Destiny 2 developer Bungie promises that its cracking down on not just cheaters, but their mutually benefiting teammates, who will now also be banned alongside them. It's an aggressive measure that's liable to unduly punish many innocent players caught in the crossfire, but a huge number of cheat sellers and users have more or less forced the studio's hand.
Running contrary to the celebratory tone of the shiny, community-focused Guardian Games event, the underbelly of illicit player behavior in Destiny 2 has bloomed into a major problem for the game's already dwindling playerbase ever since its move into the free-to-play market. Even more players began to depart in droves after cheating reached a fever pitch in the game's popular Trials of Osiris weekly competitive event recently, and Bungie has leveled with its players about the current chaotic state of the game in the developer's latest blog post, where it took a decisively hard line in its plans to curb cheating.
One conflicting part of that Bungie.net post is in the studio's counter-cheat blueprint, wherein they announced that "fireteammates of cheaters are no longer innocent," a reversal of longtime Destiny 1 and 2 policy. Those fed up with losses to cheating fireteams in Trials of Osiris probably feel vindicated by Bungie's pledge to "restrict or ban any player who has benefitted [sic] from cheating." However, the subsequent clause, "even if they didn’t cheat themselves," probably has solo players worried they'll unknowingly play with cheaters and suffer their same punitive fate. While regular PVP modes feature matchmaking, Trials of Osiris doesn't. Still, solo players frequently assemble into fireteams online, and Bungie warns, "If you LFG your way into a fireteam with a cheater, get out and report them."
Other details of Bungie's multi-part solution to Destiny 2 cheating consist of increasing the number of developers focusing on the issue and potentially implementing a "player time investment" requirement for those who want to compete in Trials of Osiris, as well as "additional initiatives [they] do not intend to share publicly" so as to play their cards close to their chest. All in all, it's a shame that the talented studio is shifting so much time and effort to a problem that shouldn't be so rampant in the first place, but that was an outcome that the company opened itself up to when taking its game down the free-to-play path.
MMO-lite looter shooters like Destiny 2 are obviously onto a winning formula that others in the industry are eager to replicate, and the game didn't suffer nearly so many community controversies in its original, pay-to-play state. When Destiny 3 finally rolls around, players will have to see for themselves if Bungie learns from the current title's costly lessons or if it's doomed to repeat them.
Source: Bungie