Bungie is finally clamping down on AFK farming in Destiny 2’s ‘Thrallway’

I don’t think AFK farming is unique to the Destiny 2 community by any means, but when it comes to taking the path of least resistance for XP and loot, guardians are serial offenders. 

The latest This Week at Bungie is primarily focused on an upcoming rework of the Gambit mode, and a preview of the patch notes for next week’s The Witch Queen expansion. But hidden below all that is a change coming to the Shattered Throne dungeon that should help crack down on the most notorious AFK farm in the game: “The Thrallway”. 

“Fixed an issue where Shadow Thrall in The Shattered Throne were unintentionally granting investment rewards, such as Glimmer, engrams, and XP,” the TWAB says. “As players begin to craft weapons and level up their Season Pass on February 22, we want to ensure gameplay rewards are earned by playing and completing activities, bounties, or just hanging out with friends in patrols while defeating minions of the Darkness.”

The statement doesn’t throw any shade, but it amounts to Bungie belatedly clamping down on a long-standing issue in Destiny 2. The Thrallway is so called because it’s an area of the dungeon that will infinitely spawn trash tier enemies (Thralls) for players to slaughter. As a result, each week on the PC LFG you can find players swapping the Thrallway check point. It’s a great spot to switch off your brain and slay out until you complete busywork tasks like exotic catalysts. 

However, some players also AFK in the Thrallway, using macros or rigged up controllers to make movements and spam attack, in order to avoid being kicked for inactivity. It’s a cheesy but effective way to grind out season pass levels and Artifact XP. If you’ve seen a guardian in the Tower with a four-digit season rank, chances are they’ve spent many nights in the Thrallway.

The patch will also make adjustments to the knockback effect from “boss stomps,” which “should result in fewer deaths from being knocked into objects.” This will be a less impactful change, if you’ll pardon the pun, but our global brand manager and resident Destiny animal Tim Clark is clearly looking forward to it, saying, “Not being physics-smashed into a new century would be nice.”

Destiny 2: The Witch Queen is set to go live on February 22. If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s The Witch Queen launch trailer, and if you’re new to the game and want to know what the big deal is, we’ve got a lore primer that lays it all out—right back to the very beginning of the Hive.