Destiny 2 Drama Ensues After the Desert Perpetual Day One

The Contest Mode for the Desert Perpetual Raid in Destiny 2 pushed teams to the limit. All four encounters had damage checks, which required players to squeeze out every bit of damage with loadout swaps. Many teams wiped with the boss on a sliver of health, leading to disappointment and frustration. Many expected a lack of clears from the raid, but were surprised to see over 600 teams clear on the contest. After inspection of the clears, players discovered inconsistencies in many of the clears.

Destiny 2 Desert Perpetual Teams Cheated to Clear

In the aftermath of the raid clears released, players discovered that around 70% of the top 100 clears included at least one player cheating. The short encounter clears, high kill counts in the clears, and notorious cheaters led players to these assumptions. One of the methods assumed to be used in these cases is net-limiting. Dot Esports describes net-limiting as: “Users limiting their bandwidth with various programs. By slowing down their internet speed, players create artificial lag and use it to their benefit.”

RaidHub did a sweep of all the teams that cleared and discovered that around 400 teams included a cheater. It left around 200 teams to clear Desert Perpetual on Contest. The number of teams is by far the lowest count of clears since Contest Mode was moved to 48 hours for a clear.

Bungie Responds

In a tweet yesterday, Bungie confirmed they are looking into the matter. The Destiny 2 Team on X posted: “We are investigating reports of cheating with fireteams who cleared The Desert Perpetual Contest mode.” Cheating in Day One raids and in Destiny 2 is not new. The PvP game modes are rife with issues. In recent times, content creators have been targeted by players intentionally crashing their game, or having their screen crowded by moths.

Reaction

If the reports are confirmed, Bungie must act swiftly. They need to put a plan in action to prevent cheating issues. It is not an isolated event. The players’ discontent with Bungie will continue if Bungie does not help. Perhaps this incident is what is needed for more extreme measures from Bungie. It should also help the PvP sphere.