Destiny 2 Players Unhappy About Controversial Portal Reward Nerfs

Bungie has announced major changes coming to its Destiny 2 Portal with the Ash and Iron update, though most of the plans have left players feeling concerned and frustrated. The Edge of Fate expansion for Destiny 2 brought with it a substantial number of sandbox changes to the core experience, including a hub for activities known as Portal.

However, things haven’t gone as smoothly as Bungie would have liked when The Edge of Fate launched in July, as there have been plenty of growing pains with all of these new systems and mechanics. In fact, Destiny 2 players have found ways to maximize their time in Portal activities, using Solo Ops to speedrun activities like K1 Logisitics or Caldera to try and efficiently increase their max power level quickly. Unfortunately, it seems like this wasn’t what Bungie had in mind and changes appear to be on the way.

Bungie Announces Plans to Nerf Rewards Earned in Solo Ops

In the latest weekly blog from Bungie, the team outlined a ton of upcoming changes being made to the Portal in Destiny 2. While it was revealed that Fireteam and Pinnacle Ops were seeing buffs as well as an influx of new content to make them more appealing, one of the biggest announcements in the blog was that Solo Ops would be reducing the power earned for a given grade by 1. Bungie is attempting to stop Solo Ops from being what the blog describes as the “above-all best method of levelling for all player types.” Unfortunately, the announcement has left fans frustrated more than anything else, calling the changes tone-deaf and unnecessary.

However, while fans aren’t pleased with what is coming, it does appear that Bungie is listening to feedback from the recent announcement as the studio has already confirmed one change being made with potentially more to come. A follow-up from the community team confirmed that one of the planned changes to push players to visit Rahool in the Destiny 2 Tower to decrypt Prime Engrams is being scrapped, as it added another step for players to get their loot. The changes have been praised by players, but ultimately, there continues to be calls for additional changes to Solo Ops, Loadout Restrictions, as well as making things more rewarding across the board rather than reducing the number of viable options.

This isn’t the first time Bungie has been accused of nerfing fun out of its game, as the developer has a reputation for seemingly reacting quickly to shut down issues that seemingly benefit players. While Bungie continues to try and keep the game balanced, it seems most major updates introduce a change or nerf with an exotic item that leaves players disappointed. In fact, the Third Iteration exotic scout rifle was hitting much harder than anticipated, quickly making it a fan-favorite gun for The Edge of Fate, though a July update quickly brought the weapon back in line.

Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate

Released

July 15, 2025

ESRB

Teen / Blood, Game Experience May Change During Online Play, Language, Violence

Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op

Engine

Tiger Engine