It’s been a very tumultuous time for Bungie, the studio behind Destiny 2. Layoffs and reports have complicated the game’s future. A potential balm? The Fireteam Finder, from the looks of it.
I’m being slightly cheeky here, of course, but the simple fact remains that Bungie has burned through surprisingly massive amounts of community goodwill ever since Destiny 2: Lightfall came out. After moving from one precarious situation into another, it was a bit of a surprise to see the studio embrace certain features and changes that, realistically, should’ve been in Destiny 2 from the get-go.
What makes Destiny 2’s Fireteam Finder such a big deal?
Right off the bat, Bungie is clearly onto something with the Fireteam Finder. Though it is currently in its beta form with the full release slated for January 2024, the feature already enjoys widespread acclaim from the community.
To be perfectly honest, Bungie could’ve easily phoned things in for the Fireteam Finder, same as it did with the now-forgotten Guided Games feature from years back. The feature’s failure would’ve hardly even registered compared to the problems Bungie has been going through as of late. The fact that people are as thrilled with a mere beta as they are implies that the expectations were, indeed, low.
It’s great news, then, that Destiny 2‘s Fireteam Finder is just about everything a solo player needs to compete in endgame-tier activities. Whether it’s Raids, Dungeons, or something as innocuous as a simple Vanguard Playlist romp, the Fireteam Finder allows players of all makes and experience levels to meet up and enjoy the game.
Up until now, all of Destiny 2‘s LFG (i.e. looking-for-games) systems have been out-of-game ordeals. Players had to use official or third-party apps, forums, and Discord servers to find other players for their fireteams, and for a game that underlines its social features to such a degree as Destiny, this was a truly befuddling choice on Bungie’s end.
How Destiny 2’s community ties the whole thing together
The Fireteam Finder is feature-rich and comprehensive already, allowing players to fine-tune their requests and playing group preferences however they want. All this would’ve been for naught if people weren’t eager to participate, however.
While it’s certainly worth remembering that the DestinyTheGame subreddit is just a tiny sliver of the broader Destiny 2 community, people have been reiterating their positive experiences in a recent thread, and they paint a very favorable situation for the Fireteam Finder.
“Ingame Fireteam Finder is a huge development,” said poepkat, adding that they are “very happy with it.” Destiny player DeepImpacted had similar things to say, explaining how they’re “so glad [the Fireteam Finder] is in the game now.”
Amid a sea of positive feedback, it was Inclemens’ comment that piqued our interest in particular, though: “[The Fireteam Finder] is an amazing too. I just don’t understand why we are only getting it now at the end of the game’s life.” People are, clearly, enjoying the Fireteam Finder for what it is, and it is an objectively valuable addition to Destiny 2. Moreover, it will get even better as the beta comes to a wrap early next year, but an in-game LFG system alone won’t carry the game forward.
Destiny 2’s hazy path forward
It is, perhaps, interesting that the successful beta release of the Fireteam Finder isn’t the only recent example of Bungie successfully handling the community expectations. The second major highlight comes from the recent Vault accessibility bug, for one. After players discovered that they could access their Vaults even after loading into combat activities and Patrol zones, Bungie recognized the need for this feature and promised to reimplement it with official support further down the line.
It is through these relatively small-scale, player-focused grassroots implementations that Bungie has an opportunity to win back large portions of its player base ahead of The Final Shape. This is one of those better-late-than-never situations, and Destiny 2 is certainly a better game for the Fireteam Finder’s existence.
