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Destiny 2's annual summer event, Solstice of Heroes, saw something rather more unusual this year than previous years.
The main objective of a Solstice activity is to defeat the bosses within a time limit in the EAZ. When the time is up, Guardians are given another time limit to hunt for several chests based on the number of bosses defeated earlier.
Each chest will reward the Guardian with either a Solstice Package or a Solstice Key Fragment. Solstice Packages only drop from the EAZ, and they can be opened using fragments. Key Fragments drop from any activity in Destiny 2.
Every Guardian looks to earn the best stats on gear and weapons as quickly as possible by opening these chests. This year, however, Destiny 2 had something else in mind for players with the renewed set.
When not to open Solstice Packages in Destiny 2
Each year, Destiny 2's Solstice of Heroes brings in a new set of armor. It also comes with Solstice Packages, which reward Guardians with high stat gear.
Previously, Guardians of any class could open these Solstice Packages on either the renewed or Magnificent stage. Rewards included armor or weapons of high stat or a powerful cap, regardless of the rarity of the equipped Solstice armor.
However, this year's Solstice had other plans for those who didn't reach the Magnificent stage of their armor set or didn't unlock the glow. Opening Solstice Packages before fully upgrading the armor leads to a very high chance of dropping only blue gears.
A Redditor called TheAnduric hoarded about 500 Solstice Packages to open them all at once with Key Fragments. The calculated drop rates do raise some eyebrows:
- 417 Blue Gears at 83.2% chance of dropping
- 92 Legendary Gears with a chance of 18.4%
- The Solstice Armor and Shotgun below 15%
- 194 Enhancement Cores at 38.8%
- Planetary Materials at approximately 30%
These packages were all opened upon reaching the Magnificent stage of the Solstice armor, thereby providing stats from 58-66. Anything lower than that rewarded Guardians with only Blue Gear.
Whether this is a new feature introduced in Season 14 of Destiny 2's Solstice, or a bug from Bungie's perspective, it is not clear. The second week of the event reflects no change in drop rates yet.
