Smith surprisingly doesn’t go into detail about why Trials of the Nine doesn’t work. He does imply, however, that just wasn’t particularly successful. While Trials of the Nine had “begun to decline in Destiny 1,” Smith explains that Bungie only made the problem worse in Destiny 2. That’s partly due to Bungie’s focus on bringing in new players, simplifying the game, and making sure “it felt like a sequel.” But Trials of the Nine ultimately “didn’t work the way we’d hoped,” with Smith also writing, “If I could turn back time, I’d challenge us to do many things differently.”

RELATED: Destiny 2 Plans Big Shadowkeep Reveals, Including Revamped PvP

The question becomes what Bungie plans to do with PvP in Destiny 2’s future. Smith introduces readers to two of Bungie’s PvP goals going into Destiny 2’s Shadowkeep expansion. The first is to expand beyond “pick a playlist, play a mode,” and the second is to return competitive modes to player counts that are a multiple of 3. These are core ideas that have to be done before moving forward, it seems.

Those two goals will result in tangible changes in Shadowkeep. Quickplay and Competitive nodes in the Director are going to be removed, replaced by more targeted and diverse playlists. Trials of the Nine fans will be most interested in Bungie introducing four variants of 3v3 Elimination. Elimination will be going into Crucible Labs for experimentation as Bungie fleshes it out. It’s not Trials of the Nine, but it’s movement in the right direction.

Perhaps the most important part of Luke Smith’s comments on Trials of the Nine and PvP in Destiny 2 going forward is his closing statement. “Once the above changes go live in October, we’ll be watching, listening, and reading as you check them out.” As much as Bungie may want to deliver massive changes to Destiny 2 and put together a successor to Trials of the Nine, there’s only so much that can be done between expansions.

Destiny 2 is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Shadowkeep releases October 1.

MORE: Destiny 2: Why Changes Can Be Slow

Source: Bungie