Destiny 2 Season of the Splicer: Every Known Launch Issue
Destiny 2 has had its fair share of in-game errors and bugs that can hinder players' experiences. While some of these bugs affect different activities in Destiny 2, such as the weekly Trials of Osiris, other errors can affect large numbers of Guardians.
With every new seasonal launch or major expansion in Destiny, Guardians expect a certain level of resistance when trying to log in for the new content. From the "Tapir" errors of days past to the "Honeydew" errors of today, Guardians know that launch day is always a rough experience, and Season of the Splicer is no exception.
Bungie is an independent studio, and it has a lot on its plate when it comes to Destiny 2. Pushing out weekly content in a seasonal model that encompasses an annual expansion is not an easy task. Combined with having to self-publish Destiny 2, Bungie accomplishes a lot behind the scenes to make Destiny 2 the game that it is.
One weakness Destiny 2 has always seemingly had is its launch day server capabilities, Season of the Splicer being the newest victim of launch issues. With almost every seasonal release or annual expansion having launch day issues, it begs the question why Bungie doesn’t or cannot invest more into stronger servers for occasions like this? While that seems like a logical question for many, the fact is that improving server stability is an expensive undertaking, in terms of both time and money.
For Bungie, server investment may not be the best place to put its focus considering most crashes and errors are confined to launch day, and are usually fixed or severely mitigated within the same day of a content launch. For a large majority of a season, Bungie’s servers perform with minimal interruption to Guardians.
Season of the Splicer is no exception, and comes with its own series of launch issues. "Honeydew," a server-side error that occurs when Bungie manually disables an activity, was the first error that hit Season of the Splicer, preventing Guardians from loading into key destinations such as the H.E.L.M.
Honeydew caused Bungie to extend its maintenance by three hours, but this was just the start of the issues. Shortly after the arrival of the Honeydew error code, it was discovered that there was an issue that prevented Guardians from purchasing the Season of the Splicer Season Pass from the Season 14 page.
As if that was not enough, "Chicken" error codes started popping up for many Guardians. Cayde’s chicken, Colonel, was not happy about the sudden disruption. Error code Chicken is a connection issue error code that is most likely caused by the previous Honeydew server crashes. Typically, Guardians can attempt to fix this error code themselves. However, it is likely that this code is not indicating a problem with the player's hardware, rather the error indicates another server side error with Destiny 2.
Because of the multiple issues with Destiny 2, Bungie took the game offline shortly after the arrival of the Chicken error codes. Bungie took its time, slowly bringing Destiny 2 back online while still battling some login issues.
With some time and effort, Bungie was able to solve and fix the problem that prevented Guardians from purchasing the Season Pass, and both Honeydew and Chicken error codes started disappearing rather quickly considering how long these types of fixes have taken in the past.
Over the years, Bungie has improved its server stability and got much more efficient at locating and solving server-related crashes on launch days. Because of this increased attention to launch-related crashes, Destiny 2 maintenance may get extended by a few hours as it did with Season of the Splicer.
Fortunately for Guardians, some Destiny 2 maintenance will still allow Guardians to log in to Destiny 2 in most cases. As witnessed with Season of the Splicer, the villainous Honeydew error code alongside the Chicken error code, alongside other miscellaneous issues were quickly dealt with by Bungie, allowing players to log back into the game.
While one error code usually sticks out among the crowd, other smaller crashes and server issues can plague Guardians worse than Siva did to the Iron Lords. Maybe not that bad, but Guardians and Young Wolves know all too well just how many error codes and server crashes can affect the launch day of a new content release. Honeydew is just the new error code of the season.
Speaking of the season, Season of the Splicer is just the most recent season to experience login issues requiring server maintenance by Bungie. While it's relieving to know the Honeydew issues are not localized to a player’s hardware, this also means there is nothing that Guardians can do to prevent the game from crashing to orbit when launching certain activities. Unlike previous Tapir errors, Guardians must wait on Bungie to finish its server maintenance.
Unfortunately, Season of the Splicer will probably not be the last time Guardians see launch day error codes. Launch day always brings a large number of players back to the game, which increases stress on the servers. Some may argue that Bungie needs to improve its server stability for occasions like this. However, these events are just that; occasional. So it may not be in Bungie’s best interest to invest its resources into server stability when it could improve its focus on other aspects of Destiny 2.
As Bungie continues to solve error codes, it continues to improve and get more efficient in fixing these login issues. This is good news for Guardians who plan on sticking with Destiny. With the major release of The Witch Queen on the horizon, Bungie has time to continue refining its maintenance systems to reduce error codes and improve server stability, making for a better launch day experience for all Guardians of Destiny 2.
Having a game crash on launch day is bad for everyone involved. Many games only have to experience launch day maintenance a few times, while Bungie seems to deal with it every three to four months when a new seasonal release or annual expansion reaches expecting Guardians. However, Bungie’s increased efficiency in handling login issues and server maintenance is greatly appreciated by many Guardians.
Destiny 2: Beyond Light is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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