Destiny 2’s Solar 3.0 update redesigns old subclasses to fit the current state of the game, but class identity and gameplay may be suffering from it.
Destiny 2's Season of the Haunted is one of the biggest seasonal releases in the history of the game, and it includes a new patrol zone in the form of the reprised Leviathan spaces for players to explore. The update also added the now-reworked Solar subclasses, which were redesigned to better match the current state of the game and the Aspects and Fragments system introduced with Stasis. The Solar 3.0 update was highly anticipated by the community, with many Destiny 2 fans hoping it would be next in line after the Void rework, but the end result is not pleasing everyone.
Although, it should be noted that pleasing all players with massive updates to gameplay mechanics and interactions is not an easy task, and Destiny 2 may be an even harder game to handle in these regards due to all the various components that go into making builds work. Still, the problem may be that the Solar 3.0 update severs the classes' identity into Aspects and Fragments, and it also adds new layers of mechanics into an already convoluted gameplay flow that takes time to truly master.
An example comes from the fact that Solar 3.0 Warlocks lost a lot of utility across the board, with the new Aspects being severed parts of the various skill trees that existed before, such as Heat Rises and Icarus Dash. These two Aspects were previously perks that gave Dawnblades its own identity by creating a very specific gameplay flow for players to engage with. Even though having more options and customizing the selection of abilities a given class has access to is a good thing, in this case, it means that recreating that specific playstyle may be more difficult than before and less rewarding, too.
This is not necessarily an issue that's exclusive to Warlocks, but the general sentiment about the Solar 3.0 subclasses is that they are not that great of an upgrade compared to what was available before, with some of them gaining something and others losing something else. The balancing process in Destiny 2 has never been an easy one, and that's why sandbox patches are now more frequent than before — to address issues that may arise in previous builds while also aiming at improving things moving forward.
Another issue is that the update added two new keywords: Scorch and Ignite. The gist of it is that Scorch is applied in stacks by multiple sources and goes up to 100 stacks, then Scorch is removed, and Ignite is activated, creating an explosion that deals Solar damage to the target and other enemies nearby it. In-game abilities, Fragments, and even Exotics items have ways to apply Scorch, but the game doesn't have a way to display how many stacks are applied with each Scorch instance, which would be crucial for buildcrafting in Destiny 2. This approach is an interesting one in terms of gameplay design, but it is also frustrating to tackle on the players' part because of key information not being handed out properly anywhere.
Lastly, there are not many Exotic synergies with Solar 3.0, and the result is that the update can feel half-baked. An example is that, although Hunters are seen as having the best Solar 3.0 set of Destiny 2's three classes, they also have very few Exotics that actually have synergies with Solar builds. Even then, no existing Exotic armor pieces have perks that work with Solar 3.0's keywords, but this is supposed to be a huge part of both class identity and gameplay flow that was instead present in the Void 3.0 update. Overall, Solar 3.0 is not a bad addition, but it may need more work overtime to make it what Bungie envisioned.
Destiny 2 is currently available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Andrea became a gamer for life at 7, thanks to a Pokemon Red cartridge and her Game Boy. She knew she wanted to be a writer early on, back when she got a floppy disk and she wrote “My Book” on it. Her Italian lineage means she thrives on pizza and cosmic horror because that’s a typical Italian Sunday. She loves games featuring deep lore, sci-fi elements, and strategic thinking. She is often found playing Destiny 2, for which she also makes guides.
