'Destiny 2': 'Trials Of Osiris' Hits New Peak Population Count After Revamp

The once-loathed Trials of Osiris game mode in “Destiny 2” suddenly skyrocketed in popularity after receiving a major overhaul to reward acquisition, improved matchmaking and anti-cheat measures.

Players flooded the Trials of Osiris after it was updated. According to Trials Report, the game mode’s average player count rose to over 600,000 players — nearly six times the previous record prior to the revamp.

Trials of Osiris is an endgame PvP activity for “Destiny 2” that pits two fireteams of three guardians against each other in high-stakes Elimination rounds for a chance to get unique and powerful loot.

Previously, teams that won the most matches would get the highest chances to get the best loot, while those who kept losing were forced to try again. Wins and losses were tracked via tickets called Passages that are given by Saint-14, the game mode’s dedicated vendor.

This system made Trials an extremely competitive game mode, which turned off many of “Destiny 2’s” players. The combination of extreme competitiveness and manic toxicity was not worth experiencing for most, even if some of the game’s best items were locked behind the game mode.

Recently, Bungie reworked Trials to be more rewarding and less punishing for the casual player without compromising the hardcore PvP community. Now, players only have to win rounds and not entire matches to earn progress on their ticket. Additionally, players will no longer be held back by their losses.

This means that players only have to win individual rounds in order to earn Trials gear, including their rarer and more powerful Adept versions. However, Adept gear will drop more frequently for players who hold Flawless Passages, which incentivizes players to stay on the top of their game.

Saint-14 has also been remade to function like the rest of the NPCs in the Tower. Players can earn reputation with Saint and earn even more Trials engrams like Lord Shaxx or Saladin from the Crucible. Additionally, players now have the option to spend large amounts of resources to farm specific weapons from Saint.

The changes to Trials of Osiris have been positively received by many players, especially now that skill-based matchmaking solo-queueing has been enabled. The newly implemented BattlEye anti-cheat system and yearly expansion purchase requirement have also reduced the number of cheaters in the game mode.