It's no secret that the next season of Destiny 2 may bring with it a clear focus on PvP, something previously undone with the introduction of Shadowkeep and seasonal content. While the last few Destiny 2 seasons have each introduced a solid amount of new PvE activities and story content, the impending season may not focus on any element of PvE content at all.
Recently data-miners found in a Destiny 2 update that the game's season 10, entitled Season of the Worthy, will be bringing back the competitive PvP mode Trials of Osiris. The Trials served as endgame/pinnacle PvP content based on the Elimination multiplayer mode, with no respawns and downed guardians can only revive each other after a short timer. Trials favors teamwork above all else and doesn't allow matchmaking, meaning only pre-made fireteams may enter the PvP mode, similar to that of a Raid. Destiny 2 saw something similar with Trials of the Nine previously, but it was never as popular as Trials of Osiris became during the first Destiny game.
Greater attention to PvP has been something highly requested by the Destiny 2 community, and it's great to see Bungie potentially giving PvP the attention it deserves, but it's very possible we may not see any PvE content this upcoming season. Since Trials of the Nine, Destiny 2 hasn't really had a significant update to PvP in a long time other than Iron Banner. With Trials coming in the next season, it'll be a great boon to PvP content in Destiny 2, but it's hard to expect any PvE content is on its way as well.
The current season prominently features Osiris and a time-travelling PvE activity known as The Sundial. Guardians travel to various versions of different worlds and participate in a 6-player horde mode style activity similar to Vex Offensive from Season of the Undying. Many players have reported to sites like Reddit that they're either feeling a sense of FOMO for not playing the season long enough or burnout from participating in the new seasonal content model. Season 10 looks to build off this Osiris momentum with the re-introduction of Trials, but it's likely players aren't going to receive any new PvE content in the new season for that reason.
It's a perfect transition from Osiris' appearance in season 9 to bring back Trials of Osiris for the subsequent season, but at the same time, Bungie may take the time to retool or examine PvE content for the future. Should the seasonal content continue, and with Bungie not showing any intention to change that development strategy, season 10 may be the perfect time to step back and evaluate what works well and what doesn't with PvE in its current state. With season 10 right around the corner and season 11 several months away, it's possible there may be a return to some of the core plot moments that came with Shadowkeep in an overall expanded story focus. But for right now, PvE as a whole has reached a place of stagnation.
The Sundial and Vex Offensive activities were billed as the main focuses for their respective seasons, but the similarities between them became very obvious from the get-go. The beginning of the season starts with a horde-like activity that pits a fireteam against several stages of enemies before reaching a final boss to defeat. In a way it was a more condensed version of a Strike, but with little to no story significance or lore in the activity itself. After that, towards the end of the season a legendary version of that boss is available to fight in a similar activity. Aside from the differences in story, these past two seasons have featured what is essentially the same type of activity, only with new exclusive gear for Guardians.
There's some smaller tidbits of content as well, such as The Corridors of Time puzzle and Empryean Foundation events, but these usually fall on the hardcore Destiny 2 players to solve and complete. As a concept, these activities should be engaging for all Destiny 2 fans, but they very quickly devolved into something that's solved relatively quickly by the hardcore players while everyone else gets the lowdown on what happened from there. For the general population of the community, casual players, or those who may not have as much time as the more hardcore players, these events can come and go without them putting in any effort and leaving them confused after.
Bungie also has to consider the Destiny 2 players who may not enjoy PvP in general, primarily playing the game in a PvE capacity. PvE-geared players theoretically wouldn't be inclined to participate in Trials of Osiris or season 10 at all if they prefer Vanguard activities like Strikes or Raids, or even if they enjoy Gambit but don't play Crucible. If season 10 has no content to satisfy Destiny 2 players, they'll have no reason to spend the $10 USD to buy into the next season if it won't yield them any reward. Now granted, it's very possible season 10 may not be strictly PvP content, but if Trials of Osiris is truly returning along with Bungie's previous statements of having "a renewed focus on PvP," it's undoubtedly going to be the main aspect of the season.
Even if Trials is returning in season 10 and Bungie still adds a similar amount of PvE content along with it, it's hard to see why PvE players would return regardless. There's an inherent problem with the same-ness that players have begun to experience in the past few seasons. Shadowkeep at first broke this feeling of content stagnation, where the expansion finally felt like the overall story arc of the Destiny world was progressing and Guardians would soon face a greater threat. But along with that momentum came the seasonal content so far, which realistically hasn't had anything to do with the main story elements that Shadowkeep introduced. Aside from gameplay, these PvE activities have been mostly side stories that only hinted at Destiny's future instead of facing it.
PvP getting an overhaul for the new season is overall very beneficial for the game, but don't expect much PvE content coming along with the next season. More than likely. Bungie is taking this opportunity to focus on how to adapt PvE moving forward, so there is hope for what content lies ahead in the next few seasons of Destiny 2.
Destiny 2 is available now on PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.