Whoops! The latest Destiny 2 hotfix deleted a bunch of incredibly hard-to-earn achievements
'Shadow'. 'Conqueror'. 'King-Slayer'. These are things absolutely nobody will ever actually call me, but I proudly display all three on my guardians when playing Destiny 2. Each is a cosmetic title which has to be earned by completing a checklist of triumphs required for a particular "seal." Once the seal is finished you can then wear the associated "title." Some triumphs are simple, like racking up enough of a particular kind of kill, while others are pretty tricky, like requiring whole raids to be done without anyone on the team dying.
As you can imagine, there's a moderate amount of prestige attached to the more rare ones, or at least grudging respect in the case of the lunatics who actually grinded out the 'Reckoner' title from the Gambit mode. Thus there was no small amount of consternation today as players logged after hotfix 6.3.0.5 to find that some of their titles were missing.
It seems that some triumphs previously marked as complete are no longer ticked, or showing missing progress, meaning that the corresponding title could no longer be applied to their toons. Bungie has acknowledged the issue, also noting that progress on exotic catalysts was missing, and the game has now been taken offline while the studio investigates.
We are investigating an issue where several Triumphs have had their progress reset unintentionally, which can potentially remove earned Seals from players.January 24, 2023
Destiny 2 is being brought offline as we investigate an ongoing issue causing certain Triumphs, Seals, and Catalysts to lose progress for players. Stand by for updates.January 24, 2023
Honestly, I don't think it's time to panic (and not just because as far as I could tell my titles were all still in place). The reason the game is offline is likely because a rollback is required to restore the correct data, and therefore Bungie won't want players out in the wild earning gear and triumphs they subsequently end up losing. I'll update this story as and when the fix is applied.
Titles are familiar badges of honor in MMOs. Did you know that Luke Smith, executive creative director of the Destiny universe at Bungie (now there's a title), counts becoming a Scarab Lord in World of Warcraft among his most formative gaming experiences? You do now.
Oh, and in case you're curious, here's a list of all 28 titles currently obtainable in Destiny 2, ordered by reverse chronology of release: MMXXII, Star Baker, WANTED, Seraph, Ghost Writer, Kingslayer, Scallywag, Flamekeeper, Reveler, Discerptor, Iron Lord, Reaper, Risen, Gumshoe, Disciple-Slayer, Vidmaster, Deadeye, Flawless, Conqueror, Unbroken, Dredgen, Splintered, Fatebreaker, Descendant, Harbinger, Enlightened, Cursebreaker, Rivensbane.
In case you missed it we also ran an exclusive Q&A with the Bungie devs yesterday that dug into some of the nitty-gritty changes coming to build crafting when the Lightfall expansion launches on February 28. Well worth a read.