After waiting for what feels like an eternity, the updates we were looking for have arrived. Thanks to Game Director Christopher Barrett and his crew, today was a huge development update that significantly changes everything leading up to Season 3 (Fall 2018). Let's take a look at some of the highlights.

PvE

Eververse

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One of the biggest complaints about the game at this moment is Eververse. This is not to say that the concept itself is a problem, however, too many end game items are in the store making the point of doing strikes and other activities pointless. Bungie has rectified this by shifting focus of items such as Ghosts, Sparrows, Ships and other end game items to activity reward pools. We now will have a reason to grind and focus on those things that made our original journey through Destiny so fun.

For those wishing to purchase items directly, instead of relying on RNG via Bright Engrams, there will now be more direct options to acquire them. Those who remember, the Destiny 1 Kiosks towards the end gave you the abililty, using currency to purchase certain skins of weapons and ships. This would be a welcome addition compared to what is currently in place. All rewards will now have game play path to Bright Engrams to allow players to earn their items.

Gear

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With the implementation of Masterwork weapons, Bungie took a small step forward by creating weapons that could have unique stats. They are not stopping there. As of January 30, the Masterwork system now extends to Armor. All Masterwork Armor provides increased damage reduction while using your Super. In addition, players can reroll all armor stat type the same as weapons. Another interesting aspect is set for Fall 2018 with Masterwork Exotics. This could include new and old exotics giving them a more unique feel, something Bungie addresses they want to do with all exotics.

The raid is also getting adjustments, with regards to, gear. Raid items will now guarantee raid item drops on each major encounter to make sure you are playing for something each time. The items will also be more unique in offering mods with Raid-specific perks. Even the vendor is being adjusted so it now directly sells all raid/raid layer armor and weapons using Raid tokens and Legendary Shards. Bungie has also promise to create more activity unique rewards meaning this could expand towards strikes and such.

Now with mods, Bungie has promised, by February/Early Spring, a full rework of the system. Less similar mods and adding more mods overall. This will probably play into the Masterworks and the original premise of the mods which is to provide players with new ways to customize their character to the fullest.

Activities

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Beginning February 13th, Crimsons Days will be receive the following changes:

  • Completing Nightfall, Raid, and Crimson Days milestones during Crimson Days will reward an exclusive Legendary Emote, Weapon Skin, and Exotic Sparrow.
  • Players will earn double engrams at level-up: one Crimson Engram and one Illuminated Engram for the duration of the event.
  • Crimson Engrams can also drop from completing the Crimson Days match and from completing the Crimson Days milestone on each character.
  • Each Crimson Engram is very strongly weighted to new rewards when decrypted until all new event items have been obtained.

Strikes, during that month, will be adding Score tracking to Nightfalls. Through emblems, the highest scores will be shown in-game and unlock various (though unknown at this time) rewards. This could lead to multiple playthroughs of Nightfalls based on those rewards. Clans and Community scores will also be in play but nothing detailed has been released.

Faction Rallies, Iron Banner and their rewards will be open to everyone for Season 2. Bungie addressed this clearly stating "Seasons introduce content that is made available to all players of Destiny 2, at no additional cost." As we move into Spring we are promised that events, and rewards for all will be adjusted and unique.

PVP

Game Modes

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Bungie, starting in Spring, will be adding Private Matches to the fray. You would be able to make changes to gametype, map, time limit, etc. This will play into the competitive community as they have been clamoring for this since release (and rightfully so). Also being added are 6v6 Playlists and Mayhem during Season 3. By Fall we will receive more Playlists which means that we will see a similar layout to Destiny 1 which will help Players find the right gametype to play.

Ranking System

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In Season 3, players will be receiving ranking finally. It will be broken down to two ranks.

  • Valor – A progression rank that goes up as you complete matches. Winning helps you move up faster, but there are no loss penalties.
  • Glory – A progression rank that goes up when you win and down when you lose. Performance is how you move up here.

Players will be now be able to show their ranks with emblems.

Balance

As we go into Spring we will be getting more Sandbox adjustments based on player feedback and data. Weapons, for example, will have improvements in archetype and weapon slots. This will be addressed not just for crucible but Trials as well (which is also going to be improved). Also included in these balance changes are the Exotics which are getting a "comprehensive pass" which would make them more usable in various gametypes.

Also addressed, Bungie will be making some changes to make quitting less common helping to address the issue in Competitive playlists. Also, behind-the-scenes security improvements will be made to help improve the overall Crucible experience. Addressed also is the successive gametypes (Supremacy) that will come in Spring as well.

In the near future (Fall 2018) Bungie will then address Solo vs Fireteam matching so that players will not have to deal with 1v4 situations.

Additional Updates/Changes

Some of the quality of life changes include (Spring 2018 and Beyond):

  • Text chat to the Tower for the PC version of the game.
  • See the other members of the players fireteam on the destination map. No more having to ask your fireteam where they went when they fast travel to another landing zone.
  • Specific vendors will now display a Seasonal ranking. Earning reputation will unlock unique Seasonal rewards and will reset each Season.
  • Multi-emote choose which emote players have equipped to each of the four emote slots.
  • Shader improvements

For more information visit Bungie's website.

As always stay up to date with everything Destiny here at Destiny Tracker