Should An Activity Like EAZ Be Permanently Added To Destiny 2?

The European Aerial Zone, or EAZ for short, is a fantastic new activity in Destiny 2 that’s part of Solstice of Heroes 2019. But should something like it be added to the game permanently?

The EAZ is a time-limited event that’s associated with Soltice of Heroes 2019, and won’t be here after. This is similar to how The Revelry brought Verdant Forest, and Festival of the Lost brings The Haunted Forest. But I think that the EAZ has such unique mechanics, that they need to be added in a permanent activity in Destiny 2, so that we can enjoy them for longer than a month.

What EAZ Mechanics Should Be Included Permanently In Another Destiny 2 Activity?

First, we have to applaud Bungie for the use of verticality in the EAZ. There’s no level quite like it, and moving around it feels like you’re really exploring some distant, destroyed part of a futuristic Earth. I also love how each area is named, but you need to learn where they are for the Prismatic Taken that occasionally pop up. Killing minibosses is all the more fun because they can be anywhere, and on any level, within the EAZ. Which brings us onto the next point.

Second, let’s talk about the minibosses phase. Killing as many minibosses as you can nets you as many chests as possible. I love how you have to think about your loadout in terms of maximising Mobility, Armour, and Damage, because otherwise you’ll get destroyed by the minibosses, or take too long to kill them. The fact that minibosses can literally be anywhere, and you have to track them down, makes the EAZ so much more interesting as well, because unless you’ve played dozens of hours of it, you can’t have a plan for every miniboss location.

Third, I want to point out how good the final bosses are in this activity. They’re tough, and they require real thought, instead of more bullets than anyone can possibly count. The thing about bosses in Destiny 2 is that nearly all of them now operate on mechanics, instead of needing to deal huge amounts of damage. That makes them more interesting, but in the EAZ those two things are combined. Monstrous bosses with big health pools can appear all at once, and if you get those three, you know the ones I mean, then the fight can be brutal if you don’t pay attention and deal some big hits.

Finally, let’s talk abou the chest phase, my favourite phase. Whoever designed it so that you see all the chest locations, determined by how many minibosses you killed, and then have them disappear until you’re nearby, is a genius. I’m slowly picking up where the most likely location of a chest is based on where I see it in the centre, but really they can be anywhere, making what should be the most rewarding phase of the activity, a little bit of a battle with the level. Once again, the verticality here is key, because it confuses you, making you seek out ways to move up or down within an area that just don’t seem to make sense.

Unfortunately I know that the EAZ is going to get taken away on the 27th of August, and really that’s fine. The event should return next year, because it’s a marvellous concept that I could play all day for months. However, I do think that Bungie need to take the mechanics above and put them into something else that’s a permanent fixture in the game. Even just the verticality would add so much to locations we already think we know. What I’d really love to see is a Crucible, and therefore PVP, map that uses verticality in this way, but we’ll just have to wait and see.

In short, yes there should absolutely be an activity similar to the EAZ added to Destiny 2 permanently. Get on it Bungie.

Let us know what you think of the EAZ in the comments.

Image Source: VGR