Category: Bungie News

In a universe where darkness appears around every corner and death usually follows, it’s important to gain courage by looking fear in the face. Candy helps, too.

After taking a year off, Eva Levante has returned as the herald of the Festival of the Lost. This holiday is a time for Guardians to don irreverent masks and celebrate the memories of those that are lost.

As a growing threat looms ever-present, return to the Tower, grab some candy, and remind yourself what you’re fighting for.

Dark The Halls

With Eva’s return comes a renewed dedication to decorations. Candles, lights, cobwebs, and pumpkins adorn every nook and cranny of the Tower to ensure spirits will be raised.

Speak with Eva to begin your journey and acquire a Masquerader Helmet to participate. Earn Chocolate Strange Coins from bounties and activities to purchase Festival of the Lost mask ornaments for your new helmet. All Destiny 2 players can partake in the festivities, including New Light players who need to be 770 Power to begin.

 

Back by popular demand, Candy makes its sweet return as a reward to be spent towards Mystery Grab Bags and the Braytech Werewolf Legendary Auto Rifle. After acquiring the fully Masterworked 950 Power weapon, create your own monster with random rolls.

Forest Through The Trees

While the festival is underway, Guardians are needed to return once more to the Haunted Forest and defeat the fiends, ghouls, and terrors that lie within. You’ll have 15 minutes to make it as far as you can go, but beware of what awaits you at the end.

Terror-verse

There are more treats to be had in the Eververse if you’d like to further customize your Guardian’s costume. From spooky scary skeleton armor ornaments to Jack-O’-Lantern masks, we’re sure you’ll find something to terrorize your enemies.

To those witches and Warlocks out there who are looking for some good clean fun, your favorite spooky Sparrow has returned.

The Festival of the Lost is a time to honor those who have passed on. Make sure to let your Crucible enemies remember it forever with their own personal tombstone.

Join us in the Tower and beyond and help us celebrate the Festival of the Lost beginning on October 29 and concluding on November 19.

Get ready for Game2Give, our inaugural charity event to support the Bungie Foundation’s iPads for Kids Program and Children’s Miracle Network benefitting sick kids across the country. Between October 24 and November 10, we invite the Destiny Community to join us in celebration of what we can accomplish together through games and giving.

On October 29 at 12pm PDT, we’ll be kicking off a 24-hour Festival of the Lost streaming marathon with some of your favorite content creators culminating in a live stream with the devs over here at Bungie.

We are so excited to share the sweet prizes we have to thank our donors for their amazing contributions to help kids. Check them out:

This week at Bungie, there’s a lot going on.

We’re already into week three of Season of the Undying. The Iron Banner is up and running and we have some new things lined up for next week. Master Nightmare hunts begin next week. These will be the most difficult Nightmare hunts to date, so equip your best weapons and gear. 

That’s not all. The Exotic Quest for Leviathan’s Breath will also go live for all season pass owners. Rumor has it that Banshee knows something about where to start. 

The Show Must Go On

The infamous Hunter known as Paul “The Big Show” Wight is stopping by our studio this weekend. He’s going to join us on stream to play some Destiny. That means that some of you will have a chance to win an Emblem. This will be a Bungie Bounty, but we are going to mix up the activities. We’ll play a few Strikes, some Vex Offensive, and then finish up with some Crucible so Big Show can pound some Warlocks into dust.

The usual rules for a Bungie Bounty apply: For Crucible, you will need to match into our game and be on the winning team. For everything PVE, you only need to match with us fight the good fight to earn the new Bungie Bounty emblem.

The last time we did a Bungie Bounty we played on Xbox. This time we will be playing on PS4. 

Bungie Bounty

Platform – PS4

October 19 2PM – 4PM Pacific

PC, you are on deck. More on that later…

Shifting Sands

We have a few tweaks coming to the combat sandbox in update 2.6.1, which is currently being targeted to deploy on October 29. Here is the Destiny Dev Team to give you the details. 

Super Energy Refunding Kills

Goals:

For a while now, Trample and Everlasting Flames have been an outlier, especially in PvP. We’ve previously done a pass to add diminishing returns to this but it’s proven to not be enough. In this update, we’ve tightened the curve a bit and split it out over PvE and PvP. This should allow Guardians to keep dunking on combatants for longer while being less oppressive against one another.

Additionally, for Striker, we’ve increased the cost of the light attack to make dashing across the map a little less forgiving. We still want this to be used as a way to run people down or dodge and be shifty, but this change should make it costly enough as to be prohibitive as a form of long distance travel. Finally, regeneration will no longer proc on melee kills while in super. The combination was just too strong and overly forgiving of strategic or positional mistakes.

Striker – Code of the Juggernaut (Bottom Path)

• Trample:
• Tuned the amount of Super energy returned per kill
• Reduced amount returned possible per kill from 15% to 13% (before diminishing returns)
• Reduced the low end of the diminishing returns from 5% to 3.25%
• Changed the kills for the diminishing returns by splitting them out between players and combatants
• Previously it was 15 kills. Now it is 14 combatant kills or 7 player kills (players count for 2X towards diminishing returns)
• Cost of light attack in super increased by 50% from 2% to 3%
• Regeneration on kill no longer procs on super kills

Dawnblade – Attunement of Flame (Bottom Path)

• Everlasting Flames: 
• Tuned the amount of Super energy returned per kill (handled differently than Striker as this attack in an AoE)
• Increased the low end of the diminishing returns from 0.75% to 0.95%
• Changed the kills for the diminishing returns by splitting them out between players and combatants
• Previously it was 30 kills. Now it is 21 combatant kills or 7 player kills (players count for 3X towards diminishing returns)

Quality of Life and Bug Fixes:

Sentinel – Code of the Protector (Top Path)

• Ward of Dawn:
• Armor of Light timer now correlates with the life of the Ward of Dawn
• Particle FX move more rapidly towards the end of the Ward of Dawn’s life

Nightstalker – Way of the Wraith (Middle Path)

• Shattering Strike: 
• Fixed a bug in which Shattering Strike activation window was reduced to 3 seconds along with Truesight
• Shattering strike last the proper 9 seconds once again

Shoulder Charge

We’ve removed a bug that allowed players to shoot immediately before activating shoulder charge, which allowed players to apply the 1-2 Punch damage buff to shoulder charge. This bug was caused by a quality of life change made for Tempest Strike. Before Shadowkeep, if player’s had the sprint button configured as “hold to sprint”, then they would need to be holding the sprint button while sliding in order to activate Tempest Strike. With the release of Shadowkeep, we added a small window of time where players could activate Tempest Strike after letting go of the sprint button. This change had unexpected effects on other melee abilities, so we have reverted this change until we can find a better fix for Tempest Strike. 

We’re also aware of feedback about other abilities and gear not mentioned above. We have our eye on One Eyed Mask – expect a change in a future update.

Patch Note Preview

Along with the sandbox changes we already mentioned, we have a preview of some of the other patch notes coming up in update 2.6.1:

Steam

Fully Operational Art Station

As you immerse yourself in the world of Destiny, there is a lot of beauty to take in. The environments, the characters, the weapons, every little detail is lovingly crafted by talented artists who help bring this game to life. We wanted to showcase some items they have helped work on and give you some links to see more of their work below. 

Armor Two Point Zero

One of the new systems rolled out along with Shadowkeep is the new Armor 2.0 system. We have been monitoring the feedback around the system. Today, the Destiny Dev Team has some goals for Armor 2.0 and some upcoming changes that are coming.  

Hi everyone! We wanted to check in and talk a little about Armor 2.0, its goals, your reactions, and upcoming additions and tweaks to the system.

The most frequent questions and feedback come from the energy affinity system, which determines which mods can be socketed into which armor pieces. We wanted to kick this discussion off with a little bit more information on the reasons why the energy system came about, and what it’s intended to accomplish. The armor energy system has the three following primary goals:

1. Give players the freedom to experiment with builds, while also requiring players to make creative choices when putting together those builds. The biggest reason why mods became unlocks instead of consumables is to encourage players to experiment with perk combinations. The energy type and cost of a mod asks players to consider which mods they value most for a particular build, sometimes requiring them to make choices or come up with creative combinations of armor energies across all five equipped armor pieces.

2. Give players the ability to balance mods above and beyond pure effectiveness. When mods have no restrictions on their use (as was the case prior to Armor 2.0), each mod is only evaluated on its strength and usefulness (or access, in the case of consumables). Giving mods an energy cost gives us a knob to turn that gives weaker mods value and stronger mods a drawback. Giving mods an energy type allows us to limit the scope of combinations within a single armor piece (making their use cases easier to predict and balance for), and also gives us room for other perks and mods (for example, artifact mods) that break these restrictions. This means the perks and mods that break the rules can be compelling choices, without them having to also be significantly stronger to be appealing.

3. Relieve information overload pressure on the mod UI. Early playtests, which did not have the energy system, had all mods for a particular slot visible each time you moved your cursor over them. This resulted in a huge amount of information overload, and also made it hard to quickly find, and change out, mods that you were seeking. Cutting down on the number of mods visible for a particular armor piece makes it easier to process this information.

There’s a lot more to it than that, but those are the most notable points.

When it comes to deciding which weapons were associated with which affinity, there were three main criteria used to choose where to put them:

1. Ammo Type: Each energy type needed to have a good mix of primary, special, and power ammo weapons.

2. Range: Each energy type needed to have a good mix of short, middle, and long-range weapons.

3. Thematics: Each energy type should have weapons that are similar thematically, when possible, and feel like the kinds of weapons that match other mechanics associated with that energy type.

We have seen feedback suggesting that, instead of locking mods into an energy type, the affinity should simply be a discount on the energy cost of the mod. That’s actually what the broad-category mods (such as Rifle Loader, Precision Weapon Targeting, etc.) are meant to represent: a higher cost for gaining the benefit with a weapon not normally associated with that energy type. So, instead of having to display every mod for that slot when you move your cursor over the socket, you see only the two to three broad-category mods in that socket, plus the ones with energy types associated with it.

Of course, not every mod type got a broad-category version, notably the mod types that affect the ammo economy. That’s because any mods that tinker with the ammo economy have a lot of caveats and exceptions, mostly due to weapons that use ammo types not normally associated with that weapon archetype, such as Eriana’s Vow, the Mountaintop, Whisper of the Worm, and so forth. 

We needed a bit more time to build the broad category versions of these mods and test them thoroughly, but at the start of next season there will be broad-category mods for both the ammo finder and ammo scavenger categories, and they will be automatically unlocked for all players (no need to hunt them down!). This should help round out your builds more easily, and give you more options for tinkering with your ammo no matter what armor energy type you use. We’re also working on some broad category ammo capacity mods, but those need some more work before they’re ready for primetime.

Another big change coming up is the loosening of stacking restrictions on Armor 2.0 mods. Starting next season, the restrictions on having multiple mods of the same type in a single piece of armor will be removed (with a few exceptions). So, you’ll be able to run two Hand Cannon Loader mods, or two Shotgun Ammo Finder mods, and so forth. The only exceptions to this stacking come from mods that provide no benefit when stacked, such as Fastball and Traction. We needed a little more time to make sure that stacking mods wouldn’t cause any major technical issues, and think that stacking mods of the same type gives more flexibility in crafting your build, provided you have the armor energy to spend in socketing them in.

One thing to be aware of with mod stacking: In most cases, stacking up identical mods will provide diminishing returns on their effectiveness. For example, two Hand Cannon Loader mods don’t provide twice the benefit; instead, they provide about 1.5x the benefit of one Hand Cannon Loader mod. However, this puts them on equal footing with the enhanced mods. So, two Hand Cannon Loader mods provide the equivalent benefit of a single Enhanced Hand Cannon Loader. We’re also going to be lowering the energy costs of some of the armor mods to better reflect the value of an enhanced mod.

One last bit of news on Armor 2.0. When we created the system, we wanted to include armor mods in Collections, so you can see how many you have gathered, and where they can be acquired. This also presented a good opportunity to do some housekeeping on the Collections tab in general, but, unfortunately, proved to be a little more time-intensive than we’d hoped, so the changes didn’t come alongside Shadowkeep. Good news, though! In the 2.6.1 patch, coming later this month, armor mods will be visible in your Collections, allowing you to browse through all the possibilities and see which ones you have already collected. Additionally, starting next season, the armor mod Collections will get a UI upgrade, allowing them to display armor energy type and cost on the icon, just like they do in your armor socket.

Fashion Week

It’s fashion week. In a previous update we showed you The Levante Prize, a fancy new emblem we will be giving out to fashion-focused Guardians.

Do you think you have an eye for style? Submit a picture of your best dressed Guardian on Bungie.net or in a reply to our Fashion Week tweet. We will choose our favorites and feature them in next week’s TWAB. Please include a link to your Bungie.net profile with your submission to help us out with granting your emblem if you win.

Since fashion is never finished, we will plan on doing this regularly, hopefully once a month. 

Cyber Sleuths

We’ve been tracking bugs and already deployed a few fixes since Shadowkeep launched earlier this month. Player Support has the latest.

This is their report. 

Destiny 2 Hotfix 2.6.0.4

This week, we deployed Destiny 2 Hotfix 2.6.0.4 to players on all platforms. This hotfix resolved several issues to emerge in the player experience since launch. Here are some highlights:

• Fixed an issue where the Servitor spawning in the Gofannon Forge could crash the game.
• Fixed an issue where Nightmare Hunts Time Trial Master triumph would not progress correctly.
• Fixed an issue where Nightfall: The Ordeal would not drop a powerful reward for players who had already completed the Vanguard Strikes Challenge.
• Fixed an issue that provoked the temporary deactivation of rally banners and the “Tire Game” in the Sanctuary vendor space on the Moon.

As with all updates and hotfixes, players should follow @BungieHelp on Twitter or monitor our support feed on help.bungie.net for the latest details as soon as they are available.

PC Migration

Since launch, we’ve been investigating player reports regarding a subset of issues which may cause PC Migration to fail for PC players importing their accounts from Battle.net.

While investigations are ongoing, we’ve deployed several fixes to Bungie.net over the past two weeks which are expected to resolve a number of issues encountered by players. If your account has failed to migrate, to include the transfer of characters, Silver, and/or licenses, we encourage you to try again. As a reminder, once PC Migration has been initiated, it cannot be undone.

Aside from issues being investigated in the migration process, we’ve also observed reports from players who’ve linked the wrong Battle.net or Steam accounts to their Bungie.net profile, resulting in migration either to or from an undesired account.

Players who linked and migrated from a different Battle.net account than desired can perform migration again. To do so, players must link their intended Battle.net account to a new Steam account through Bungie.net and perform a new migration.

Players who link and migrate to a different Steam account than desired must log in to that account on Steam in order to access their characters, Silver, and licenses. Once migration is initiated, these cannot be transferred to another Steam account.

Players encountering process issues with PC Migration may opt to assist us in our efforts to aggregate information. Player who wish to do so should submit a response to our contact form. Please note that this form is designed to gather information about PC Move issues, and that each ticket may not receive a personalized response.

As a final note, we’ve also observed confusion from players believing that their Forsaken licenses did not transfer from Battle.net to Steam, because the Forsaken campaign was not available from Amanda Holiday. Unlike the Red War, Curse of Osiris, and Warmind campaigns included in New Light, which are received from Amanda Holiday in the Tower Hangar, the Forsaken campaign begins with players launching directly into the first mission from the Tangled Shore destination map.

Destiny 2 Known Issues

Destiny Player Support monitors player reports on our local #Help forum and tallies the latest issues into our Known Issues thread. Listed below is a selection of recent issues that have been reported by players:

• The Black Armory Key Mold cannot be obtained by players who did not receive it before Season 8.
• Players who have the “Invitation from the Emperor” and “Golden Hero” quests on multiple characters can’t unlock the Tribute Hall.
• Warlocks wagering Weak Motes in Reckoning are receiving Titan armor.

As always, players who encounter issues are encouraged to report them to our #Help forum.

Prime Time

It’s time for Movie of the Week. This is where we pick a few of our favorite community videos of the week and share them out for all to see. The winners will receive a special emblem. If you are chosen as a winner, please post links to your Bungie.net profile in the description of the video and let us know what platform your active account is. 

Movie of the Week: Interview with Shaxx

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcPuQuwibOY?wmode=transparent&rel=0&fs=1&w=1136&h=641]

Honorable Mention: Just Trying to Kill Some Bugs Sir

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDls8IUL700?wmode=transparent&rel=0&fs=1&w=1136&h=641]

<3 Cozmo

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PlayStation Xbox Live Battle.net Steam

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PlayStation Xbox Live Battle.net Steam

This week at Bungie, WE LANDED ON THE MOON!

As with some previous historic trips to the Moon, this one saw a few issues. Our teams remained calm, worked the problem, and hunted down the bugs to restore services.

The biggest issue was caused by game databases not doing their job correctly, which threw a wrench in the machine. Please don’t blame your new friends just joining the community. This was a complex launch that included platform migrations and new ways for players to begin their journey with us. We aren’t afraid of solving tough problems and will continue to hunt down any issues that arise!

Raid Imminent

The Garden of Salvation will open to raiding parties in fewer than 48 hours. At 10 AM PDT on October 5, we will begin the race for World First (drop the ’s—it’s cleaner). 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxIOfW3UTKI?wmode=transparent&rel=0&fs=1&w=1136&h=641]

World First Completion—Championship Belt

Completions within the first 24 Hours—24-Hour Emblem 

Completions Before October 15—Raid Jacket Purchase

Completions During Season of the Undying—Raid T-Shirt Purchase

All Completions—Raid Emblem

To the Guardians brave enough to be first to venture back into the Black Garden—we salute you! 

One Giant Leap

Player Support is working around the clock to support this launch. Let’s check in with what they are currently tracking. 

This is their report.

New Lights

This week we launched Shadowkeep, New Light, and brought Destiny 2 to Steam on PC. If you’re just now joining us on this journey, let’s get you acquainted with your player support resources.

• Help.bungie.net: This is our knowledgebase archive where players can search for support articles relevant to their needs.
• BungieHelp on Twitter: This is where we communicate deployment times and emergent issues to players on a large scale.
• Known Issues thread: Here, Destiny Player Support keeps a running list of the latest issues to emerge in Destiny 2 as soon as they are confirmed.
• #Help forum: If you don’t find the info you need from any of the above resources, this is your channel to report issues. Here, Destiny Player Support and our bungie.net mentors patrol to assist players with support issues.
• Player Support Report: This is our weekly address to players in the “This Week at Bungie” blog—that you’re reading right now.

Destiny 2 Known Issues

With this week’s launch, we’ve closely monitored for player reports of issues impacting the Destiny 2 experience. Here are the top issues at the time of this writing, straight from our known issues thread:

• Players will not receive the Gate Lord’s Eye at Season Rank 7 if they claim it in an equipment-locked activity.
• If it has been abandoned, the completed “Essence of Anguish” quest step can be reacquired only by unlocking the Lectern of Enchantment.
• The “In Search of Answers” quest step may not appear in a player’s inventory, even after talking with Eris. Please check the postmaster to pick up the quest and continue the campaign.
• If the “Firewall” quest step is dismantled after completing Eris’s weekly bounty, players have to wait a week before they can obtain a new one.
• If the “Luna’s Calling” weekly quest is deleted before collecting rewards and the bounty is reclaimed, players will have to wait a week to complete it.
• Some players who purchase the Shadowkeep Deluxe Edition may not receive all four Season Passes, but may instead receive 1,000 Silver per unredeemed Season. Players may spend this Silver to purchase future seasons through the Seasons tab in the Director menu.
• Players who encounter the error “problem reading game content” on Steam should ensure that they are NOT running Destiny 2 with elevated permissions (for example: do not use “Run as Administrator”). They should also make sure there is NO steam_appid.txt file in their Destiny 2 install directory.
• Players with 300 or more friends on Steam may encounter crashes when launching Destiny 2. Players who encounter this issue can trim their friends list until they are below 300 while we investigate a fix.
• We’re investigating ongoing reports from players regarding issues with PC migration. In the meantime, if possible, players should attempt to retry migration.

Tapes

What is Movie of the Week? I’m glad you asked. This is where we pick a few of our favorite videos created by the community. The winners get an emblem. Make sure you put the player names of the creators in the description of the video if you win. On to the winners!

Movie of the Week: Fan-Made Gameplay Trailer

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KLHUzQDfbE?wmode=transparent&rel=0&fs=1&w=1136&h=641]

Honorable Mention: Jumped the Hellmouth

We are in the thick of it now. Launch is behind us, and the raid is coming up next. We’re keeping it short this week after the 4,500-word mega-TWAB last week. Go explore the Moon, and try out all the new changes that arrived alongside Shadowkeep—and tell us what you think.

<3 Cozmo

Nightstalker Way of the Trapper (Top)

Shadowshot: Fires an arrow that damages enemies and debuffs enemies nearby

Nightstalker Way of the Wraith (Middle)

Flawless Execution: Headshot kills while crouched grant invisibility and truesight

Instant Reloading

Goal: In the beginning, Lunafactions and Rally Barricade did exist, but they were clunky to use. They still had dramatic impact on gameplay even in that state, but eventually we decided to make their effects easier to handle. The problems they introduced always existed in the game, but over time these have become magnified due to new abilities, perks, and weapons introduced into the Destiny 2 sandbox. The impact of something that takes all reloading out of the equation means that other perks or effects like the Hunter’s Marksman Dodge or the Sealed Ahamkara’s Grasps can simply fall to the wayside – Even swords take a hit in comparison, being one of the few weapons that naturally never needs to reload.

Reloading is one of those mechanics that are simple, but have wide ranging consequences. Because the effect on gameplay of removing reloading is inversely proportional to the size of your weapon’s magazine and how slow your general reload animations are, weapons like Rocket Launchers and Shotguns can benefit greatly compared to other weapons. This, alongside the increase in general access to damage bonus effects like Well of Radiance left us with the decision to remove this effect from these two sources, as they were causing things to quickly snowball out of control.                               

Titan Rally Barricade

Warlock Rift/Well of Radiance

Super Energy Regeneration

Goal: These changes will reduce the speed with which players are able to earn their super which supports difficulty and reduces the current ability to trivialize certain content through excessively chaining supers. Systemically, we want to reduce base sources of supers on a large macro scale without diminishing the feeling that your actions are gaining you a worthwhile energy boost. By reducing the speed at which you gain super we can make mods and perks feel more worthwhile. We still want it to feel like you can make meaningful progress not only through normal play but by augmenting super energy through teamwork, class choices, gear, and skillful play.

New Energy Granted by Super Orbs:

Damage Multipliers

Goal: At Destiny 2 launch, damage buffs were fairly sparse – There was Empowering Rift for a small increase, and you could combine it with a weakening effect such as Hammer Strike, but very little else. As time has gone on, we introduced Well of Radiance, Weapons of Light, Guiding Flame, Frontal Assault, etc, and combining these effects has resulted in player damage output far beyond what was previously available. Even with just a small amount of them, a player can go from 1x damage to 3x and beyond, causing there to be an extremely large gap between standard player output and theoretical output.

By preventing the larger effects from stacking, we are able to keep each of them around without having to do something in response like raise boss health to compensate for these tactics, as well as create more of them. As an example, Lumina would not have been created in world where the damage bonus effect of Noble Rounds stacked with other damage effects, and these changes are simply an extension along those same lines.

While the weakening effects never stacked, we also took a look at them and adjusted their values as many of our more powerful units would simply evaporate when touched by one of them, but we compensated for that in other ways, such as either extending the duration of the effect or in the case of Shadowshot, making it affect power weapons.

Player Damage Buffs

Enemy Debuffs (Weakened)

Reduced Super Damage Resistance

Goal: Since the launch of Destiny 2 we have slowly introduced buffs to supers, especially roaming supers. While we believe supers should be powerful they should not be mindless. We want supers to be more risky in both PvE and PvP. We want players to think about positioning and timing more. Not so long ago we experimented with Spectral Blades by lowering the damage resistance substantially. These changes were generally well received and improved the experience of the super for both the person running it and the person who was running from it. In PvE players shouldn’t feel like their super makes them invulnerable and casting one should call for situational strategic thinking. In PvP players need to feel like they can challenge a super and that with skillful play there’s a chance they can beat it. 

During 2019, we’ve developed and shared a clarity of vision we’ve never had before in Destiny. We’re finally going to make the Destiny 2 we’ve always wanted to make—one world that you and your friends are going to meaningfully change and make memories in. This year, our team has felt the full weight of what we’re responsible for (even on your worst days in the game, no one is harder on us than ourselves). But we now have a unified purpose. A calling. 

October 1st is the first step toward what we want Destiny 2 to become. Everything we’re doing this fall is more than just any one part – it is Destiny 2 fundamentally evolving and in some ways starting new. It’s Shadowkeep, it’s New Light, it’s Cross Save, it’s you, me, and our friends together. It’s all of it. 

This isn’t just the next chapter of Destiny 2, but the next chapter of us. 

Tomorrow, that journey begins again for all of us and many, many others. These past few months have been awesome with you. Thanks for being the bright points of light shining in the night. You are Destiny’s stars. Be that light for the new Guardians wandering around the Tower, soloing a public event, dropping into Crucible for the first time, or trying to learn Raid mechanics you can do with your eyes shut. We were all Kinderguardians once. 

Let’s help each other, make some memories, and head back to the Moon and see what’s been going on there for the last five years. It’s weird to say five years in, but given the year we’ve had: we’re just getting started. 

See you soon. 

Luke Smith

This week at Bungie, we’re on final countdown for launch.

It’s been a long summer of reveals, travels, interviews, and updates. Now we find ourselves in that old familiar clearing at the end of the path. This is the final weekly update that we’ll have before we blast off on another adventure.

Our new launch trailer is making the rounds. Here it is if you haven’t had a chance to watch yet.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFYJTudJ540?wmode=transparent&rel=0&fs=1&w=1136&h=641]

Today, you’ll find us ticking all the boxes on the pre-flight checklist. There are some final items we want to cover before you set out to investigate the mysteries of the Moon. Here’s what you’ll find during a lengthy final scroll:

Let’s start the clock.

Combat Changes

PvE Damage Numbers Display

Goal: To provide players with useful and legible feedback for damage dealt to enemy combatants across many years of Power progression.

PvE Difficulty Tuning

Goals: Widen the sweet spot where fighting higher-level combatants provides a fun, challenging, and rewarding combat experience for a more enjoyable Power climb. Also, allow players looking for even greater challenges to confront much higher-level enemies.

Progression and Economy Changes

Rewards Power and Progression

Bright Dust

Eververse

Glimmer

Spider’s Exchange

Xûr

Patch Note Preview

We’ll have a bunch of bullet points for you to peruse next week. Here’s something to tide you over until then.

Ritual Weapons and Perk Changes

In Season of the Undying, pinnacle weapons will become ritual weapons. They will no longer have special perks and will instead be curated rolls. A previous article incorrectly showed two new pinnacle weapons. The good news is you will be getting three ritual weapons for each of the ritual activities: Crucible, Vanguard, and Gambit. Here’s the Destiny Dev Team on why we made this difficult decision and some information on upcoming perk changes. 

Destiny Dev Team: The decision to stop creating extremely powerful pinnacle weapons was made for a variety of reasons. The first was that the band in which “pinnacle” perk can exist is actually quite small, and most of them far exceeded the efficacy they should have been at. Another issue is that they cause problems in the player ecosystem, particularly in the case of the Crucible pinnacle weapons. Due to the nature of PvP and PvE, anything that works well in PvP is likely going be extremely effective in PvE as well. This forces players into the Crucible if they want the “best” loadouts. Even the title of “pinnacle” set a variety of unrealistic expectations. Rather than being the absolute height of Legendary power, they were supposed to be interesting novelties to chase.

These problems became more pronounced the more of them we produced. In the end, we decided to move away from pinnacle weapons. If you managed to collect them all, we hope you enjoy them!

While we’re on the subject of weapons, here are a few important notes on changes to how perks will work.

Reduced the effectiveness of the following perks in PvE:

• Rampage, Kill Clip, Swashbuckler, Multikill Clip, Desperado, Surrounded, Master of Arms, Onslaught
• In general, these perks use the same damage multipliers for PvE that they did in PvP
• The change to Rampage does not affect the Huckleberry
• Onslaught and Desperado now change bullet impact values while active in PvE
• Surrounded no longer multiplies precision damage on top of base damage, as it was benefiting some weapon types more than others as a result

Legendary weapons have become too powerful overall. In many cases, they even outclass Exotic Primary weapons, so we’re walking them all back a bit. All the way back in original Destiny, we had a perk named Crowd Control, which was Rampage’s predecessor. Crowd Control capped out at a bonus of +15% extra damage. At this point in Destiny 2, Rampage caps out at about +67%. That’s a 447% increase from the original iteration. Legendary damage perks have become so powerful, they simply invalidate non-damage related perks. 

Here’s a quick preview of the three ritual weapons you can earn in Season of the Undying. Because these weapons are no longer pinnacle weapons, the quest required to earn them is not as in depth as previous seasons.

Vanguard—Edgewise

Crucible—Randy’s Throwing Knife

Gambit—Exit Strategy

Set It Straight

During the run up to launch, we’ve been dropping videos, articles, interviews, and information all over the internets. Along the way, the fact-checkers called us out a few times. Today, we’re issuing some corrections to previous transmissions.

1. There was a shot of Trials of the Nine armor in the launch trailer by mistake. We wanted to clear up any confusion and let players know that the Trials of the Nine set will not obtainable in Season of the Undying.

2. We also had to revise our gameplay calendar for Season of the Undying. The menu of action is the same, but we are adjusting the timing of the Nightmare Hunts. The new schedule looks like this:

3. Back when we were first talking about finishers and some of the mods that go with them, we talked about how one of the mods enabled you to spawn Heavy ammo for your fireteam when you executed a finisher. That was still in flux at the time, and for balance reasons we ended up making a mod that will spawn Heavy ammo for yourself and a mod that will spawn Special ammo for your fireteam.

Wear It With Pride

At Bungie, our mission is to build worlds the inspire friendship. Our games become places where people—all kinds of people—can gather to share meaningful experiences. One of the most important aspects of friendship is acceptance. Earlier this year, we took to the streets as part of the Seattle Pride Parade. We also offered up a Pride Pin via the Bungie Store that was rumored to have an emblem that would come with it. The rumors are true, and we’ve chosen International Coming Out Day as the advent to deploy the in-game expression of acceptance. 

For the details, along with a personal story to capture the spirit of that day, here is one of our own…

Hi Y’all,

My name’s Nigel. You may know me from things like the Shattered Throne Ride Along, or this wonderful fan video made during our St. Jude’s charity stream. This is my first TWAB post and I’m a little nervous, so I’m going to use one of my favorite TV shows, Golden Girls, as a crutch.

Picture it. Tempe, Arizona 2009.  A sophomore in college. At this point in my life, I’d never really had a girlfriend or really found myself attracted to a woman. I refused to believe I was gay. Having seen so many coming-out stories go poorly, with family and friends abandoning people they loved, I didn’t want that for myself. So I ignored it by playing video games.

Dragon Age: Origins had just released, and my twin brother had been bugging me for a good week to buy it and play it. Quickly I found myself wrapped in magic and steel for an untold, but probably perfectly healthy, amount of time. During this time, I found myself conversing with one of the male party members, simply trying to raise his approval.

That’s when it appeared. The option to flirt with this character. I was as the kids say, “shooketh.” I sat for what must have been twenty minutes before deciding to click on it. He flirted back. My heart skipped. I was a ball of nerves and anxiety as the conversation continued with another chance to confess romantic feelings to the character. I thought I was going to vomit all over a simple choice in a video game. I debated with myself, what did it mean that I wanted to flirt with this character? Why did I suddenly feel like my entire existence would be changed with this one conversation? I clicked it.

And that’s when I learned about rejection. From a digital character. He wasn’t gay, and my heart sunk. But his next words were something I didn’t know I needed. “There’s nothing wrong with who you love. You are my friend no matter what.” I spent the next two hours on the floor crying, finally feeling that it was okay to be gay. I felt more comfortable than I’d ever felt in my life. I vowed, if I ever got the opportunity to pay it forward, I would.

Well I’m helping to pay it forward. I’ve spent a lot of my time at Bungie helping to make sure Destiny is a welcoming place. I have marched in the Seattle Pride Parade. I have helped set up the Trevor Foundation and other LGBTIQA+ charities. Most recently, I helped create those wonderful Bungie Pride Pins you keep seeing on our streams. I’m happy to announce that, on October 11, International Coming Out Day, we’ll be releasing a Pride emblem for your Guardian if you’ve purchased this pin. If you missed the chance to buy the pin back in June, mark your calendars, because we’ll be restocking our supply on the Bungie Store.

Destiny and Bungie are places where we can foster community and work together, no matter your background. We at Bungie want to make sure no matter who you love, or who you are, that everyone belongs in the Tower. Or the Farm, if you’re into that.

Nigel speaks true. Thanks for being excellent to each other. Any players who previously purchased the Pride Pin will be receiving codes for the emblems through email. 

Bungie Rewards

Last week, we showed off a preview of the World’s First belt and some of the emblems you can earn in our upcoming pinnacle PvE activity. We weren’t quite ready to show off the awesome jacket Bungie Rewards will be offering, but the design is ready for the runway.

Any player who beats the “Garden of Salvation” raid and claims their code before the weekly reset on 10/15 will be eligible to purchase the raid jacket through Bungie Rewards. We are giving you some extra time to Power up this time. We know many of you don’t enjoy rushing through content, so even if you aren’t ready to take on the raid before 10/15, any player who completes “Garden of Salvation” during Season of the Undying will be eligible to purchase a special raid T-shirt through Bungie Rewards.

So… the shirt has some spoilers on it, but we’ll share out what it looks like after the raid is completed.

Full Steam Ahead

Player Support is waiting in the wings to support our next launch. 

This is their report.

Upcoming 24-Hour Maintenance

This upcoming Monday, September 30, Destiny 1 and Destiny 2 will be taken offline for extended maintenance on all platforms.

This maintenance will last for approximately 24 hours, starting at 10 AM PDT (1700 UTC), ending with the launch of Destiny 2: Shadowkeep on October 1. During this downtime, players will be unable to log in to Bungie.net or access Destiny API features.

For the latest information on this maintenance as it occurs, including download availability and emergent issues, players should follow @BungieHelp on Twitter or monitor our support feed on help.bungie.net.

Pre-loading Destiny 2: Shadowkeep and Update 2.6.0

Existing console players will be able to pre-load Update 2.6.0 during the maintenance leading up to launch. The moment we confirm that downloads are available, we’ll sound off from the support links provided above.

FOLLOW UP: Delay in Forsaken License Transfers for Migrating PC Players

Last week, we discussed the likely delay of Forsaken license transfers for migrated PC players on Steam. With the announcement of our upcoming 24-hour maintenance, we hope to mitigate any possible delay in Forsaken license transfers following the launch of Shadowkeep on October 1. If any such delays occur, we’ll be sure to sound off from the support links provided above.

PC Migration and New Characters on Steam

Following the launch of Shadowkeep and Destiny 2 Update 2.6.0 on October 1, players who link their Steam account to their Bungie.net profile will be able to manually trigger PC Migration.

Players should be aware, however, that any new characters created on Steam before performing PC migration will be overwritten when players migrate from Battle.net. This will result in the potential loss of new characters and gear, as well as Silver, Eververse items, and Season Passes—if purchased on these new characters before performing PC migration.

To make things as simple as possible, here’s the recommended order of operations for players who perform PC migration to Steam after Shadowkeep launches on October 1:

2. If desired, enable Cross Save so your preferred characters are available when you log in to Destiny 2 on Steam. PC Migration will still transfer your Battle.net characters to Steam, even if another set of characters is selected for Cross Save. This also determines which characters receive any Silver or Season Passes purchased on Steam before logging in.

4. Log in to Destiny 2.

5. Your Battle.net characters, licenses, and Silver will already be migrated to your Steam account, however your Cross Saved characters will appear if Cross Save is enabled.

IMPORTANT: Since purchased Silver and Season Passes are applied to the first character set that players log in with after purchase, we strongly recommend that players enable Cross Save before logging in to Destiny 2 on Steam. This will ensure that your desired characters are receiving your Silver and Season Passes on the Steam platform. Cross Save-enabled characters will be able to bring their Season Passes with them to any platform after they have been applied.

REMINDER: Destiny 2 and Silver Purchases on Battle.net

This week, we’d like to remind PC players that Destiny 2 game content and Destiny 2 Silver can no longer be purchased from the Battle.net Shop.

Existing PC players can continue to play on Battle.net until Destiny 2 undergoes maintenance for Steam launch. Players should also be aware that in order for recent Silver purchases to successfully transfer to Steam, players MUST log in to Destiny 2 on Battle.net before 10 AM PDT (1700 UTC) on September 30, 2019 to claim their purchased Silver.

REMINDER: Battle.net Code Redemption for Destiny 2

As another reminder, players should be aware that any Battle.net code they possess for Destiny 2 content MUST be redeemed on their Battle.net account before they perform PC Migration. Players who have already prepared for PC Migration have until the start of Destiny 2 maintenance on September 30 to redeem any unused Battle.net codes—to have that license transfer to their Steam account.

Players who migrate to Steam after our October 1 maintenance must also ensure that their Battle.net code is redeemed before they link their Steam account. Once a Steam account is linked, their Guardians, Silver, and game licenses will be migrated from Battle.net to Steam. This is a one-time process that cannot be repeated for new licenses. For information on Battle.net code redemption, players should visit Blizzard’s How to Claim a Code knowledgebase article. 

It’s worth noting that all content previously included in the base Destiny 2 game, Curse of Osiris, or Warmind, will be available to all players for free through the launch of Destiny 2: New Light on October 1.

Steam Limited User Accounts

Next week, Destiny 2 officially launches on Steam. Before it does, we’d like to make players aware of Steam’s Limited User Accounts.

In short, any player whose account has spent less than $5.00 USD on the Steam Store will have limited access to community and social features that are commonly used for spamming, phishing, and other abuse.

This will also apply to any Destiny 2 player new to the Steam platform who migrates from Battle.net. For more information, please see Valve’s Limited User Accounts support article.

Premonition Legendary Pulse Rifle

Following the launch of Shadowkeep next week, players will be able to view new items added to Destiny 2 using the in-game Collections. Before then, we’d like to make players aware of a known issue with one particular weapon listing.

Following the launch of Shadowkeep, the Collection listing for the Premonition Legendary Pulse Rifle will state that it is “found by exploring the Moon.” This weapon’s specific source is actually the new dungeon, which will become available sometime after Shadowkeep’s launch.

Players who encounter other issues following the launch of New Light, Shadowkeep, and Steam PC should report them to the #Help forum.

MOTW

All right, let’s see what we got. More movies on the field. Here are our favorites this week. 

Movie of the Week: Embrace your fears

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPYa8WJztJQ?wmode=transparent&rel=0&fs=1&w=1136&h=641]

Honorable Mention: The Duke

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Smvx1BuF1PE?wmode=transparent&rel=0&fs=1&w=1136&h=641]

This is it. The last TWAB before launch. Are you ready?

<3 Cozmo