Destiny 2's Trials disabled after match-fixing method spreads

Destiny 2's top-tier PVP activity was forced offline at the weekend after a popular method to fix matches was suggested to have affected around 50 per cent of players on flawless runs (where teams hit the mode's goal of a seven-match streak).

Via its Bungie Help Twitter account, Destiny 2's developer said it had pulled the mode yesterday evening for the remainder of its weekly rotation due to an unspecified "issue" - though fans were quick to guess why.

Frustration at the state of Trials of Osiris, the game's sweatiest and most competitive mode, has been growing for some time. Players have long complained of cheating, team carrying, poor matchmaking and the sheer amount of effort (seven consecutive match wins) required to grind out its best rewards.

So, as ever, players have been looking for a path of lesser resistance - and that path is signalling you're up for a coin toss to gift seven wins either way.

Known as the Hakke Emblem or Casino method, this community-organised effort is detailed in full below in a video from Destiny streamer Lunarated. Essentially, it involves signalling to the other team you are open to using the method (via a specific combination of teammates wearing the basic Hakke player emblem), then messaging them on Steam privately. Both players roll a digital dice (Steam lets you pick a random number between 1-10) and the player with the higher number gets to take the win.

There's a little more to it involving switching game cards - the logs you get to record your runs on - but that's the overall gist.

Last night, Trials Report, a group of unofficial Trials of Osiris stat analysts, claimed that nearly half of all PC players went flawless this week. This statistic will include players who managed the feat of their own accord, but further digging into that stat suggests there's more at play.

"It turns out that of the 23,661 flawless PC players so far, 11,281 (48 per cent) have zero kills this week," Trials Report wrote. "16,300 (69 per cent, nice) have five or less."

Any player going flawless while also not earning any kills certainly suggests they had a little help doing so. And that Hakke emblem? Trials Report also said it was the second most-used player emblem in the mode's exclusive Lighthouse social space this week.

Bungie is yet to say how it will address the Hakke method, or when Trials of Osiris will return.

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