Category: Bungie News

This week at Bungie, we’re preparing for a celebration.

Today, we showed off what some of the new weapons and armor can do in Forsaken. We love it when the game does the talking. Here is a glimpse of some of the tools of the trade that arrive with Forsaken on September 4.

Full Stream Ahead

Ever since we started talking about the second year of Destiny 2, we’ve dropped a lot of hints about how the state of combat between Guardians will be changing. We know you have questions about how you’ll be using your weapons next season. How will you equip them? How will you customize them? How will you earn the ammunition you’ll need to use them?

Some of these things defy explanation, so we’ll demonstrate the performance of the new arsenal in real time. You are invited to watch us engage in combat—for science!

Year Two Combat Reveal Stream

Tuesday, August 7, 10 AM PDT

Newsk: Hello friends! If you’re a sharp-eyed PvP enthusiast, you may have noticed from some Forsaken coverage that the weapons are doing a bit more damage than they do in the current version of Destiny 2. If you’re a seasoned Destiny 2 player, you may then extrapolate the possibility of a global lethality pass on weapons and abilities that may or may not be in the pipe to go live when Forsaken is released. I’m here to quickly confirm that, along with weapon slots and ammo availability, we have globally adjusted the “time to kill” in the Crucible. If you’d like more details, join us on stream and we’ll get into it! See you then!

And that’s just one question we’ll answer beyond the shadow of a doubt. Tune in for a full demonstration of perks, mods, loadouts, and everything else you’ll need to know to best your fellow players in battle. We can’t give you skill, but we can equip you with a pre-mission briefing.

Save the date, follow our channels, and prepare your favorite chat room snacks.

Back to the Lab Again

Crucible Labs has been on hiatus for a while. It’s time to start experimenting again. Senior Designer Andrew Weldon has the details about the new mode coming next and when you can expect to see it go live. 

Andrew: Hello again!

Back in May, we launched the first Crucible Labs playlist with the game mode “Showdown.” As discussed in the following week’s TWAB, this was a good opportunity for us to test the playlist on a relatively safe baseline that we had mostly already shipped for Crimson Days and the standalone Doubles playlist. The first test served its purpose—we stood the system up and got great feedback on an in-development mode. We’ve also made one noteworthy change to Labs as a whole—with the 1.2.3 update, Labs matches will now also count toward your Valor ranking and will offer standard Crucible rewards at match complete!

Now that we’ve released that 1.2.3 update, we’re ready to deploy our next Crucible Labs experiment to you—“Lockdown.” Lockdown is a new 4v4 round-based Competitive mode that, like Control, is about capturing and holding zones. Unlike Control, your only score comes from playing the objective. Those of you from the Taken King/Rise of Iron era know this mode’s predecessor, the Control variant “Zone Control.” Here’s how it plays out:

Both teams start Lockdown with a “Progress” percentage of 0% displayed under the scoreboard. Once a team holds two zones, progress will begin ticking up for that team at a rate of 1% per second. There is no round timer—the first team to reach 100% will win the round, and the first to win three rounds will win the match.

That’s not all, though—if a team can successfully capture all three zones, they will instantly win the round, regardless of each team’s progress state. A well-coordinated push from your opponents will always be dangerous, which means you need to stay focused on your objective.

However, winning a round that way is not necessarily as simple as it might seem. To earn capture progress or win on the triple cap, you must hold uncontested zones. If a team holds two zones, you can fully halt their progress by contesting one or more zones (you’ll see “PROGRESS HALTED” display under the scoreboard to let you know this is happening). They won’t start earning score again until they clear you and your progress off the point(s). The same applies when going for the triple cap lockdown—the instant win only applies if all three zones are completely clear.

We’ve seen some really exciting matches play out from this ruleset internally, and we hope you have similar experiences out in the wild!

As with any Labs playlist, this mode is not final, and you may come across some tuning issues or bugs. Your most direct avenue for feedback on this mode will be in a new Labs thread on the Feedback forum, and we’ll be monitoring the conversation we see around the mode to pluck out actionable items for future iteration and polish.

We hope you enjoy this first look at the new mode—and you can play it right now.

Shhhh

Many Guardians have heard whispers on Io and rushed to investigate. Some of you encountered a long streak of Cabal drills—far too many Cabal drills. We did some investigating to see if this was a bug. Turns out there’s no bug, but the current random generator doesn’t do a good job of preventing streaks of either event. 

We’re currently investigating ways to prevent these bad luck runs in the future. We did some simulations to see if there might be any more long streaks of one type of event in the forecast. We expect a few more outliers, but balanced with long streaks of only Taken Blight events. This activity will be available every week, and once you do unlock the Heroic version, it will stay unlocked. We will continue to monitor the situation. Happy hunting.

From Now Until Forsaken

We’ve been pretty true to the plans we laid out in the last roadmap, but there were some new entries. As we do, today we’d like to provide some commentary on Director Updates and Milestones and Challenges Updates. 

Two of the main functions of the Director have been to help players know what to do next and lead them to sources of more powerful gear. We have some new ideas for how we can better support these goals, so we’re changing the way those things work.

There will be three ways to acquire Powerful Engrams in Forsaken:

Most of these sources of power will be refreshed weekly or daily. Some will be one-time sources.

Once these changes are deployed into the wild, the “Milestones Blade” will call attention to these activities:

Additionally, the layout of the Director will be updated to accommodate two new destinations: The Tangled Shore and the Dreaming City. You’ll obviously need to purchase Forsaken to visit them, but they’ll appear on the interface that we all see.

Today, we wanted to set some expectations for what’s changing, and why it was on the roadmap. You’ll understand the full experience for how these new (and improved?) features lead you on your journey to your maximum potential as a Guardian when you play. That’s always the best source of understanding. Plus, discovering the path is part of the fun.

Save the Dates

There are plenty more than just downloads that have to happen before Forsaken launches. With Gambit as our special cargo, we’re heading to gamescom, where we will make some important announcements. We’re going to PAX West, where we’ll mix it up with the community (and, yes, play some Gambit) one more time before launch. As always, there will be fun things happening in the game to keep you challenged and entertained as you count down the days until September 4.

Check out our August calendar of events in the game and in real life.

The Sacred Texts!

A popular request among Guardians is to see the Grimoire committed to print. Today, we are proud to announce an upcoming Destiny Grimoire Anthology.

Until now, the myths, mysteries, and machinations of the Destiny universe were found hidden throughout the worlds—enticing threads that hinted at a greater tapestry. The Destiny Grimoire Anthology weaves tales from multiple sources together for the first time, casting new light on Destiny’s most legendary heroes, infamous villains, and their greatest moments of triumph and tragedy. 

Each unique volume intends to illuminate a facet of the world, and the complete anthology will confirm and challenge players’ thoughts and assumptions about what it means to be a Guardian, offering new and differing perspectives on the cosmic war that rages between the Traveler and its ancient enemies.

Service Guarantees Citizenship

There are many ways we collaborate with our players to make a better game. We pore over feedback loops from multiple sources on the internet. We contract notable experts among you to join us as testers for a limited run. Sometimes, we’ll even host a summit in our studio to dig into our future plans. Those measures, while effective, unfortunately don’t stand a chance of including everyone.

Bungie User Research casts a wider net. Willing test subjects complete online surveys. There are even occasional invitations to visit our studio and step into the lab to sample something in development. The registration questionnaire has been updated with new data points that we’d love to know about you. If you’re already in our database, hit it again. If you didn’t know about this opportunity to do your part, this is your chance to sign up for a future testing opportunity.

Would you like to know more?

For the Monarchy

New Monarchy claimed the third and final Faction Rallies victory of Season 3. They were dominant in previous seasons but were winless coming into this one. The faction managed to squeak out a victory despite Dead Orbit having more players pledged. It’s about action, not promises.

Helping Hands

This is the Player Support Report. 

Tuesday Morning Glory

This week, Destiny Player Support became aware of an issue impacting the Glory bonuses earned by players who were completing three or more Competitive Crucible matches a week.

With the launch of Crucible Ranks in Season 3, it was intended that players who were Fabled rank or below would receive a bonus allocation of Glory points following the weekly reset of any week during which they completed three or more Competitive matches. After investigating player reports regarding this feature, we have determined these Glory rank packages are not being granted as intended.

While we’re working with our Crucible team to investigate this issue, players should expect that this issue will persist for the remainder of Season 3. Players who are aiming to unlock Glory rank–based rewards for Season 3 should plan their Crucible play accordingly.

Destiny 2 Hotfix 1.2.3.1

Next week we’re deploying Destiny 2 Hotfix 1.2.3.1 to players. This hotfix is the final barrier between players and the launch of Solstice of Heroes, and all players will need to install this hotfix before they can join the celebration. Provided below is a brief timeline of this deployment.

On Tuesday, July 31, 2018:

• 9 AM PDT: Destiny 2 Hotfix 1.2.3.1 will become available to all players.
• 9–10 AM PDT: Players will be prompted to accept Hotfix 1.2.3.1 as they return to orbit after completing activities.
• 10 AM PDT: All players who have not yet accepted Hotfix 1.2.3.1 will be removed from activities and returned to the title screen to take this hotfix.

Since the reveal of Destiny 2: Forsaken, players have asked whether or not Cayde’s Exotic Stash will be included with pre-orders directly from platform online marketplaces. We can confirm that this pre-order bonus will be available to all players who purchase through the PlayStation, Xbox, and Battle.net online stores before launch.

Additionally, shown below is what players can expect to become available to them in Year 2, based off of title ownership:

For information on purchase eligibility from other retailers, players should visit the official destinythegame.com page.

Smoke and Mirrors

Movie of the Week: We Were Here II

Honorable Mention: Bad Day

Before we go, here is a quick peek at last week’s top scorers in the Nightfall.

<3 Cozmo

The following features will be available to all players of Destiny 2.

It should be noted that not everything in Update 2.0.0.1 will become available on September 4. There are special events like Iron Banner that will be scheduled at a later date. During the season, new Crucible Maps will enter Matchmaking playlists. We’ve also indicated the fact that one of these new maps will be a PlayStation exclusive.

Please stay tuned to this blog for a more complete calendar of events as we grow closer to the beginning of Season 4. Developer commentary for some of the new additions listed above is being gathered at this moment. We’ll also have updates on the maintenance windows for the two deployments in future editions of ‘This Week At Bungie.’

This week at Bungie, we released a prestigious update to Destiny 2.

It’s been another busy week. We deployed Update 1.2.3, kicked off a World First raid race, and started up the last Faction Rallies of Season 3. All on the same day!

World First

We had a double serving of World First runs this week. Tuesday featured Prestige Eater of Worlds, and Wednesday followed up with Prestige Spire of Stars. Players already knew the mechanics and were at max Power, so it was just a matter of who could execute the quickest with the loadouts and modifier we threw at you. Here are the results…

Prestige Eater of Worlds

Prestige Spire of Stars 

Congratulations to these elite fireteams who rose above the rest. These races were close—Spire of Stars saw the top two teams finish within a minute of each other. The next World First race is coming in September. Maybe your team will be the next to be honored here. 

A Final Rally

Future War Cult is still riding high from the last Faction Rallies, where they claimed their first victory ever. Dead Orbit won the first event of this season, so New Monarchy should be eager to reclaim the crown they wore many times last season. Who do you think is going to win? Go to the Tower to cast your vote.

This is the final Faction Rallies event of Season 3. Grab up any gear you haven’t collected yet. Here is a look at what you can expect through the month of July:

Hotness

Here are a few moments from the event.

Player Support Report

You may have noticed we have a fancy new GIF. We are rebranding this section. Player Support Specialist Chris Alejo has the details.

Chris: Some of you may remember, in a bygone era, Bungie’s weekly blog was titled the “Bungie Weekly What’s Update.” In the age of Destiny, in partnership with our Destiny Operations Center, we took this name and began publishing a segment called “What’s Up, DOC?” The purpose of this segment was to inform Destiny players of known and emerging issues, as well as make official statements on the state of the Destiny service.

This segment has long since been authored by the Destiny Player Support team, but now we’re officially making it our own. Players can expect the same content and coverage that they’ve come to know in “What’s Up, DOC?”, but with a fresh coat of paint and a new identity. Our prime directive continues to be serving Destiny players.

Today, I’m proud to announce that this segment is donning a new name: the Player Support Report.

Destiny 2 Update 1.2.3

This week, we deployed Destiny 2 Update 1.2.3 to players. This update brought changes to the game experience, including Prestige raid lairs, new Exotic Masterworks, and Crucible playlist updates.

Since this update has gone live, two important issues have emerged that we’d like to bring to the attention of players:

• Armor earned from the “Leviathan, Eater of Worlds” raid lair is not displaying its Prestige raid lair ornament or ornament requirements. These ornaments may still be unlocked by completing the actions listed below. This information is also available in this help article.
• Head Armor Ornament: Complete Prestige “Leviathan, Eater of Worlds” and the Throne Challenge
• Arms Armor Ornament: Complete Prestige “Leviathan, Eater of Worlds” and the Gardens Challenge
• Chest Armor Ornament: Complete Prestige “Leviathan, Eater of Worlds” and the Pools Challenge
• Leg Armor Ornament: Complete Prestige “Leviathan, Eater of Worlds” and the Gauntlet Challenge
• Class Item Ornament: Complete Prestige “Leviathan, Eater of Worlds”

• Weapons earned in Prestige raid lairs cannot be infused directly into other Legendary weapons. They may be infused into Exotic weapons, and those Exotic weapons may then be infused into non-raid Legendary weapons, but players should exercise caution when doing so because non-Prestige raid lair Legendary weapons will be capped at 385 Power when infused. This information is also available in this help article.

[Editor’s Note: Weapons from Prestige raid lairs and armor from Solstice of Heroes were not intended to be infusion fodder for two reasons:

• These items are intended to be trophies, for players to show their accomplishments leading up to Forsaken.
  
• If players who own Curse of Osiris but do not own Warmind use these items for infusion, any gear infused above 335 Power will no longer be available for use.

Players who have already done this can claim a duplicate of their weapon from their Weapon Collections, which will become available to all players when Forsaken launches on September 4, 2018.]

Faction Rallies

Right now, Destiny 2 players are invited to participate in the final Faction Rallies event of Season 3. Players can pledge to Dead Orbit, Future War Cult, or New Monarchy for glory and rewards, but they should be reminded that all pledges are account-wide. 

Players in search of more information on Faction Rallies should see our Faction Rallies Guide. Players who encounter game issues should report them to the #Help forum.

Bungie.net Emblem Codes

Over the past months, players have had the opportunity to earn exclusive Destiny 2 emblem codes by participating in special offers in the Bungie Store, as well as by playing Gambit at E3 and GuardianCon. 

Players who have received these codes should visit our Code Redemption Guide for information on how they can redeem the codes. When redeeming Bungie.net codes, players should pay close attention to which account they are logged in with. Codes redeemed on unintended Bungie.net accounts will not be restored or returned.

Green Screen

 

Welcome to another edition of Movie of the Week. This is our chance to pick a few community-created videos and share them with a wider audience. The creators also get a special emblem for their excellence. If you want your shot, submit your video to the Creations page. Just make sure you tag the player names for all who contributed to the video in the description.

Movie of the Week: Like a River

Honorable Mention: My Tractor Is Sexy

Before we go, here are last week’s top scores for the Nightfall. We seem to have some familiar faces in the top three each week.

I’ve been out for a bit lately—went to visit the fam, then GuardianCon. It’s good to be back. This update is lighter than some, but we have a lot more we’ll want to talk about before the launch of Forsaken. We know you have burning questions about how exactly we’ll keep some of our promises regarding the new state of combat, and we’re working out details for how we’ll serve up those answers. Some of them will happen in real time on stream. Others will land right here, on a Thursday yet to come.

Keep your eyes on this space, and you’ll learn everything you need to know to take your first steps in avenging Cayde!

<3 Cozmo

“This is our finest hour. Ever victorious against the enemies of humanity. Ever triumphant in our home, and around the system. Now the City wants to honor us. Who are we to deny them?”

—Ikora Rey

It was a day that was supposed to be a celebration of our past glories. The anniversary of Six Fronts — the victory that united the City and gave us the Vanguard. Guardians donned ceremonial armor to commemorate the event, and gathered for a rousing speech by the Speaker. Then everything came apart when the Red Legion struck.

The Tower fell. The City was lost. Thousands of lives were lost with it. It was our lowest point since the Collapse. But humanity is not so easily extinguished.

We fought back. We recovered our lost Light. With the awakening of the Traveler, we faced our conqueror and prevailed. We reclaimed our home. We entered a new Golden Age.

That was almost a year ago.

Now, humanity is once again victorious: against the overwhelming might of Ghaul and the Red Legion; against Panoptes and the infinite threat of the Vex; against Xol and the unfathomable hordes of the Hive. More than ever, the City is grateful for their seemingly invincible Guardian protectors. And more than ever, humanity wants to show that gratitude.

Solstice of Heroes begins on Tuesday, July 31. This event is held in the Tower, and allows the inhabitants of the City to celebrate and thank Guardians for bravely defending them. During this time of celebration, Guardians will once again don the now-broken ceremonial armor from the day the City was lost to the Red Legion. They do this for many reasons: to remind themselves of what it’s like to not be invincible; to challenge themselves and thus inspire the City even more; and to eventually reforge that broken gear into something stronger… just as humanity has been broken and reforged over and over again for hundreds of years.

Guardians will meditate on their journey through the Red War and take on additional challenges in those memories. They will marvel at the resurgence of the Traveler, as the elements themselves flare into existence during their adventures. And they’ll do it all while humanity celebrates their past, present, and future.

Ikora Rey is the Tower’s representative for the Solstice of Heroes event. She’ll direct you to the center of the Tower, where the City has erected the Statue of Heroes as the focal point for the event. The statue will track your Moments of Triumph progress, and grant you the Solstice of Heroes event armor that you will begin upgrading. 

New Armor to Upgrade

After you visit the Statue of Heroes, you will receive an uncommon “Scorched” armor set at Power 240. On each armor piece is a series of objectives that you will need to complete to upgrade the armor. Once you have completed the objectives, return to the Statue of Heroes to upgrade to the next set. 

After you upgrade your Shattered set, you’ll receive the “Rekindled” set at Power 340 — with a new list of objectives. Once you complete those objectives, your reward is the “Resplendent” Armor Set at Power 400. One final group of objectives to complete, and you’ll unlock the Masterwork version of the armor set.

If you love the way the Shattered or Rekindled sets look, and would rather show those off, we’ve got you covered. Each Resplendent Armor Set offers the previous versions as ornaments, so you can pick and choose how each piece looks.

Redux Missions

One of the ways you’ll upgrade your armor during the event is through Redux Missions. We have hand selected 5 story missions and given them some slight alterations. Each mission can be accessed in the Tower by finding its statue. Here are the five missions for the event:

I – Homecoming

II – Spark

III – Payback

IV – 1AU

V – Chosen

 

Moments of Triumph

Extras

There’s also the Solstice Engram available from Tess Everis. You can earn three per account by completing the event Milestone on each of your characters. No matter what activity you play in Destiny 2 during Solstice of Heroes, you’ll receive one Solstice Engram in addition to the Bright Engram you earn for leveling up.

Here’s a look at some of the rewards that will drop from the Solstice Engram:

Armor Glows also come from the Solstice Engram. These can be applied to any version of the Solstice of Heroes armor sets, to provide Guardians with an enhanced look. Armor Glows are unlocked permanently, like ornaments, and they shine brightest when your subclass element aligns with the element of the Glow.

Developer Insights

In preparation for the Solstice of Heroes event, the July Update for Destiny 2 kicks off for all Destiny 2 players on July 17, 2018. This update introduces 6v6 Quickplay for the Crucible, Iron Banner upgrades, Exotic Armor tuning, new Exotic Catalysts, Prestige Raid Lairs, Vanguard and Crucible Bounties, the Moments of Triumph event with 400 Power gear, and more.

Solstice of Heroes

Moments of Triumph

Investment

Bounties

Exotic Masterworks

Miscellaneous Quality-of-Life Changes

Strikes

Strike Modifiers

Developer Insight: The goal is to ensure these modifiers are noticeable, but when Guardians advance their Power and stats, they can notice themselves overcoming the debuffs.

Nightfall

Destinations

Mars

Sandbox

Exotic Armor Updates

Armor

Exotic Weapons

Weapons

Raid

Prestige Raid Lairs

Misc

PC

Clan Chat

Director Map PC (Mouse) User Experience

Misc

Crucible

Iron Banner Updates

Private Match Bug Fixes

Crucible Lab Update

Crucible Playlist Update

Crucible Ranks Update

Audio

Other

HDR Calibration

GDPR Compliance

Item Preview Updates

This week at Bungie, Lord Saladin is ornamenting the Guardians again.

Iron Banner is back, and not even for the last time in Season 3. There are matches to be won, ranks to earn, and rewards to collect. This is also your one and only chance to enjoy some 6v6 combat in the Destiny 2 Crucible – for one more week, at least.

Update 1.2.3 lands on Tuesday. With it, Quickplay will evolve to become a 6v6 engagement. Between now and then, our old friend the Iron Lord is the only one with the hookup.

That’s great, Bungie, but what about us solo players?

Rumble is also coming back in Update 1.2.3!

What about those of us who aren’t Crucible warriors, Bungie?

We have other news to report for those of you who prefer to focus your fire on the enemies of humanity.

Let’s dig in and take a look at everything in our immediate future.

Bountiful Harvest

When you light out into the wild in search of action and adventure, the fighting is all the sweeter when you have more ways to reap the rewards. In Update 1.2.3, we’re expanding on that experience with new bounties for Destiny 2. Senior Design Lead Tyson Green, who some suspect is actually the Cryptarch in his spare time, has some thoughts on what we want to accomplish with this addition to the player experience.

Tyson: With the original launch of Destiny, bounties provided a set of daily objectives that players could use to advance faction reputation or earn XP to level up their gear. These were removed to streamline the activity experience in Destiny 2 and reduce the number of “chores” that players felt compelled to complete every day. In retrospect, we realized that was an over-correction, and optional daily objectives to achieve specific goals are something we want to restore.

The bounties returning to Destiny 2 in Update 1.2.3 are a return to most of the properties of bounties in The Taken King. They will be obtained from a variety of vendors, they will generally award XP and faction reputation (though some will offer even better rewards), and can be redeemed “in the field” to immediately claim your rewards. In Forsaken, you may also see some bounties drop in the wild.

There are two new mechanics. Bounties will expire if left uncompleted, and acquiring them will cost a small amount of Glimmer. We wanted to avoid the “grab every bounty you see until your inventory is packed and sort them out later” experience without constraining players to the tiny inventory they found in previous iterations of the game.

In Forsaken, more vendors will have more bounties on offer, and some will provide Legendary (or better) rewards for completing them.

It’s fair to observe that we didn’t answer every question you might ask about the return of bounties. What would be the fun in that? You’ll discover exactly how they work and where you can find them next week, and in all the weeks that will follow.

For the Kids

At the time of this posting, one storm is dissipating online while another one gathers in real life. The GuardianCon fundraising stream is over, with millions of dollars raised for charity. Once again, we are left stunned by the passion and goodwill exhibited by the community. Congratulations to everyone who pitched in and ran their leg of the marathon.

Tomorrow, the after party begins inside the Tampa Convention Center, and the celebration is shaping up to be thunderous. We’ll be on hand to commit all challengers to teams of four to battle each other in Gambit. This is your final blog reminder that we’re also hosting an epic clash of content creators you may know on their mainstage.

Gambit Exhibition Tournament

July 13, 6 p.m. EDT

At this very moment, our away team is building our booth. They’re hanging the art, building the network, and arranging all the velvet ropes. If you’re in attendance, they can’t wait to meet you.

Breaking News

Are you current with all the Forsaken field intel that Game Informer has been serving up?

SUPERS!

FLASHPOINTS!

TANGLED SHORE!

EXOTICS!

Keep an eye on ’em. They’re not done showing off what awaits you this September.

Coming Attractions

Misc Quality of Life Changes

Exotic Armor Fixes

Additionally, some Heroic Strike Modifiers will be given slight adjustments in response to player feedback. Test Engineer Drew Martineau has a quick round of developer commentary on the goal of these changes:

Hey all,

Since the release of Update 1.1.3, we’ve been collecting player feedback concerning Heroic strike modifiers. On Tuesday, three of the more punishing modifiers will receive some adjustments. Ultimately, we want your Power, stats, and armor modifications to matter, and we realized that our debuff modifiers were a little too powerful to allow players to see their impact. Here’s what you can expect:

• Blackout: We wanted to ensure that enemy melees are threatening, but this shouldn’t dismiss a player’s Power progression or the stats they chose to invest in with their armor. As such, this modifier is changing somewhat: it still increases enemy melee damage significantly, but it’s now no longer a guarantee of players being defeated by a single melee from many enemies. Be careful, though! If you’re not at the recommended Power for the Heroic Strikes playlist, your enemies will be more powerful and pack a harder punch.

• Grounded: There are many times players are considered “airborne” when they’re not actually jumping. To account for that, we are reducing the damage threshold so players aren’t punished for things outside of their control. Additionally, we’re looking to prevent players from falling to their demise from a height of 2 meters, just as they happen to land on a rock or some other small object.

• Glass: This modifier reduces a Guardian’s shields and health while increasing recovery. We slightly reduced the impact of this modifier to better enable players to see the effects of their overall Power progression over time.

Stay tuned to bungie.net next week for the full patch notes, expected to become available at 9 a.m. PDT on Tuesday, July 17, 2018.

Matrix Reloaded

The original intent of the Prismatic Matrix was for it to be a special event—something to help players round out their collections, as the odds of earning the items that were eluding them improved as they continued to earn Bright Engrams. We had a limited number of weeks scheduled, designed to keep repetition to a minimum. That schedule of curated offerings is coming to an end, so the feature will be going on temporary hiatus starting next week. Thanks to some good feedback about this new feature, we’ve learned how we can make it better, so we’ll continue to support it in Forsaken. We look forward to your continued feedback and are excited to relaunch the Prismatic Matrix in the next season of Destiny 2.

There will be more on this topic soon. Before the launch in September, we’ll update this conversation with a full preview for how the Eververse Trading Company will be evolving to better serve you.

The Player Support Report

Community management involves a lot more than going to conventions and posing for pictures. Serving the Guardians is a team effort, and some of us are more tactical than others. The specialists on the Player Support Team are experts on how the game evolves over time.

This is their report.

Moments of Triumph

On July 7, we launched Moments of Triumph on Bungie.net and the Destiny Companion. Destiny 2 players can now track their Triumphs online before they go live in-game with the Solstice of Heroes live event. The following is vital information that players should be aware of for Moments of Triumph:

• Progress toward Triumphs and event rewards may be lost if players delete any characters on their account. For the best experience, it is recommended that players do not delete any characters until all desired rewards have been redeemed and Solstice of Heroes concludes on August 28, 2018.
• Players will not be able to redeem completed Triumphs for points or rewards until Solstice of Heroes goes live in Destiny 2 on July 31, 2018.

Starting Lines for World First

Next Tuesday, July 17, at 10 a.m. PDT, Destiny 2 Update 1.2.3 will become available to players. To allow players to download and install this update and prepare for the launch of Prestige raid lairs, “Leviathan, Eater of Worlds” and “Leviathan, Spire of Stars” will be temporarily disabled. These activities will become available for players to compete for World First at the following times:

• “Leviathan, Eater of Worlds” Prestige, 11 a.m. PDT on July 17
• “Leviathan, Spire of Stars” Prestige, 10 a.m. PDT on July 18

Last week, we conducted the Destiny 2 free trial weekend on Battle.net. While players who participated can choose to keep Destiny 2 installed on their PC for use in future free trial weekends, they will receive SAXOPHONE errors if they do not own Destiny 2 when they attempt to launch the game outside of promotional periods.

For more information regarding trial access, players should visit our Destiny 2 Trial help article.

Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

People ask us a lot of questions about how we choose these weekly honors. The hunt begins when we look at our Creations page for entries. The #MOTW tag helps us know you’re submitting for competition. From there, we pick something that catches our eye. With the usual judges hosting sweaties in Tampa (Florida is so hot right now), I thought I’d assemble an alternate panel that includes some of my favorite community artists. Since each them leveraged their artistic expertise to lend a hand in celebrating excellence in multimedia, there are no points for second place.

Get ready to thank the academy. Here are your Movies of the Week.

Congratulations to all the winners. Please hold until next week before you start to ask dmg04 and Cozmo when you can expect to find your prize emblems. In my infinite wisdom, I put them on the road, and I never learned how to do that thing.

When your rightful community managers are back in the saddle, there will be patch notes and deployment status updates and all the hard work that gets done by the real heroes. It’s been my pleasure to return to my roots while they put on their show. Hope I wasn’t overly verbose. Old habits die harder than raid bosses.

DeeJ, out.

Happy Bungie Day.

If you’re new to the community, you may find yourself asking, “Wait, why has Bungie dedicated a day to celebrating itself?”

To turn the page back to the beginning, Bungie Day is a holiday started by our community. Every year on the seventh day of the seventh month, we join our fans in celebrating the community as a whole— reflecting on friendships forged, sharing war stories from past skirmishes, or even flipping through some old photos of events where fireteam members met in person for the first time and solidified their bond for years to come.

This year, we have some exciting news.

Moments of Triumph

What’s available today is just a taste of what’s to come with the Solstice of Heroes event, which will expand the list of Triumphs and rewards that players may earn. The complete list of Triumphs will become available in-game starting on July 31, 2018.

Some of the hardcore veterans among you may have already done everything there is to do thus far, but some of you might have some progress to make in the next few weeks.

When Solstice of Heroes begins, Triumphs will become available in-game that track your progress towards Moments of Triumph. As you complete these Triumphs, they will increase your score, which will unlock certain rewards at different point thresholds.

Here is the breakdown of rewards for crossing each point threshold:

These are not the only rewards you can earn during the Solstice of Heroes. We’ll have more specifics on that leading up to the event. Stay tuned to the blog on July 17, 2018, for more details.

But Wait, There’s More!

If you make a purchase this week, you will also receive a code for the Day of Seven emblem, available through July 14, 2018.

Event Decorations

As our last gift to you on this community-created holiday, here are some Forsaken wallpapers to decorate your devices while you count down the days until September 4.

Thank you for creating this holiday. It gives us another moment to celebrate this community, how far it’s come, and everything you’ve accomplished over the years. Thank you for your passion, your inspiration, and your Light.

There will be more events throughout the summer that will serve as an appetizer leading up to the launch of Destiny 2: Forsaken. Until next time! Now we have some Triumph Points to grind…

Happy Bungie Day.

Cheers,

Dmg04

This week at Bungie, the factions are vying for your pledge.

After Expo Report

After months of anticipation behind the scenes, E3 has become a fond memory. Last week, we took some time to let the dust settle and come back to our senses. Looking back on the events of the show, we’re sincerely grateful for the warm reception we got in Los Angeles—and not just because of the sunshine. It’s always a rush when millions of people find out what we’ve been working on. It’s even better when they get to play for themselves. Here are some thoughts from our Away Team of official spokespersons who were on hand to answer questions on behalf of everyone who is working to bring Forsaken to life.

Matt Tieger, Game Director, High Moon Studios

After so many months of hard work, E3 is a glorious mix of relief and terror. The death of Cayde is a huge moment in the Destiny universe, and revealing that to the world was nerve-racking. I get a sense that the community is incredibly motivated to explore the Tangled Shore and avenge the death of their friend. As a game developer, what more could you ask for?

Steve Cotton, Game Director, Bungie

I think it’s fair to say that everyone on the team was both incredibly excited and a little bit anxious to reveal to the world how our Forsaken story begins. So, it was amazing for us to see the response right after. Between the questions of why and how, one thing was clear—there was going to be consequence in this world of immortal heroes, and this was going to sting. To see how quickly Uldren was elevated to every Guardian’s most hated enemy and how everyone’s plans for revenge solidified almost instantly was inspiring. Some people at the show got to play some of the first mission of the game, and we talked to them after. There were strong feelings while they played, but their plans to exact revenge only got more creative… more personal. In the end, the show was an incredible journey of conflicting emotions and now I am left with an uneasiness every time I visit the tower. Cayde is right there and I just want to warn him.  

Scott Taylor, Project Lead, Bungie

It was incredible to share Forsaken with the fans and let them get their hands on Gambit. The teams at Bungie and HMS have been developing Forsaken with the goal of reinforcing the hobby, and the reaction we got at E3 meant so much to all of us. There’s a lot more to reveal this summer, including details on Collections, Triumphs, and the major sandbox changes we’ve got planned. Everyone is working hard to put the finishing touches on the experience. Closing is one of my favorite phases of any project, and it’s a blast to see the game grow and evolve every day. We can’t wait to play it with all of you. 

Lars Bakken, Design Lead, Bungie

So, at E3, we lifted the lid on [REDACTED], finally unveiling Gambit to the world. I cannot express how overwhelmed we were by the positive sentiment around our new activity. Special thanks to all the people who stood in line—you are the true heroes. If you didn’t know, GuardianCon is the next stop on the hype train to play Gambit before September. Remember to keep a look out for those invaders!

Lars said it. E3 was only the start of a new conversation about Destiny. Next stop: Tampa, Florida. We’re packing our bags for some gator wrestling and more Gambit action. Next week, we’ll share the full Away Team active roster along with what we have planned for our time on the GuardianCon mainstage.

Following that, we’ll tell you more about the other stops we have planned for this summer…

Marking Your Calendar

If you reside in the northern hemisphere, summer has officially begun. This one in particular is full of seasonal events. We’ve gotten some feedback from players asking for a bit more of a heads up before things like Faction Rallies or Iron Banner go live. To address this, we’ve cooked up the following image to set expectations for the next few weeks:

We also have an update for the development roadmap planned for early July. Stay tuned.

An Early Preview…

The Crucible team has been hard at work over the last few months, digesting player feedback and tuning the experience. Normally we’d have a Crucible representative jump in to give some commentary on goals, but they’re currently all hands on deck working on the future of the Crucible. Here’s a quick Patch Notes preview for what you can expect to become available when Update 1.2.3 is released on July 17, 2018:

Crucible Playlist Update

Crucible Ranks Update

There are many more changes to Destiny 2 coming in July, and we’ll be giving a few more Patch Notes previews leading up to release, providing developer insights and commentary when possible.

Prestigious Affairs

Hey everybody,

In Destiny 2 Update 1.2.3, we will be launching Prestige versions of both Spire of Stars and Eater of Worlds raid lairs. Prestige raid lairs use new activity modifiers and a new system of curated loadouts to challenge you in new and exciting ways each week. I wanted to give a quick rundown of what you can expect to get, what you can expect to do, and answer some questions you might have.

What You Get

We believe players will be chasing after three different pursuits in the summer Prestige raid lairs.  

• 400 Power Weapons: The only way to get 400 Power armor before Forsaken is by participating in the Summer Solstice event, but the only way to get 400 Power weapons before Forsaken is by completing Prestige Spire of Stars and Eater of Worlds. Every time you complete all the encounters in a Prestige raid lair that week, you will be rewarded a 400 Power raid weapon. This can be any raid weapon from Destiny 2, not just the weapons that drop in that raid lair. 
• Raid Armor Ornaments: Each Prestige raid lair has its own set of unique armor ornaments. 
• Exotic Masterwork Catalyst:  Both raid lairs have a Masterwork catalyst that can be found only as a rare drop in the activity.   

What You Do

Each week, there is a curated weapon suite and a global activity modifier for Spire of Stars and Eater of Worlds. The weapon set and modifier will be the same across both activities.

• Curated weapon loadouts are based on weapon archetypes. So over the summer, you might see combinations that require you to equip Auto Rifle/Submachine Gun/Sniper Rifle or Scout Rifle/Hand Cannon/Rocket Launchers
• Loadouts are not locked inside the Prestige raid lair. You can bring tons of different guns into a raid lair and swap between them at will as long as the gun meets the required curation. For example, if you were doing Spire of Stars and the loadout is [Auto Rifle/Submachine Gun/Sniper Rifle], you might want to use Surous Regime for Val Ca’uor Phase 1, but swap to Ghost Primus for Val Ca’uor Phase 2 so you can equip D.A.R.C.I. for boss damage.
• We are shipping three activity modifiers that the raid lairs rotate between. Two of these modifies are brand new and were built from the ground up by the raid team to work in raids. The third is a fan favorite from Destiny 2: Prism. 
• Each of these modifiers is designed to provide Guardians with advantages over their enemies when they lean into it.
• The goal of using these modifiers and loadouts is to change the way you engage with Prestige raiding each week. The first week, the modifier and weapon loadout might synergize really well with strategies and armor exotics you’ve been using for months. Next week, the modifier and weapon loadout might push you to explore the encounter in a different way and use different exotic armors (looking at you Lunafaction). 

Questions you might have:

Is anything happening to the Prestige version of the Leviathan raid?

Nope! Prestige Leviathan will stay exactly as is, this weapon curation and modifier will only apply to Eater of Worlds and Spire of Stars—but in 1.2.3, it might be worth going back and playing some more Leviathan Prestige to see if Callus has a new way to enhance one of your favorite exotic Shotguns. 

Are Prestige raid lairs getting per-encounter changes?

Nope! When we originally created the raid lairs, we wanted to focus on making the normal modes of encounters the most complete forms of the experience. We believe these modifiers and loadouts will create more variety in your Prestige gameplay than small, per-encounter changes. We also believe that the mechanical complexity in Destiny 2 raid lairs is very high, and we want to lean more into the moment-to-moment sandbox engagement in Prestige. 

How many of the Prestige raid activities will be active each week?

All of them! Do you want to play all three prestige raid activities each week on three different classes for maximum Exotic catalyst and 400 Power weapon farming potential? GO FOR IT!

When will the Prestige raid lairs become available?

Current plan is for both Prestige raid lairs to be active with modifiers right when the patch goes live. We feel like this is in line with Prestige being a new way to play each week instead of a one-time event, but we are open to feedback on this.

Costs and Collections

The Destiny 2: Forsaken reveal brought a lot to the table on what’s coming in September, but there are many questions surrounding new features that we’ll be tackling leading up to launch. This week, we’re hitting a few of the most frequently asked questions about the upcoming Collections feature. Investment Designer Matt McConnell is here to bring the knowledge.

What items from Year 1 inventory will Collections track?

Collections include any weapon, armor piece, Ghost, ship, Sparrow, emblem, or shader available in Year 1 of Destiny 2.

Is there anything I can dismantle before Forsaken launches?

If you have an item in your inventory right now, you can safely discard it and retrieve it from Collections in September. This does not include consumables, so hang on to those if they matter to you.

If I dismantled something previously, will it be waiting in my Collections this September?

Your Collection will begin with every piece of gear that you were holding in inventory or within your vault upon the launch of Warmind. If you had dismantled an item prior to May 8, it will not be available within your Collections.

What items from Year 2 can be reacquired from Collections?

With the addition of random perk rolls to items starting in Year 2, we had to make a tough call for Collections. We investigated numerous options for gear with random perks: fixed Collections perks, buyback limits, reroll mechanics, and many others—but each of these came with issues that impacted the Collections experience in a negative manner. Ultimately, we decided to disable purchase of all Year 2 randomly-rolled Legendary weapons and armor. 

We don’t like keeping some items from experiencing the full Collections treatment, so we’re looking at a long-term solve for storing your exact perk rolls in Collections. 

How much will it cost to reacquire items out of Collections?

We’re currently working on costs for item acquisition and will have more information at a later date.

We have two main goals when deciding on reacquisition costs:

• Reacquisition isn’t a currency sink. We aren’t trying to make you spend all of your hard-earned Glimmer. We just want to make sure the items you find out in the world still have value.
• Players won’t have to deal with currency conversions. For example, if a shader dismantles into Glimmer, it costs Glimmer to reacquire. If the shader came from Eververse, it will dismantle into Bright Dust, and therefore costs Bright Dust to reacquire. These same goals are true of all Collection items.

Note: A lot of you have been asking about the cost of shaders. We can say that they will have a cost to reacquire from Collections, but there will no longer be a cost to apply shaders to gear.

Here’s a quick example: Let’s say you just got that sweet Calus’s Treasured shader to drop from the raid. You’re able to apply it immediately at no cost. If you want that specific shader on all your armor, weapons, Ghost, ship, and Sparrow, you’ll need to pay some Glimmer to reacquire a handful of copies straight out of Collections.

Before we move along—purple and gold looks fantastic on the upcoming Tangled Shore Warlock armor set. You heard it here first.

When reacquiring gear from Collection, what Power level will they be?

Collection items will come out close to your current Power level, but will require infusion to be ready for endgame activities.  This is a delicate balance of making sure Collections don’t create a leveling exploit, but still providing items that are usable right away in most activities.

If there are things you’re eager to know more about, leave a post in the Destiny 2 forum of Bungie.net, or sound off on social media. We’ll be watching for trending topics, and working to get you up to speed before Forsaken launches.

Iron Resolve

Each day, Destiny Player Support patrols the #Help forum to assist Guardians in need. Whether it be an error code caused by connection issues or an item not appearing properly in game—they’re here to lend a helping hand. 

This is their report.

Lupus Visage

Last week, we reported an issue where the Lupus Visage ornament for Fighting Lion, featured in the Iron Ornament Bundle, did not properly unlock for some players after it was activated. With this week’s deployment of Destiny 2 Hotfix 1.2.1.2, this issue is expected to be resolved for all players.

Players who previously purchased this ornament should now find it when inspecting Fighting Lion. Players who purchase this bundle in the future will find this ornament in their modifications inventory.

Permissions

Over the past several months, we have monitored reports from players in Russia who repeatedly encountered the error “Permissions to access online multiplayer have changed or profile signed in elsewhere.” While it’s still possible for players to encounter this error through natural causes, we believe the platform issues that caused the elevated number of these errors to be resolved.

For players who see this error in the wild, we suggest that you visit our Help article for troubleshooting information. As always, players who encounter repeated errors codes and do not find resolution by searching help.Bungie.net should report the error to the #Help forums.

Faction Rallies Known Issues

With the launch of this week’s Faction Rallies, we have players reporting that they’ve kept their allegiance from the last Faction Rallies, even after pledging to a different faction for this one.

While Destiny Player Support is currently investigating this issue, any player encountering issues while pledging to factions should submit a report to the #Help forums. If possible, providing captured video footage or imagery of your issue as it is encountered in game will be helpful in our investigation.

No Intermission 

Running out of medals isn’t a requirement to take the crown in Movie of the Week. In anticipation for Prestige raid lairs, we took some time to find a six-player fireteam that has perfected the art of DPS. 

Movie of the Week: Flawless Raiders

Honorable Mention: Called Their Shot

Oh, and before I leave, join me in giving a shout out to the following Fireteams who earned the top three Nightfall scores last week!

Cheers,

Dmg04