Bungie Knew There Would be Issues With Stasis in Destiny 2

As reported by PC Gamer, representatives from Bungie have now outlined how they were aware that Stasis would probably break Destiny 2 in a few fundamental ways and require three or four nerfs before it was fixed. Stasis was added with the Beyond Light expansion last year. Since then, it’s been a horror in the Crucible and has caused no end of issues for Guardians in pretty much all areas of the game. We’ve just had the first true nerf to Stasis, and things are starting to balance out, but it looks like this was always the plan, unfortunately.

Kevin Yanes, Abilities Feature and Sandbox Discipline Lead, and Chris Proctor, Weapons Feature Lead, have recently spoken on the Destiny Community Podcast. They spoke pretty candidly about how they were aware that Stasis was overpowered and would mix things up so much that they would feel broken. They were well aware that the subclass would need to be nerfed a few times before it settled into the game proper.

The pair went on to explain how Stasis was originally just a freezing mechanic. It paused Guardians in place for a while, after which you’d need to shoot them if you wanted to kill them. I’m glad that this didn’t make it into the final game, because it would have sucked. I can’t imagine using Stasis and it causing no damage, there would be no point in using it. Even weapons wielding it would be pretty much obsolete compared to any other element.

Stasis was an experiment, and it feels like at this point in time, Bungie has just about pulled it off. The developers have noted everything that was wrong with the element and made it work for Guardians. There’s no cheese left to use, at least none left that we know of. I’m sure some Guardians will find some more in the future. For now though, the problem seems to be fixed.

This is the thing about a live service game or MMO like Destiny 2 though. Nothing is set in stone. We will always remember how bad the issues with Stasis were, but future Guardians won’t. Some may even forget. We lived through a moment in time when Destiny 2 felt like a very different game, and now that moment has been lost to history. All we have are the hundreds of hours of video footage on YouTube to remember them by.

Let us know how you feel about the fact that Stasis was implemented with full knowledge that it would need to be nerfed in the comments.

Jamie Moorcroft-Sharp

I'm an avid Destiny 2 fan and player. I fell in love with Destiny 1 during the early alpha and have been hooked by the universe ever since. I really enjoy playing with other Guardians, speculating about the lore, and writing about as much of the Destiny universe as I can.