Destiny 2's new patch has worsened the spawn rate of exotic class items

A new patch dropped this week for Destiny 2, and in addition to the usual balance changes, a “generous” buff to the drop rate of Exotic class items has fans excited. According to Bungie, the chance of acquiring Exotic class items from chests found in the Overthrow activity has been adjusted. Higher-tier chests were supposed to increase drop rates, but feedback from the Destiny 2 community has revealed that drop rates have instead decreased significantly.

Once players have completed the Dual Fate Exotic mission for the first time, Exotic class items typically appear after about three attempts at knockdown. Depending on the dice roll, these can be extremely powerful armor pieces to equip if you build around them, but the two Exotic perks available on them are random, making it difficult to get the desired combination.

Several Destiny 2 players have reported having to perform at least five knockdown attempts before an Exotic class item would drop, and Bungie has confirmed that it has “identified an issue” affecting drop rates.

This is a major blow to the Destiny 2 community, as farming these Exotics was a big draw after the game launched after completing The Final Shape campaign. This issue also comes on the heels of a turbulent period at Destiny 2 developer Bungie, which recently announced massive layoffs . This affected 17% of its workforce, and some of the most high-profile departures included senior executives Luke Smith and Mark Noseworthy, who were working on a canceled Destiny spinoff called Project Payback.

Around 155 other Bungie developers will be absorbed into Sony Interactive Entertainment, and another group of employees will form an entirely new studio under the Sony umbrella. Bungie is also working on Marathon, a reboot of a '90s Bungie franchise, and the studio aims to release it in 2025.