Destiny 2 (opens in new tab)’s Gambit mode is a hectic hybrid of PvE and PvP that’s a lot of fun. Unless that is you happen to be one of the very unlucky few that have fallen victim to a brutal meatball-based bug.
Here’s what you need to know: the ‘Meatball’ is a nickname given to the Ascendant Primeval that can randomly spawn at the end of any round of Gambit (though the chance is highest when the Dreaming City curse is at its peak.) Killing the meatball grants everyone on the winning team access to the questline for the Malfeasance exotic hand cannon, which actually got buffed in this week’s update. But here’s the problem: Occasionally, the winning team won’t be given the quest, and will instead lose the round even though they melted their meatball first. Instead, the reward will go to the losers. Oh treachery! Thy name is Meatball.
Currently, we’re on week two of the curse cycle, so the Meatball is a pretty rare sight. Next week will be the third week of the curse before it resets, and Bungie is promising an improve spawn rate so that the Meatball will appear as often as regular Primevals. Nonetheless, that will be come as scant comfort to anyone who’s been screwed out of the Malfeasance so far. Weirdly, in this week’s patch notes (opens in new tab) Bungie claimed to have squashed this cruel bug, but as can seen from the heartbreaking video above, it’s still happening to the unlucky few.
Do bear in mind that the bug appears to be very rare, so isn’t a reason to avoid Gambit and that handsome Drifter altogether—particularly with triple Infamy rank rewards on offer this weekend—but hopefully Bungie can pin the problem down soon. We’ve reached out to the studio for more info on the problem, but until then just keep a lucky rabbit’s foot handy in case of you run into the Meatball in the arena.
Turn your Guardian into true space wizard with our Destiny 2 guide (opens in new tab) for the main game and all of its released expansions