Destiny 2 players are back to the Dark Age. Bungie is “temporarily disabling” the Destiny API, which means players can’t use the official Destiny 2 companion app or several third-party tools that are almost essential to the Destiny 2 experience. The decision comes today after another round of connectivity issues plague the Destiny 2 servers, and it’s unclear how long the outage will last.
Over the week, players reported several instances of “contacting Destiny servers” and myriad error codes. In some cases, the occurrences caused server rollback, denying them loot or achievements. Players even reported losing solo flawless dungeon clears, which means clearing a dungeon without a fireteam and without dying.
As a response to the issues, the developer has disabled the API for maintenance. “It’s never an easy decision to disable the API, but we want to ensure players can get in the game, finish their activities, and retain their accomplishments,” community manager Dylan “Dmg_04” Gafner said on Twitter. Bungie is already seeing a “healthy decrease in error codes and disconnections,” according to him.
This isn’t the first time Bungie has disabled the API and third-party tools in December. With the release of the Spire of the Watcher dungeon on Dec. 9, Bungie also took down the API and other functionalities due to rampant disconnects and server-sided errors such as Weasel or Calabrese, which were booting players out of their activities. At the time, the API was out of commission from Dec. 9 to 13, when the developer deployed a hotfix.
API outages have a drastic impact across the Destiny 2 environment. Due to its complexity, Destiny 2 players rely on several third-party tools to make their lives easier. The official companion app, for instance, allows them to pick up bounties without having to actually go to a specific vendor (and face loading screens in the process).
The harder hit is likely due to the loss of item-management applications such as Destiny Item Manager (DIM) or Ishtar Commander, which made it possible for players to swap gear seamlessly between characters. With those tools, players could simply drag their items from one character to another. Without them, though, they have to log into the character that has the piece of gear they need, then drop it into the vault, swap to the character that needs the item, head to a social hub, and then pick up the item—a process that would otherwise take seconds.
Bungie hasn’t addressed how long the outage will take, and players who want to keep up-to-date on a timeline should follow the BungieHelp Twitter account, Bungie’s support arm.
