Destiny 2's Season of the Splicer is just around the corner, releasing its introductory mission on May 11. The new Season of the Splicer revolves around the Vex collective emerging from the shadows to cast darkness on the Last City. Guardians will seek the aid of both Ikora and Mithrax, a Fallen ally that happens to be a Splicer, which means he can commune with machines. Season of the Splicer will also include a cool Exotic sidearm called Cryosthesia 77K, capable of shooting Stasis blasts, new seasonal armor and weapons, old legends returning from Destiny (including the fan-favorite Hung Jury), extremely cute Fallen babies, and a new six-player matchmade activity.
The content from Destiny 2's Season of the Splicer will be coming to the game following a roadmap, with new features coming from May 11 to August 10, when the season officially ends. While a huge chunk of what the season has to offer will be free to all players, other elements of it will require either the Beyond Light expansion or the Season Pass for it to be accessed. Among the activities that are exclusive to the Season Pass, players will get to experience both the weekly pinnacle missions, called Expunge, as well as the all-new Override activity.
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Despite Fallen babies stealing the thunder in Season of the Splicer's trailer, some players did focus their attention on the new Override activity; specifically on the fact that it introduces matchmaking for six players. This may come as a surprise to more organized players that habitually play with friends or other players from their clan, but many activities within Destiny 2 lack a matchmaking system. This includes Nightfall activities above the base difficulty tier, Legend Sundials, and of course, Raids.
The fact that the endgame in Destiny and Destiny 2 was never really something for which Bungie even considered adding an in-game matchmaking system may be seen as weird and infuriating, even. Still, the main reason why Bungie never did is that it is a resource-consuming process that eventually is likely to create a lot more problems than it solves. The root cause for this line of thinking is that these endgame activities require coordination, specific loadouts (as in, a combination of good gear, weapons, mods, and subclasses), and knowing key mechanics.
With this in mind, it's actually not that difficult to see how introducing matchmaking for these activities could lead to issues, instead. However, it is also true that the game locks players out of some activities who don't generally want to deal much with clans and parties, aside from when tackling especially hard content. This is especially frustrating because of how stagnant progression can be in terms of Light power from gear, and completing these activities would award players with Pinnacle gear that helps with exactly that.
A counter-argument to this could be that Destiny 2 is still considered an MMO, so people know what they are getting into and they shouldn't expect to be able to face difficult content without proper fireteams. While this is true, this logic does not take into consideration the fact that some gamers simply want to play the game, and that overall an optional matchmaking for each and every activity in the game can do no harm, especially if done right.
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Players not being part of any clan or being in an inactive clan are unable to complete harder Nightfall content, Sundials, and Raids, unless they decide to use third-party apps, like LFG. A good solution would be to add the same thing to the game, but spicing it up with filters. These could include crucial things like the player's level of expertise with the activity, loadout of choice, and power level. This system would allow every single Destiny 2 player to at least have the option of playing the game the way they want, without limitations imposed by some things not being accessible at all unless specific conditions are met, including already being part of a fireteam.
Season of the Splicer's Override is the first activity in Destiny 2 that can be played in a fireteam of six people through the in-game matchmaking system. This is huge, and it sets a precedent for more similar content in the future, be it near or further down the line. Could this be the sign that players will finally see matchmaking for Raids, which, like Override, require six Guardians to be played? This remains to be seen, and it is sort of unlikely, especially considering the fact that it took Bungie several years to finally add a matchmaking system for base Nightfalls.
Still, some players think that Raids pose too much of a challenge for them to be successfully completed without any form of communication and team strategy. While this is partly true, especially because of all the challenges and puzzles that Raids tend to feature both during more basic or more difficult encounters, it is also true that a sort of matchmaking for Raids is already in place with the so-called Guided Games. This game mode allows gamers that are playing alone to seek out a "Guide," which means a clan looking for another person to start a Raid, acknowledging that the "Seeker" may be inexperienced and not fully understand all the mechanics behind each fight.
This system is great in theory, not so much in practice. More often than not, players will end up waiting in queue for hours before a match pops up, if at all. Override changes that, because it introduces a straightforward matchmaking system that will allow any lone player to be paired with the other five in order for them to form a six-player fireteam. As such, here's hoping that Raids will capitalize on this in a way that makes them more accessible, regardless of players' expertise.
Destiny 2's Season of the Splicer is coming on May 11 for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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