Let me tell you about my recent dive into Destiny 2's Act 3, which kicked off with a bang – or should I say, with a symphony of void rounds? The moment I booted up the game after the Solstice of Heroes wrapped, I could feel the anticipation in the air. Episode Echoes was building to its crescendo, and Bungie promised something special with the launch of Encore: Overture, touted as one of their most ambitious exotic missions ever. I was ready to take down the Conductor and get my hands on that shiny new toy, the Choir of One auto rifle. The hype was real, my friends. We were all buzzing in the clan chat, sharing theories and loadouts, ready to jump in the moment the weekly reset hit.

The Promise of a Void Symphony

The mission itself, Encore: Overture, is no joke. It's a sprawling, intricate piece of content that feels like a love letter to veteran Guardians. The main attraction, of course, is the Choir of One. This isn't your everyday auto rifle; it's a beast that feasts on special ammo and sings with void energy. Bungie designed it to mimic the terrifying void darts from Vex Wyverns, and let me tell you, they nailed the feeling. It has this delicious duality:

• Aimed Down Sights (ADS): Fires slower, heavy-caliber rounds that pack a serious punch. It feels precise and powerful.

• Hip-Fire: Unleashes more explosive rounds, perfect for crowd control, but it guzzles ammo like a starved Thrall. You gotta manage that special ammo economy!

The community was, in a word, frothing at the mouth for this weapon. We'd seen the rocket sidearms become instant classics, and the whispers were that this auto rifle could be even better. The potential for both add-clear and major damage was incredibly enticing.

The Encore That Didn't Play Our Tune

So, I gathered my fireteam, we loaded in, and we battled through the mission. It was tough, it was fun, it had all the hallmarks of a great Destiny exotic quest. We finally toppled the final boss after a grueling fight, and I held my breath for that beautiful loot drop sound...

...Crickets.

Nothing. Nada. Zilch. No Choir of One. Just a mission complete banner and a sinking feeling in my gut. I wasn't alone. The forums and social media lit up like the Traveler itself. Guardians from all over were reporting the same thing: they'd run the mission, but the exotic reward was a no-show. Talk about a buzzkill.

The Mystery (and Maybe the Mistake) Unravels

Eventually, the official Bungie Help account broke the silence. They acknowledged the issue but offered an explanation that felt... well, a bit like a slap on the wrist. According to them, to get the reward, your character needed to have completed all the quest steps from Acts 1 and 2 of Episode Echoes before even attempting Encore: Overture.

Now, here's where things get messy and, frankly, a bit frustrating:

• Is it a Bug or a Feature? As of now, in 2026, it's still not crystal clear. The mission is offered right at the start of Act 3's storyline, which naturally makes players think, "Hey, this is where I start!" So, folks who were catching up on the narrative or just jumping in with friends got a rude awakening.

• Communication Breakdown: This is the part that stings the most for many of us. Why wasn't this restriction communicated upfront? A simple tooltip, a warning from the quest giver, something. Instead, players wasted time and effort, only to be met with empty hands. It feels like the mission should have been locked until the prerequisites were met, you know?

Beyond the Missing Loot: A Buggy Overture

As if the reward issue wasn't enough, the mission itself seems to be playing a symphony of glitches. My fireteam and I, along with countless others, have run into a whole suite of problems:

Bug/Issue	Description	Impact on Gameplay
Infinite Boss Shield 🛡️	The final boss sometimes gets an unbreakable shield.	Makes the mission literally impossible to complete. Total mission failure.
Fireteam Finder Absence 🔍	The mission doesn't show up in the in-game Fireteam Finder tool.	Forces players to use external LFG sites, fracturing the community.
Secret Chest Glitch 🧰	Some secret chests don't register progress for the catalyst quest.	Prevents players from fully upgrading their exotic, requiring re-runs.

It's a rough situation. You finally get past the reward hurdle, only to be stopped by a boss who's decided to become invincible. Oof.

Looking to the Future (and Grinding Those Old Quests)

So, where does that leave us Guardians? As of now, Bungie hasn't given a solid timeline for fixing these other bugs, though the popularity of the Choir of One will undoubtedly put pressure on them. This gun is too good to be locked behind a broken experience.

For me, the takeaway is a mixed bag. On one hand, Encore: Overture is a brilliantly designed, challenging mission that promises an incredible exotic. The Choir of One, once you finally get it, is an absolute blast to use—it might just dethrone my favorite rocket sidearm. On the other hand, the launch has been marred by poor communication and persistent bugs that sour the whole experience.

My advice? If you're staring at that new mission marker with excitement, take a deep breath. First, open your quest log and make absolutely sure you've wrapped up everything from Acts 1 and 2. It's a bit of a grind, but it's the only guaranteed ticket to that sweet, sweet loot at the end. Here's hoping Bungie fine-tunes the experience soon, because beneath the bugs, there's a masterpiece of a mission waiting to be properly enjoyed. Until then, we wait, we grind, and we hope our next Encore plays the right tune.

Information is adapted from Game Developer, a long-running industry publication focused on how design decisions and production realities shape player experience. Looking at Encore: Overture through that lens, the missing Choir of One reward and inconsistent prerequisite gating read less like “player error” and more like a systems/UX breakdown—when progression requirements aren’t surfaced clearly in-game, even a well-crafted exotic mission can turn into a support burden and sour the perceived quality of an otherwise ambitious release.