After plenty of hubbub around the issue of whether at least some ofDestiny 2’s damage sources depend heavily on the client’s frame rate, in-depth testing has confirmed that there may be a serious problem after all. It’s no secret that the engine Bungie uses forDestinyis having a bit of a hard time keeping up with modern development, as that was cited as one of the reasons for the previous years' content sunsetting, but there are other, more pervasive issues present as well.
The discussions surrounding thepurportedDestiny 2: Lightfalldamage bughave been a hot topic for some time now, but information on whether something was amiss or not was fairly scarce, and Bungie didn’t comment on the matter. Now, however, the community has come up with some hard data that confirms what some have been claiming all along: the higher the frame rate, the more damage a player takes.
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Reddit user Aercus has taken it upon themselves to test whether some ofDestiny 2’s prominent damage sources deal more damage at a higher frame rate. For brevity’s sake, they limited their testing to two major Cabal enemies: the Thresher VTOL and the Scorpius turret. Aercus' findings are very comprehensive, if not entirely surprising to PC players, as it would appear that both of the aforementioned foes dish out 130% more damage at 60 FPS than they do at 30 FPS. Aercus limited their testing to the PS4 and PS5 versions ofDestiny 2to be able to deliver fast results, but they warned that it can be extrapolated that running the game at 120 FPS might mean an up to 190% damage increase, compared to capping it at 30 FPS.
While Aercus' results are “statistically significant,” as they put it, they do warn that more data collection would be in order, especially on the PC side of things. With the long-awaitedDestiny 2: Lightfallraid raceslated to run until March 12, however, it is important that these preliminary findings be shared, as they may end up proving valuable when the going gets tough.
The new Root of Nightmares raid is mostly a total unknown, but it’s entirely possible that the Cabal make an appearance in some of its stages, featuring the affected Thresher and Scorpius implements. Players eager to unlock the exclusiveDestiny 2Root of Nightmares raid jacketmay wish to cap their FPS accordingly, then, to bolster their odds of making it through.
Bungie has confirmed thatDestiny 2: Lightfallwill get more story questsover the coming seasons, addressing the missing weaponry and confusing narrative elements. It remains to be seen whether the studio will be able to resolve the problems caused by tying the enemies' damage output to FPS, however, as it may well be a core engine quirk.
