Destiny 2 Update Patches Solstice Of Heroes Challenge Bug

Update: Bungie released a new update, Hotfix 2.9.1.3, to fix Destiny 2's Solstice of Heroes challenge bug. The patch reinstates the weekly challenge and corrects the original issue, so you'll now earn Powerful gear after playing in the EAZ a certain amount each week. The patch also fixes an issue with some of the Solstice of Heroes bounties you get from Eva Levante. Daily repeatable Solstice bounties were supposed to dish out Bright Dust for completion, the same as those for Strikes, the Crucible, and Gambit. The new hotfix corrects those as well, so Eva's bounties should be a lot more useful.

Original Story: We're a week into Destiny 2's summer event, the Solstice of Heroes, but things haven't gone quite as smoothly as Guardians and Bungie would probably have liked. A bug is afflicting the new event, messing up some of its rewards. Bungie disabled a weekly challenge for Solstice of Heroes in response. It has been a few days, and we still don't know if or when the challenge will be back online.

The offending challenge is the one that rewards you with Powerful gear for heading to the special location that's part of Solstice, the European Aerial Zone. There, defeating bosses and unlocking Solstice Packages can earn you a weekly reward if you speak with Eva Levante in the tower. Bungie said on Twitter that those rewards aren't going out correctly. Until it's fixed, the challenge has been disabled--presumably to save you from wasting your time completing it, only to receive nothing.

The EAZ Weekly Challenges have been disabled due to an issue causing Powerful Gear rewards to not be granted upon completion. We will provide more information as it become available.

— Bungie Help (@BungieHelp) August 17, 2020

For players working their way up to the current soft Power level cap of 1,050, that's a bummer, because Powerful rewards are the most reliable way to make that climb. The good news, however, is that Bungie disabling the challenge doesn't mess with the big goal of the Solstice of Heroes event: unlocking and upgrading the special Solstice armor.

The Solstice armor requires a lot of grinding to unlock, earn, and upgrade to its full potential. You'll need to complete a number of different activities throughout the solar system, including knocking out Crucible and Gambit matches, taking part in Strikes and Nightfall: The Ordeal runs, and earning rewards in the EAZ. Even though the weekly challenge has been disabled, the EAZ is still available and still dishes out Solstice packages and other rewards. That means your progress on your Solstice armor shouldn't be hampered.

We'll keep an eye out for updates from Bungie about when the Solstice weekly challenge might be restored, and what other bugs the developer might need to squash during the Solstice of Heroes. The event runs until September 8, so you should still have plenty of time to get all of its rewards before its end. There is also the possibility it could be extended should Bungie want to give players more time to make up for the delayed challenge.