Bungie whacked Destinys infamous loot cave because you asked them to do it

Bungie knew about Destiny’s loot cave before launch. It knew it was ripe for exploitation too, but Bungie didn’t care. However, other disgruntled, more honest Guardians did care. They cared enough about this ‘cheat’ that their venomous complaints put an end to the glitchy hovel.

Bungie’s John Hopson explained the somewhat surprising reason to Kotaku at GDC ‘15. Hopson says "The time of the loot cave was the highest peak of players reporting each other for cheating". He adds that the angry complaints lead to the glitch’s demise as he regales stories about players standing deep in the cave to prevent further enemies from respawning.

For the uninitiated, the exploit was found on Destiny’s Cosmodrome. It allowed Guardians to farm hundreds of Engrams from an infinite amount of respawning enemies by lazily standing about and blasting into the darkness.

As Hopson continues, it seems Bungie may have nixed the cave to to save you from yourself. No, really.

"They were very weak enemies that didn't drop very good loot" Hopson explains. "The actual drop rate per minute spent is not any different than anything else. So you actually will get less loot [shooting into the loot cave] per hour than you would just playing the game. But the players weren't doing the math that way".

It seems that Bungie will only close off known exploits if you complain enough about them. But when one gets blasted, another one always pops up. Just check out this recent thrall farming glitch that’s been discovered below. We’ll be honest, we’d rather just play the missions or go on Patrol than use this tedious method though.

Nathan Irvine
Hi, I’m Nathan. You may remember me from such websites as, erm, this one circa 2011. Been hustling in games for over a decade and write for Official PlayStation, Official Xbox, Gamesmaster and more.
Latest in Destiny
Key art for Destiny 2's Heresy Episode.
"A fun example of a bug becoming a feature": Destiny 2 accidentally made Exotic Glaives free to all classes, and Bungie says "we're going to let this ride"
Destiny 2 Episode 3 Heresy screenshot of Eris Morn
Destiny 2's new Episode suggested the upcoming Apollo expansion will launch on July 15, but that date has mysteriously been scrubbed from the game
Destiny 2 Guardian in Taken energy
Bungie yanked Destiny 2 servers offline for emergency maintenance as Episode 3: Heresy got off to a rocky start, but it looks like we're back in business
Destiny 2 Star Wars armor sets
"Oryx is back": Destiny 2's final Episode takes the MMO to the site of the iconic Taken King expansion for a Coil-inspired roguelite mode, and also Star Wars armor
Destiny 2 guardian in scorn armor
How to get Destiny 2 Twitch Drops and link your accounts
Destiny 2 Kell's Fall art
The Destiny 2 dev behind Titan's game-changing Banner of War was also on its new Exotic shotgun Slayer's Fang: "I gotta live up to this, especially as my first gun"
Latest in News
Overwatch 2
My hopes for an Overwatch anime or Diablo horror movie are going strong as Blizzard president points out "we are Blizzard Entertainment, and not simply Blizzard Games"
The New Thunderbolts leaping into action
Marvel's New Thunderbolts* comic steals the MCU's asterisk, and the reason why is just as big of a mystery
Pokemon Go players brace for the worst as Niantic is sold off for $3.5 billion: "This game is entering its death knell"
Stamp PSP
A 16-year-old pitch for a newly discovered first-party PSP game has me mourning the death of PlayStation's Japan Studio all over again
Astarion from Baldur's Gate 3
Baldur's Gate 3 Astarion actor Neil Newbon says he "got rid of" agents who deliberately kept him away from video game gigs: "They just didn't want me to do it"
Mass Effect
Jennifer Hale says she didn't see a single line as Mass Effect's Commander Shepard until it was time to record: "It was all cold reading on the spot"