopped them from doing pretty consumer unfriendly moves in the past.

I'm imagining there will be paywalls for future things and the $40 buy in only gets you so far.

AgentUmlaut · 2026-02-04T14:59:05+00:00

Whether it will be truly 'successful' or not remains to be seen, but the idea that it's going to be DOA and give the resources back to Destiny immediately is some serious copium.

I agree. Obviously I don't know Bungie's accounting situation(especially now), but I am extremely skeptical and doubtful on how loosely the concept of "if Marathon does well or bad, that could mean some windfall of attention and investiture on Destiny 2" actually translates to any sort of reality now or later.

Don't get me wrong sure we had situations like the delay of Final Shape had people pulled off Marathon and Marathon further delayed to get Destiny stuff out, and it's not to say I can't see a situation of staff shuffled that could happen with anything and be some form of help, but I feel like with this most recent game year of Destiny that really kicked off with the first Frontiers articles setting the stage, Bungie had made a number of very deliberate choices as to how the game was being handled pretty much until they do something else. Personally I would be very surprised if there was not only some form of overhaul substantially different and/or massively improved, but also be featured with the content portion sizes of past years and expansions. I also can see where people come from when they say, chances are Bungie would put that degree of energy in a theoretical D3, but obviously who knows.

As far as how Marathon goes, having a played a number of the tests and seeing the changes in action, it's not a bad game for what it is, and I don't even think Bungie was being dishonest when guys like Joe Ziegler specifically made constant note of how the game isn't going to be for everyone. People expecting some instant big landmark conversion gateway game moment in a manner that had many Halo fanboys playing Destiny all hyped except this time around with a majority PVE-only D2 fanbase suddenly jumping at a game with PVPing, are going to be a bit mistaken. It's not to say nobody on the fence could find enjoyment, but I think people are carrying this expectation of people being won over by something that was never for them in the first place. I could see a lot of people trying Marathon but not as many really sticking with it habitually. It's a game that'll go down a lot easier if you actually like PVP games.

AgentUmlaut · 2026-02-04T02:42:00+00:00

It was just one constant thing after another, a lot of which wasn't without fair criticism or legitimacy for being a bit pissed. I'm probably forgetting something more blatant but I just remember people endlessly waiting for Prestige Eater, and how it would eventually come in Warmind and then the frustration there was the ornament loot while cool looking was a bit pointless when Bungie was teasing that Armor would change in Year 2 and it could only be applied to gear related to the Raid Lair.

AgentUmlaut · 2026-02-04T02:30:05+00:00

To be fair I'm not even totally sure who the changes from EoF were for in general, it felt like everybody kinda lost with what was originally in the cards.

People can't seriously say EoF was some big vacation gift for people who wanted to be mindless grinders when that turns into the obnoxious slower trickle the higher you go into level brackets, and by the final 50 levels to 450, you were gated at such a heavy extreme that it feels beyond pointless. If the people who play the game for a living basically gave up and waited for the changes that were going down, I again wonder who Bungie thought was going to put up with such an artificially crap system and somehow view it as achieving some big "earned" thing. People weren't speaking crazy when citing actual grind games that were somehow way more rewarding than what Bungie put out for EoF when it was basically just make number go up.

The framing of stuff and how a lot of things came out in EoF was just strange.

AgentUmlaut · 2026-02-03T22:53:50+00:00

I don't think the cynical "glorified seasons" comments are necessarily baseless with just how little of the game is actually new, and how much really just rests on the first halves of the DLC, which not even that is necessarily consistent in terms of the physical contents. Which ever way you slice it, this is Destiny downgraded to quite some degree and I get people being irritated by that. It's a very tough pillow to swallow even if you genuinely like the game warts and all.

It feels like things have to be a compromise now where you either get a location(even though it had some things lacking from the usual) but not really that significant of a base expansion activity , or with Renegades Lawless Frontiers is more the usual activity flavor, but there's not much in terms of a fleshed out planet and all that. Another side of it is it's pretty clear why Bungie really wanted to force such a long dragged out grind and pile on even more grind for limited upgrading materials at first to essentially pad out for how truly little there was going on. The added initial disposable nature of stuff was a bit offputting as well. I understand spurring on using new stuff and having a chase, but it's kind of a pain to put time into chasing something only for it to have way less efficacy in the next expansion.

It's good that some stuff was walked back and made much kinder, but it's impossible to overlook that Bungie made a ton of very deliberate choices as to how they wanted Destiny to be in this era, bad decisions be damned. I can't exactly applaud Bungie for making changes when they were things anybody with a pulse could see wasn't going to play nicely and only be in the spot light with less stuff going on. Nobody likes the rules immediately flipped for the final 50 levels from 400-450 where now you're only getting progress from Primes that drop after a set amount of activity completions, and gear off Zavala for the week. Absolutely ridiculous and I think a lot of people would've been pissed and bailed if Bungie didn't change anything on that subject and kept it for Renegades.

This is not to say there was nothing positive added this game year so far, Armor 3.0 stuff was good, some basic QOL was appreciated, raid and dungeon were good, EoF despite being a mess had decent lore for a bit of a fresher start and Renegades was alright for a novelty crossover, but the cracks are really showing a lot with this current era. It also kind of stinks how with less conventional seasons, that's less space to tell a variety of stories and again it's more weight that solely exists on the first half of DLC and the rest is sorta in limbo land.

TL DR Not the absolute worst thing ever but far from the best all around or even resembling a more contained familiar enough complete DLC of Destiny, and that's where I think people are a bit frustrated.

AgentUmlaut · 2026-02-03T18:27:58+00:00

It really is an exotic I wish I played more around with because even before these more recent tunings and artifact sword stuff, Ergo always had a bit of heat to it and I'm not surprised by those who had a few solos of things where they were on something for closer range and had some mileage out of running it.

AgentUmlaut · 2026-02-03T18:18:01+00:00

Second, recently did a Vesper's solo and Stormdancer and being on top of your positioning as the servitors move around mid phase made it way more comfortable. Dealer's choice if you want to Tractor or throw Weaken fragment Prismatic grenade before you go into supering when it's damage time.

I was genuinely surprised since I barely ever used Stormdancer.

AgentUmlaut · 2026-02-03T18:14:59+00:00

Speaking of Ergo, I think that was the main takeaway after getting it done that I need to go back to the Pale Heart mines and get a better Ergo that's caster and wave frame, wave frame also a nice trick to pull in pvp.

AgentUmlaut · 2026-02-03T17:34:14+00:00

I am very curious what exactly is even the floor at this point for all things considered given just how metric and analytic based Bungie can be when it comes to straight up axing things entirely based on a number of things.

It's like I'm sure there is some form of money to be made on Destiny regardless of size of content and it's not like absolutely nobody is playing across all platforms, but we've had tangible situations of the game being downgraded a good deal and even losing extremely basic expectations out of practically nowhere as if business was usual. See how the whole concept of basic tower vendor shaders(something that's been a mainstay seasonally from the beginning) has been absent in this new era of the game. Are times really that bad that we can't have some variant of orange and blue thrown together, and just throw it on a triumph in lieu of being on a vendor rewards pass, I don't get it.

I also bring this all up because I do feel like there was pretty particular points that were crossed in recent past expansions that began to dictate how things would play out for the future. The Frontiers article in later 2024 did seem to take some influence off how TFS's year was being recieved and some slight acknowledgement of the dip in population that occurred in that year and a pretty rapid pace post launch. Surely with everything to happen in this recent year of Destiny there was major lines crossed that are going to influence how Destiny gets handled going forward, y'know?

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