Destiny 2’s Contest of Elders Doesn’t Hold a Candle to The Coil

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home December 20, 2024 24 Views 7 Min Read
Destiny 2's Contest of Elders Doesn't Hold a Candle to The Coil



Summary

  • Contest of Elders lacks exciting loot compared to The Coil.
  • The Tonic system negatively affects drop rates in Destiny 2 activities because base chances are lower to account for Tonics.
  • Bungie struggles to reproduce successful seasonal activities in Destiny 2 after The Coil.



One could say that not all of Destiny 2‘s seasonal activities are born equal from a design standpoint, with some of them being more basic and easy to approach for all levels of play and others being more complex and typically more rewarding. There have been many times over the years when some seasonal activities didn’t resonate with the playerbase for various reasons, though one that is largely considered Destiny 2‘s best activity is The Coil. This was added in Season of the Wish, and it had some secrets, score-dependent loot, extra chests for players to find, and multiple bosses. The Contest of Elders is a lot like The Coil, except in one department.

The Contest of Elders is a reimagining of Destiny 1‘s Prison of Elders endgame activity from the House of Wolves expansion, and it follows a similar approach to The Coil from Season of the Wish when it comes to its overall design. Much like The Coil, Destiny 2‘s Contest of Elders has multiple rooms and bosses that players can run into, and it also brings back random modifiers into mix, but this time they change and reset after every encounter instead of carrying over for the whole run. Still, while Contest of Elders is arguably one of the best seasonal activities in Destiny 2‘s history, it falls terribly short in its loot.


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Why Destiny 2’s Contest of Elders Falls Short on Loot Compared to The Coil

The fact that Contest of Elders’ loot in Destiny 2 is not great is not entirely on the activity itself, but rather a larger culprit is that this should have been the base activity for Revenant when it launched, and it shouldn’t only award seasonal weapons that are not craftable. The Coil could award some of the best loot in the game, between Ascendanty Alloy, red-border guns for crafting, high-stat armor, and more.

Contest of Elders Doesn’t Offer Great New Loot

Destiny 2 Noxious Vetiver SMG


Instead, Contest of Elders was introduced with Destiny 2‘s Revenant Act 2, giving it a dramatically smaller pool of new weapons it could drop – three, to be exact – reducing the overall excitement. The activity can still drop the other Revenant weapons in Destiny 2, but the better ones in Act 2 are Noxious Vetiver and Scavenger’s Fate, though some of the revamped Season of the Splicer weapons can be nice to see. Still, the problem is that Contest of Elders awards very little loot in comparison to The Coil, which its shorter duration doesn’t truly justify. This is a symptom of a bigger issue with Revenant, and that’s Tonics.

How Destiny 2’s Tonics Affected Contest of Elders’ Loot

Destiny 2‘s Tonic system is supposed to enhance the drop rates for Revenant weapons, but this system is lackluster due to low amounts of harvested ingredients vs. high costs to make the Tonics. On top of that, Tonics have been bugged for the entirety of Act 1 and part of Act 2, and their increased drop chance for Revenant weapons doesn’t make up for the low rates from seasonal activities, including Contest of Elders. Without sought-after loot in the form of weapons or materials, even if Contest of Elders is fun to run, it’s likely not worth the time investment compared to other activities.


For example, even regular drop rates for Destiny 2‘s GM Nightfalls are better than those in Contest of Elders, and the loot is more interesting too. Destiny 2‘s Rake Angle glaive can roll with Replenishing Aegis and Chill Clip, for example, making for a good Champion-stunning weapon. Revenant weapons are not the best of the bunch, even if Bitter/Sweet and Noxious Vetiver are upgrades over existing alternatives. As such, Bungie has yet to replicate what made The Coil a great seasonal activity, even if Contest of Elders checks some of the same boxes.

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