Destiny 2’s pinnacle PvP activity Trials of Osiris returned this weekend for the first time since the launch of The Witch Queen. While it’s been updated for the new weapon system, the rewards don’t quite match what players can earn from other pinnacle activities, namely, the Vow of the Disciple Raid and weapon crafting. The Trials weapons and their Adept alternatives still have a lot of utility within Trials itself, but it's starting to feel like a closed-loop activity and a victim of power creep.
Starting this season, Trials weapons all come equipped with two new origin traits. Alacrity increases reload, stability, aim assist, and range when either alone or the last member of your team standing, and One Quiet Moment increases reload speed when outside of combat. Whichever origin trait you choose will be in addition to the two standard trait rolls the weapon would normally have, with the Adept version of each weapon featuring an alternative optional trait in one of those slots. This is meant to bring Trials weapons into parity with the new weapon system, but it's hard to not feel like there’s something missing.
Alacrity is a powerful origin trait, no doubt, but almost all of its utility is tied to Trials and PvP specifically where you expect your teammates to die often. You can benefit from these increased stats in something like a Grandmaster Nightfall, but it’s not wise to build your loadout around failure. You’d be much better off using origin traits that keep you alive, like Land Shark and Psychohack, or origin traits that eliminate targets faster, like Viest Stinger, than using a trait that only activates in worst-case scenarios. Outside of Trials and specific Crucible game modes like Survival, Alacrity will only ever be useful to the small handful of people that do Solo Flawless challenges.
On the other hand, the raid’s origin perk has utility in every activity including PvP. Souldrinker provides health recovery based on the number of hits while reloading, regardless of your number of teammates or whether you're shooting at AI or other players. Souldrinker is a relatively low-impact perk, admittedly, but by no means is it a perk you’d only want to use in a raid setting. This makes raid weapons preferable to Trials weapons, generally speaking, before you even start to consider weapon crafting.
Crafting is, unfortunately, where Trials weapons get left behind. The ability to farm raid weapon blueprints and forge your own perfect rolls is a huge benefit. Not only does it make raids more satisfying to grind, it also allows you to pursue the exact weapon you’re after in a deterministic way. Factor in enhanced traits, which you can only get on crafted weapons, and it’s hard for Trials weapons to even compare.
I’m surprised Trials weapons can’t be crafted with their own unique material just like raid weapons. If you’re not already bought into the prestige that Trials offers, you might have a hard time finding reasons to put yourself through the wringer. Adept weapons feel like a holdover from the old system that doesn't quite fit into the weapon crafting era, even with the option of using adept mods. If they’re not going to be cratable, they should at least be definitively better than crafted weapons. Maybe Trials is popular enough to be self-sustaining at this point, but I’m still going to need proper incentives if you want to see me sweat.