This Week at Bungie's latest update includes an upcoming and somewhat outlandish change regarding swords, which the studio described as "a kind of table flip in regards to light attacks, heavy attacks, and guards." according to Bungie, swordsmen will have to learn new techniques to get the job done, but they will still be able to "cut and tear through their opponents."

"I'm going to put a little more love into the sword this season," Bungie said." Swords have been a mainstay of Destiny since their introduction in The Taken King, but we felt they needed an update to refresh them and to give them more room to work in later releases." Bungie stated. The sandbox team concluded their post by saying: "We hope you enjoy the changes. Unfortunately, the response from the speedrunning community was the exact opposite.

Before I explain why they are upset, here is a breakdown of the changes:

Sword Energy

Guard

Light Attack

Heavy Attack

Shield Bypass

This change seems promising in terms of traditional Destiny 2 While it seems promising in terms of gameplay, speedrunners are concerned that the changes will nerf or eliminate the practice of "sword skating"; Reddit has more details on how it works, but the short explanation is that it's like Quake's It's like strafe jumping: Destiny 2 players use this technique to move much faster than normal.

When combined with a special exotic sword called the Worldline Zero, the speed is even greater. The how and why is explained in the video below.

Naturally, the changes detailed by Bungie also affect exotics, so players who like to use Worldline to move at a snail's pace are complaining about the upcoming "buff."

While it is impossible to be sure how sword skating will be affected, as the update does not specifically state, Bungie's community manager dmg04 has almost confirmed that it will be significant.

There is also a sense that the timing of the change, while certainly coincidental, is nonetheless unfortunate: Destiny 2 appeared for the first time this year at the Awesome Games Done Quick, a speedrunning festival.

The big sword change will take place in Destiny 2's next season, which according to leaks will be called Season of the Worthy and will begin on March 9. It is also expected that the competitive PvP mode Trials of Osiris will return.