Playing Destiny 2 continues to be a frustrating experience for many, including myself, as of late October 2025. Despite progressing to high power levels allowing access to top-tier rewards in the Puzzle-themed Portal and the seasonal Festival of the Lost event, numerous bugs and performance problems interfere with gameplay—sometimes making certain missions impossible to complete.
Haunted Altars Soft Lock Problem and How to Avoid It
One of the most disruptive issues is a soft lock in the Festival of the Lost’s new Haunted Altars activity, a six-player PvE mission on the Moon. This bug disables progression during the boss fight’s first phase if players damage the boss too quickly. The studio Bungie has acknowledged the problem and recommended a crucial workaround:
- Wait approximately ten seconds after breaking the boss’s shield, allowing the in-game shriekers to close before dealing heavy damage. This timing prevents the soft lock from occurring.[1][3][4]
- If a soft lock happens, wiping the activity (all six players dying) resets the encounter in most difficulties. However, on the hardest modifier (Ultimatum), wipes cause players to be sent back to orbit, making this reset impossible.[3][1]
- The “Stunning Emotes” modifier likely worsens the bug by causing shriekers to glitch permanently, but Bungie has not officially confirmed this and considers it a community theory.[6][1]
- Players should avoid this modifier if possible and coordinate damage pacing in matchmaking to decrease soft lock chances.
Other bugs reported in Haunted Altars include enemy AI glitches, unexpected instant-death pulls, and frame rate drops that affect gameplay stability.[11][1]
Scoring and Objective Issues in Reclaim Missions and Battlegrounds
Reclaim missions, which drop Ash and Iron loot, and Battleground PvP rounds continue showing inconsistent and confusing scoring behaviors. Key points include:
- Runs that should yield A or B ranks often downgrade to C despite proper completion, mainly because players need to wait for enemy waves to spawn instead of rushing bosses. This is a design flaw or bug persisting since The Portal’s introduction.[12][3]
- Some Reclaim variants suffer from teleportation bugs where objectives fail to spawn, halting mission progress without resolution.[13][3]
- These issues contribute significantly to player frustration and wasted time.
Player Experience, Developer Response, and Event Extension
About half the runs I’ve attempted finish normally, rewarding expected loot and ranks. The rest end prematurely due to glitches, leading to poor rewards or frustrating resets. This reflects a broader pattern of declining stability coinciding with Bungie’s decreased quality assurance efforts.
In response to community frustration, Bungie has:
- Extended the Festival of the Lost event to November 11, 2025, giving players additional time to complete activities and earn rewards.[2][9]
- Temporarily disabled the “Join In Progress” feature for Haunted Altars to reduce players entering locked or bugged runs.[9]
- Publicly confirmed ongoing investigations and promised updates without specifying fixed timelines.[9]
Players Navigating Current Destiny 2 Challenges
- Avoid rushing damage in Haunted Altars boss fights: Hold damage for the recommended ten seconds after shield breaks.
- Coordinate wipes cautiously: Wipes reset encounters on most difficulties but will send players to orbit in Ultimatum mode.
- Avoid the Stunning Emotes modifier: It may increase shrieker-related bugs.
- Be patient with Reclaim scoring: Recognize that rank inconsistencies are due to design flaws still unresolved.
- Watch for Bungie updates: Event timeline extended; fixes are in progress.
