What does ‘One moment please… Destiny 2 is temporarily at capacity’ mean?

You open up Destiny 2, eager to try the new content. You’re eyeing the new gear and even have a handful of different shaders and outfits planned for each of your Guardians—until the game gives you a “one moment please” message saying the servers are “temporarily at capacity.”

Few things will put the brakes on the excitement of any guardian as much as facing a queue or an unexpected error, but encountering those scenarios is a common occurrence during new content releases, such as seasons or expansions.

The Destiny 2 servers being at capacity is related to a sudden influx of players and the higher demand for connections that comes with it. Basically, you can expect it to happen whenever guardians are trying to connect in droves—whether it’s because they’re looking forward to the new content or for other reasons.

Here’s what you need to know about this error message.

Why is Destiny 2 “temporarily at capacity” in The Final Shape?

Destiny 2 players can receive a message that the servers are temporarily at capacity throughout The Final Shape, especially in the expansion’s first few days. This message means there are too many players trying to log in, so you may experience a server queue. Odds are you’ll see this close to the expansion’s launch, but depending on your server population, you may get this at different periods and days. Potential server issues might also make this situation worse.

If you’re seeing this message, you must wait until you can log into The Final Shape and see what the expansion is bringing, including the new Prismatic subclass.

Why are Destiny 2’s servers temporarily at capacity?

New content releases attract a flock of players all trying to join the game at the same time. This creates a bottleneck in the game and the servers simply don’t have enough load to accommodate the spike in demand. The “server temporarily at capacity” error message indicates more players are attempting to log into the game than the servers can handle right now, and the issue is in Bungie’s court.

This message is particularly common whenever there’s a large number of players trying to log into the game at the same time. It’s become an expected part of Destiny 2 content drops (alongside the potential occurrences of error code CAT), though that doesn’t make it any less frustrating. On rare occasions, players can also stumble upon a queue when logging in after a patch or a short server outage.

Players should expect to see this screen whenever there’s a major release. Seasonal events generally don’t cause this issue, but more in-depth updates—seasons, expansions, and one-off drops such as the 30th Anniversary (paid) and Into the Light (free)—are nearly guaranteed to trigger this screen, especially if you’re not one of the first guardians to get in.

What happens when the Destiny 2 servers are at capacity?

When the servers are at capacity, players will find themselves in a login queue. “Destiny server queues regulate player population to provide stable conditions for Destiny gameplay,” according to Bungie’s Help page. This means they’ll need to wait until the game can let them into the servers.

The duration of the queue can vary depending on the server strain. If a small-scale networking error caused smaller groups of players to disconnect, for instance, they could find themselves in a short queue. Major releases like Lightfall or Into the Light, however, will attract players in droves, so the queues will be longer. Generally, this screen will appear if you’re among the first to try to load in, but depending on the congestion, it can run for hours.

What to do when you see ‘One moment please… Destiny 2 is temporarily at capacity’

Since the “Destiny 2 is temporarily at capacity” issue stems from Bungie’s side of the game, there isn’t much to do other than wait it out until the devs take action or traffic dwindles, which will let players log in again.

Guardians who log into Destiny 2 while the servers are at capacity—meaning that the servers have reached the maximum amount of players for that time—will have to get in line to jump into the game and face Destiny 2’s usual post-expansion login queue.

Players shouldn’t restart the game or reset their routers while in line, though. “If a player loses connection or is removed from the queue, their placement will not be retained,” according to Bungie’s page. Additionally, any guardian who makes it to the top of the queue but can’t connect will have to go back to the start, so be sure your connection is stable and that you have the latest update installed. Queue times may vary based on region, population, and server traffic.

In addition to the queue times, players may also experience a group of server errors, such as Honeydew, which are also an issue on Bungie’s end. If you’re looking for more information on why Destiny 2 is at capacity, though, keep an eye on the Bungie Help page and on websites like Downdetector, which can be useful when gauging the severity of server interruptions.

New expansions or seasons aren’t the only time players can be stuck in queues. Guardians may also find brief queues at the end of maintenance or when the game is being plagued by connection errors. These issues could potentially kick numerous players, who will try to log back in at the same time. Unlike larger content releases like expansions and seasons, though, the Destiny 2 servers don’t usually stay at capacity for long after minor content drops or issue-related outages.