This mode could actually save Destiny 2 PvP 

What do you think of this mode so far? Use code CRUCIBLE at emberedge.com to get 10% off the best mousepad for FPS gaming

Bungie found a way to make people play the objective, never thought I’d see the day

My experience with the mode has been underwhelming, i’ll list out why 1. Matchmaking: For some reason, every match i queued into took forever and got stuck at 8/12 players. This might be a problem only on console 2. TTK: They adjusted ttk/general health, but it didn’t make a difference for some weapons. For example, bows and hand cannons have the same ttk (especially igneous hammer). It basically makes it so you have to run a hand cannon, or else you can’t duel correctly in higher skill lobbies 3. Gameplay: By increasing the TTK and by making it a 6 player mode, the general gameplay loop is reminiscent of year 1 of d2. The best and most optimal way to play is to play with your team and teammshot, which is not the same experience as taking individual duels. In all my games I played today, about 9, all the teams played together moving from point to point. You can’t leave the pack, because you’ll get singled out by the enemy team’s pack. Maybe this is just a problem with control through, since its objective based 4. Heavy ammo: I don’t know the statistics, but it feels like there is way too much heavy ammo in this mode. In a mode where primary duels is the focus, why can the whole team grab heavy ammo that spawns a little too often. It spawns often enough to make playing around heavy ammo the most optimal way to play.

My personal favorite weapon for this mode, believe it or not, is Warden's Law. Not even my lethal roll, but my consistent roll - Moving Target/Zen Moment - feels PHENOMENAL. Also, having to play objective and get primary elims to earn special ammo is a really refreshing feeling and it makes the game feel less like "let's all use our ohk specials and only use primaries when we're out of special" and more like a real PRIMARY gunplay mode with SECONDARY weapons being...well, secondary. And abilities being things that you need to use wisely instead of just spamming them also feels so good. Overall I feel like I've had more fun in PVP today than I have in years. So much less "oh that was absolute bullshit" and more "oh man, that guy earned that kill, I need to pay better attention" which is making me feel less angry and more dialed in. Bungie knocked it out of the park with this, and I'd be happy if this just became how PVP played across the board.

I’m curious how drang+Sturm feels in this mode, seems almost perfect for it

Idk, very little diversity in primary weapon. I would guess 60-70% of lobby’s are hand cannons. It’s fun to an extent and I do prefer the gun play over ability spam. But considering most people still want to use a special instead of using double primary, you see less cqc primaries and more hand cannons. Definitely a win for PvP just not going to call it a home run.

Do you think Revision will have a similar affect with needing more shots thereby increasing chances to use the sniper mode?

It’s hilarious how much better I’ve been performing with hand cannon only fights

This is a welcome change, but I worry it’s too late to win back PVP players who either took a break from Destiny over the last year, or moved on to other games.

This mode should be a relentless gamemode instead of being a permanent add on to every mode.

I played a bit last night, and when I wasn't getting weaseled it seemed like fun. I noticed a drastic drop in titans so I was already happy lol

Wouldn't know can't stay connected long enough to do much of anything with the current server attacks

This mode shouldn’t be a permanent mode that is in every mode but instead a cbmm rotator like supremacy and clash.

I'm loving Checkmate as well as the attention Bungie has been giving PVP in general in the last couple of weeks. Best thing about Checkmate is that if you're a crazy person and don't actually like Checkmate, it's not a problem because Checkmate is just a modifier. I can see the Checkmate modifier being used in modes like Trials or Comp but Bungie keeping other more casual modes the way they are currently so that everyone can have something to play and enjoy. Also, a quick note about the TTK: I've always liked the longer TTK in this game in particular, even during vanilla D2 days. Sure, the teamshotting can be an issue but now that we have more ways to counter teamshotting (such as more abilities and supers and 1KO weapons that weren't around during vanilla D2) I don't think it will be as much of a problem and the trade off is def worth it.

More primary battles instead of annoying shotgun apes? Yes please. Now we will get to see who’s gonna suffer without their special.

“Some of the best gun play in 2023 still” Is a really nice way to say “no other studio has come close to bungies gun play in over half a decade”

Ok this mode looks epic

This is the future of PvP. No free special ammo or constant ability spam. We’re just play testing, they just called it a “new game mode.”

Lumina/Boots of Assembler build for Warlocks is really strong in Checkmate, especially if you run Ember of Benevolence to get your abilities back faster. Boots of Assembler offer huge bursts of healing at range AND extend the duration of your rift. Each heal triggers Ember of Benevolence. They also fixed the tracking the Assembler orbs, meaning each teammate will get a healing orb instead of all five flying to the closest target Lumina itself benefits from the handcannon privilege of Checkmate. The 15% damage boost (plus instant heal, which also triggers Benevolence) makes it really easy to land your optimal TTKs. The combat Medic build is probably OP for this mode, but we'll see if PvPers actually want to play support

I don't think the PvP strike team had anything to do with checkpoint. Just saying this because of you look at the turnaround time for any complaints from the community, and they've said they're usually about 6 months in the future in development time

All bungie need to do for crucible is removed skill base in casual game modes, have the special ammo removed in spawn and have abilities timer extended in PVP only. That way you are more focused on gun play

I haven’t tried it. I might try it someday. I heard mixed reviews. Some people like it. Others say the team shooting meta has returned. And when I say team shooting I know that team based modes will have that but in year one it was so bad that none of our teammates separated to flank different sides. It was mostly passive pushing of that made sense. Teams would push but to a point where they could just melt the other team. Nobody made risky yet rewarding pushes because there weren’t any special weapons. It was autos and scouts specifically mida and Uriel’s gift. If we’re back to that meta I’ll pass. But I’ll try it first.

I feel like this is bungie testing changes to pvp, if relic was bungie testing mroe experimental and 'fun' gamemodes, this is bungie testing more competitive, slow paced pvp

The fact vex and other 360’s by that logic deal 43 damage and 51+ after damage buffs is insane to me

Now that they've added it, I'm really loving checkmate rumble

Ive been asking for a destiny 1 like - no spawn with special ammo change - for years now. I dont know how this idea took so long to execute but im happy they finally understand that its not a good idea to give everyone one shot guns everytime they die. It also altered the gameplay of many ppl bc "why would I wanna use my primary if I have 2 special weapon shots left?" every played tends to empty their special ammo first before engaging into gunfights

HC and Bows are alittle too forgiving in this game mode.

If I can get a match with a good connection I'll probably enjoy it.

I hope they try a normal ttk in labs at some point and see how it plays out

Great, but its annoying we have to WAIT for the mode to be in rotation to play it. We should be able to chose or create playlists with a bundle of modes

I'd say that if people would start to play more in groups then other players would start to use crowd control weapons that punish you for being too close to each other like cloudstrike for specials, necrochasm, ace of spades or something like firefly for primary

I continue to spam my abilitys with child of the old gods and aeons that give me rift enegy when a teammate dies 😈

Honestly im apprehensive with this. Im wishing the best of luck to this gamemode but I’m not holding my breath knowing Sod’s Law can happen anytime.

Iv enjoyed the crucible this year just because iv always looked at Destiny pvp as embrace the chaos its what i enjoyed back even when D1 launched. But this new mode has felt very refreshing and really lets the gunplay shine. Also this video inspired me to pull out Suros, havent used that badboy in ages.

I'm having a blast with hawkmoon the high damage shots are so much easier to get since you're not just being rushed by shotguns and fusions constantly

I havent played the mode, but the TTKs sound like D2 Y1 and a lot of people didnt like the slowness. I think leaving the current TTKs and applying the special ammo + ability reduction modifiers would make this play much better

A lot of people camping with bows. IMO bows need a swap time nerf and possibly a type of reload penalty when the 'quiver' is exhausted. Infinite ammo and hit-boxes the size of a refrigerator.

Don’t know if the increased TTK was needed, but we’ll see if people like it and it sticks or if it’s too much like Y1 D2 and is unpopular Checkmate with the TTKs left alone could be a nice middleground between the stupid ability spam of the post 3.0 sandbox, and Y1 of D2 I think neither are an experience that’s ideal, but this is an opportunity to force an in-between which is cool The way special works is also good, mode/modifier has promise

I wish I could tell you what I think but I keep getting kicked because of error codes. I didn't complete a single match because of error codes.

Im kinda late but after playing multiple checkmate matches with igneous it felt amazing. When i went back to regular pvp it was nothing but cheese

I matched a wallah six stack when I qued solo. I may not be an expert on "connection based" match making but something there doesn't seem ok..

exactly right. i dont even mind getting my ass kicked sometimes in this game mode, because when that happens for the most part im being outskilled, not killed with cheese.

*complains about abilities. *goes into game mode with fewer abilities. *uses a build designed for constant uptime of one-shot ability that works around corners and has no counterplay. *complains about special weapons. *uses a weapon that turns into a special. You're your own problem.

My first impressions on the new Checkmate modifier in Crucible Labs: - The Special Ammo generation bar is really cool. It takes alot of kills, objectives, damage given and taken, but it gives you 3-4 special ammo shots when it fills, and you keep them through death. They feel very special indeed, and I don't want to waste them. It also means more jousting gunfights with primaries instead of special ammo spam. This also has the side effect of making people clump up, so grenades are pretty powerful when used to break up groups, even if the regen for them is halved. -The slowed ability sandbox actually feels pretty OK. Its nice to have much less grenade spam, less Barricade spam, etc etc etc. They're all more valuable now, don't waste them. Though its hard to get a Super some games. I'm also not sure about the melee damage right now, but that may just be my muscle memory messing me up. Healing Grenades and Overshields are incredibly powerful. - I kinda hated the weapon sandbox damage tweaks at first, because I didn't understand them yet. I think I like them a bit more after about 10 games. What I think happens in Checkmate is we get more HP (I'd guess somewhere around 220-230). Crit damage goes up, so we can still optimal TTK people in about the same-ish time as before (slightly slower in some instances), but body shot damage is way less impactful. This means that most meta guns kill in the same amount of time, but all the emphasis is put on landing your crits, and bodyshots are more punishing. - This, together with less special ammo, turns it into a mode that is a little bit slower. Gunfights can take longer, and people are holding hands more. But really punishes people who miss their crits. I think I like that... It felt really weird for Sidearms to feel so low in damage, but then I remembered there's much less shotgun and fusion rifle ammo to counter them! I think Traveler's Chosen could be powerful in this slow ability economy. However I think 120 handcannons are a bit OP in this mode. They seem to be just as forgiving and high-range as normal with basically no drawbacks... Or maybe its just Igneous Hammer (Adept) being such a stat monster in a dueling-focused mode? Eh. Also I think Fighting Lion might be a problem. It feels like it chunks harder than an infinite ammo GL should. I'll play lots more to gather better feedback. There's lots of testing to be done, and other weird things to check out (Does Sunshot need 3C 1B to kill now, or was that just Titan Resil talking???) but so far, first impressions are good!

Been asking this for years, I finally have a reason to stop playing AC6 for a few hours. Dueling is a big part of the fun in crucible, glad it's going to get more attention in this game mode.

Guns with Frenzy, Target Lock, and any passive damage perks are very much what I've been using and enjoying. Also, any awakening effects from void rebuffs are huge.

I really didn’t enjoy this mode. It felt like bungie buffing hand cannons and making everything else weaker. What’s the point of ttk changes if hand cannons remain exactly the same. Everyone will just gravitate towards them. Also death balling is back which sucks

It's a huge w IF you like hand cannons as your only primary. Any other gun is going to suck.

longer ttk, less abilities... sounds a bit like D2 year 1

This how they should change trials as well

I think the special ammo transmat could be a bit faster. Otherwise it’ll turn into a double primary meta, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I just mis sniping.

TBH I think jade rabbit might pop off here because with the new ttk landing accouple of headshots for and improve of body might be really good

Awesome and informative vid dude

I love the special ammo stuff and slower ability regen ALOT. But the longer TTK is a miss for, its already turned into teamshoot or lose and the body shot damage reduction kinda kills any full auto weapon from being effective. Would love to see this with normal HP and damage scaling. Also fighting lion is for degenerates.

I haven't been happy with destiny in 3 years. Finally we got something for skilled players. Glad 140 hand cannons are the meta play here. They just need to make bow and fighting lion special. Outside of that, the mode is perfect.

I feel like Revision Zero can be pretty useful in checkmate, but yeah it definitely is going back to the holding hands MIDA vanilla meta

didn't even realize this was the crucible labs currently, can't wait to try it out :D

As long as handcanons are not nerfed to the ground by reducing aim assist and bullet magnetism by 100x at least having a longer ttk would be cancer ... If anything the ttk in destiny is to long for way to many weapons and al.ost instakill on others such as HC , BOW , SHOTGUNS and Snipers and its cancer

I think they need to do something about hand cannons. They just feel like the best option while everything else feels less powerful

If trials had abilities reduced or removed it would really show the gap between ability abusers and actual good aim

If people start moving in groups more, Chromatic Fire will be fun.

I would be more accepting of ability uptime if the potency was inline with something like overwatch. Abilities should supplement skilled play. You deciding to queue with 3 hunters instead of 3 titans shouldn't cause you to be at a disadvantage.

Traveller's chosen sounds like it might be a go to for sidearm players.

The hypocrisy of the D2 sweats strikes again. We hate D2 vanilla We love checkmate

I’ve been using trinity ghoul in it and it still feels amazing. Although it’s a tiny bit less consistent

I was running thorn earlier prepping for the catalyst drop next season, it COOKS!!!

Sick of abilities, makes build to spam abilities 😂

Wait is Suros good now???

So at some point while playing a mode that you are not supposed to use abilities, you used exotics/weapons/builds that would give you abilities back fast, so you can play with abilities. Brilliant.

Still, bugs me the amount of people that play control and don't actually capture the zones.

what Pvp should REALLY be, instead of cheesy ability spammin

I feel you on Conditional Finality. Cleared Root on Day 1. Everyone else on my Day 1 team had it within 3 weeks, with some having it drop more than once. I'm at 43 clears and still don't have it.

140s should be a 2c 2b (maybe 3c 1b?) 4 tap and bows need a fat nerf in all of the game.

Its a huge win only because matchmaking chose connection over similar skills :D

Heres to hoping for checkmate trials

precision bows don't 2tap to body >_< haven't tested lightweights

"except for people who really love their abilities" very nice way of calling out ppl who eat crayons irl

Also think a PvP mode with vehicles only would be fun. We have ships but they are basically just a fun cosmetic at this point and it'd be cool in my opinion to be able to actually use them instead of them basically just looking cool.

Who knew!! Less supers and special ammo makes for a better PVP experience! 😂😂😂

SBMM on a non comp fps game kills it for me so unless they throttle back on it, ill just keep watching youtube videos lol

Hearing that its more punishing than normal makes me not wanna attempt it, i already dont stand a chance at shooting people in normal crucible and cant ever improve, in this ill just never get a kill in the first place, cool

Handcannons are too hot in this mode. All other weapons took a TTK hit in this mode EXCEPT them. Weapons take a lesser TTK by having a lower overall flexbility. When HC's hold all the key, they are pretty much without dispute.

I haven’t gotten the chance to play it yet. I am a little concerned that the longer ttk results in more people being able to leave a fight that they are losing half way through and live. Can anyone that have play it comment on how they have found it?

How can you play without getting kicked

Gameplay looks a lot more like D1 and that excites me.

Yes this mode feels better

“Maybe the game can be good again someday” 9yrs into the game, need we say more?, also, this is literally what d1 pvp was near the end

Oof idk man. I was sorta excited when checkmate was first announced but man since then and this past weekend the integrity of this game has continued to nosedive. Checkmate has to be an absolute blast or I know im gonna be sitting there like "what is the point?"

lol at the strat to always have your melee ability after mentioning that abilities kinda ruin the gunplay

What shader is he using with igneous?

how is icarus dash? still 3 sec cooldown?

Personally disagree, I avoid crucible until momentum or mayhem's in rotation. Have never felt like the crucible has a stable connection. If someone with the same gun with one different perk outclasses mine, even if same accuracy mods... I don't wanna play it. I get why, builds, but it's an alienating game design.

Average young ahamkara's spine user

How are you all playing this. Im getting error codes left and right

Awe man I just remembered the elemental orbs are going to go away next season. I have really enjoyed those random little orbs of ammo generation in PvE. Hopefully they get added to every subclass as a fragment or something along with a helmet mod for ammo generation or something.

Perma radiant warlock funny moment

I just wsnt to have the mode in private matches!!!! Pls

Fighting Lion

Outside of the laining Larry’s the mode it’s ok

Idk why they dont just scrap all the gamemodes and make one without abilities that is bascially just halo, and than make the gamemode this game should have had upon launch, which is a seige style gamemode. You cant toss abilities and classes into an fps without the gamemodes that support abilities, I mean imagine if overwatch, tf2 or paladins dropped with only deathmatch, cap the flag and 3v3 elim? Those games would have died upon launch, it was the escorts, sieges and payload gamemodes that defined these hero shooter genre games and destiny 2 is a hero shooter, you have abilities and classes, so all the pieces are there but theres a reason that if you queue for all 3 gamemodes in paladins, you're 80% likely to get siege every match lol