As the first section grew in length, I figured this section would be the last one. But at some point Avengers wasn\u2019t going to be split into Infinity War<\/i> and Endgame<\/i>, either. So there will be another part. I love you 3000. <\/p>\n
Looking Ahead (to Shadowkeep)<\/b><\/p>\n
This fall is a necessary first step in turning Destiny 2 into the game we want it to be. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a busy year, so let\u2019s recap: <\/p>\n
- \n
- We assumed publishing control of Destiny and wanted to get something new into your hands as quickly as possible (Shadowkeep<\/i>!)<\/li>\n
- We paired it with a free entry point in New Light<\/i> to welcome new Guardians into the fold. <\/li>\n
- We wanted to bring Destiny 2 to new platforms to keep heading toward the you can play Destiny anywhere dream (Steam and Google Stadia). <\/li>\n
- We\u2019re taking the initial steps toward building Destiny as a single, evolving world. <\/li>\n
- And we\u2019re doing all of this while cranking on a bunch of the systems changes we\u2019ve talked about and will continue to talk about heading into Shadowkeep. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
Here\u2019s where we\u2019re going this fall.<\/p>\n
The Care and Feeding of the RPG: Add Depth, Improve Customization<\/h2>\n
We want to give people who love the RPG aspect of Destiny (like many of us) more stats and depth on the character sheet to sink their teeth into. We want to give players more agency over how they look. We also want armor to have that deep pursuit players love about Destiny<\/i>\u2014which brings the victory of finding their perfect roll.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s Talk About Armor, Part I: Mods, Stats, and Tradeoffs<\/b><\/p>\n
In order to allow players to independently pursue gameplay mods and further customize their Guardian fashion, a lot of work has been done to update armor for this fall. We\u2019ve refactored a number of the stats in the game, we\u2019ve overhauled the UI, and we\u2019ve begun to separate capabilities from aesthetics.<\/p>\n
\nTime-out. <\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
Before I go on, I want to interject: It seems like some comments from part I around MTX are being misconstrued. Maybe I wasn\u2019t clear enough. Maybe it felt too ambiguous. Let me try and clear this up before we get into armor. <\/p>\n
Destiny <\/i>has and will continue to have Weapons, Armor, Ghosts, Ships, Sparrows, and Shaders that you can earn from activities to prove to the people looking at your character that you did the thing<\/i>, whatever that thing is: I beat the Raid a bunch; I earned Iron Banner gear; I played a ton of Crucible; I wanted to gather rain in my shoulder pads so I played Gambit a ton; I made a sweet set of Astroshaman gear at the Rune table; I farmed that Strike for the Mindbender roll that makes people rage; et cetera. <\/p>\n
Let me be crystal clear: That isn\u2019t changing<\/b>. <\/p>\n
What we are doing with the new armor system is saying: Find the perks you want, find the armor look you want, (from the megalist of currently available Destiny 2 armor) and pursue that armor to get the elements\/stats you want and combine them to make your Guardian. <\/p>\n
Destiny <\/i>also has an MTX store that houses things like Sparrows, Ships, Emotes, Ghost Holograms, Weapon and Universal Ornaments. The items in that store rotate and can be purchased with Silver or Bright Dust. And starting this fall, Bright Dust is just another in-game currency that you can earn by completing Bounties, instead of buying a bunch of engrams and sharding them to generate Dust. <\/p>\n
In Shadowkeep<\/i>, there are armor sets, weapons, Ghost, Ships, and Sparrows coming from the destinations and activities. <\/p>\n
Time-in. Back to Armor.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
We started out by looking at what period in Destiny\u2019s<\/i> history was a good starting place for evolving the stat game (we felt like it was The Taken King\/Rise of Iron<\/i>) and what principles were guiding our new designs (we want to separate gameplay and aesthetics to grant more agency over both).<\/p>\n
There was a deep dive stream about this topic on August 14, but let\u2019s recap some of the high-level points.<\/p>\n
\n- \n
- Armor now has an Energy meter ranging from 1\u201310. <\/li>\n
- You can use materials and currency to level up the Energy value on a given piece of armor. <\/li>\n
- Mods have both an Energy cost and an elemental affinity. In order for a mod to be equipped, your armor needs to have rolled the correct element and have enough Energy available (e.g., Hand Cannon Reloader costs three Void Energy to equip, so your armor must have rolled Void and have three Energy available in order to use it). <\/li>\n
- Fundamentally, this means we have additional vectors for tuning things like mods. We could tune their effect (how much speed does the reload effect add?), we could tune their cost (how expensive is this mod to socket?), we could add mods to the pool for a different affinity, et cetera. <\/li>\n
- When you acquire a mod from the game, it\u2019s like getting a perk that you can put on all armor. So once you\u2019ve found Enhanced Hand Cannon Reloader from pinnacle activities (enhanced perks will come only from pinnacle activities), you\u2019ll be able to socket that mod into new armor that meets its criteria (the mod is not consumed<\/i> and can be socketed in and out at a small cost). <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
Here are the elements of armor that can roll randomly: <\/p>\n
\n- \n
- Elemental affinity rolls between Solar, Arc, and Void <\/li>\n
- Armor\u2019s starting Energy value can roll randomly as well (they can all be leveled to 10)<\/li>\n
- Stats all roll random values (intellect, discipline, strength, mobility, resilience, and recovery) <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
Like in The Taken King<\/i>, the stats will have break points that decrease their cooldowns (yes, your Sparrow now shows up on the character sheet).<\/p>\n
\n![](\"https:\/\/www.bungie.net\/pubassets\/pkgs\/126\/126411\/Strength_English.jpg?cv=3983621215&av=3288030616\")
<\/div>\nBegin Math Time:<\/i><\/p>\n
Today in Destiny 2<\/i>, the base recharge rates convert to a stat value of 30 in the new system. Getting to 30 isn\u2019t too difficult, though of course some people (but certainly not you!) will ride the RNG roller coaster to get the stat they really want to 30. By chasing a good stat roll, you can achieve the fast recharge rates available in the game today without needing to use mods<\/i>. It is totally possible to put together a +100 intellect build (100 is the cap) without socketing a single mod. Some of the new mods will provide +10 to a given stat to help you shore up stats you care about. <\/p>\n
But, that specialization may come with a price. Because you\u2019ve specialized in intellect, you may be making tradeoffs for other stats (e.g., grenades come back slower or something\u2014it really depends on your stat rolls). But if your grenades came back slower, then maybe that Demolitionist perk that you\u2019ve been dismantling (I know, I know, Demolitionist is actually pretty good on non-Primary weapons!) would start to look appealing. <\/p>\n
End Math Time.<\/i><\/p>\n
We\u2019ve made a bunch of armor in Destiny, and we didn\u2019t want to leave behind any of the armor that players can currently pursue. So, we\u2019ve also updated every new drop in the game to integrate and leverage the new system. This means if you want to go back and get the small Titan shoulder pads from Sloane on Titan, you can go chase a roll of them that uses the new system. <\/p>\n
A number of the current mods will not work in the new armor that\u2019s dropping this fall. But those mods aren\u2019t being deprecated at this time. For example, your Super mods on your current armor will still work, but Super mods cannot be socketed into the new armor (you could socket your armor with intellect mods instead, though).<\/p>\n
We did this because, while we think the evolutions we\u2019re making to armor are a great step for Destiny over the long haul, we want you to decide when you migrate to them. <\/p>\n
Part II: The Armor Migration<\/b><\/p>\n
Amplifying depth and choice via the new stats system ushers in some changes to armor. We\u2019ve converted all current Destiny <\/i>armor to use the stats, so cooldown durations will change as we migrate to the new system. You\u2019ll be able to see the cooldown timers of your legacy armor when Shadowkeep\u2019s <\/i>patch goes live. <\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what we don\u2019t want to happen: you feeling like \u201cthe game deprecated my old armor and perks; that time I spent playing Forsaken and its Annual Pass content was a waste, since all of the perks on the armor got turned off while Bungie forcibly migrated to this new system.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how we hope this works:<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re a pretty hardcore player (or really lucky!) and have a set of armor today with perfect-for-you perks (like a fully loaded Enhanced Gun You Like set of perks), I think you\u2019re going to keep using them for a while. I certainly expect the World First raid teams are going to go in with Forsaken-era gear that they\u2019ve infused up throughout their Shadowkeep <\/i>Power progression. <\/p>\n
As the weeks go by and players approach the Shadowkeep <\/i>Power cap and start finding mods with enhanced perks, we think that\u2019s when our most invested, progression-chasing players will start to move over. Players can totally mix and match between new armor and the armor they have today as well. <\/p>\n
For players without perfectly rolled gear, we think the transition to the new armor system is one they\u2019ll make pretty quickly. In our long-form playtesting, our internal teams (not Velveeta\u2014these are other internal players and playtesters. Sidebar: I\u2019m real disappointed I missed out on the \u201ckraftiest\u201d opportunity in Part I. Good catch, Reddit!) have found that they\u2019ve used their current armor on their \u201cmain\u201d Guardian but rapidly switched to Armor 2.0 on their less-played alts. <\/p>\n
Remember LiveJournal? Let\u2019s do it.<\/i><\/p>\n
With how I play, it\u2019s a crude mix of fashion, function, and economic efficiency. I rarely invest resources in an item until it\u2019s an item I know I want to use. I don\u2019t infuse very often unless I need a specific piece\/roll for an activity. I do not have a favorite class, I play all three. I tend to rotate them based on what is most effective or needed for group play in a given moment. I personally love it when the game gets hard, and I feel as if we would benefit from more challenge (I really liked how Contest mode enforced an action game skill component on World First attempts!). I totally have my favorite weapon archetypes (which I\u2019ll spare you), and I get really frustrated as a player when there is an archetype I feel like I absolutely have to use all the time because it is far and away the most efficient thing<\/i>. This is because I do\u2014when playing content that matters\u2014have to be using the most efficient thing. This creates some interesting discussions with the team at work when they create something that is super fun but isn\u2019t actually efficient to use. I will totally mess around and get a triple double in patrol with a weird weapon, but the weird stuff isn\u2019t getting used in a Crown of Sorrows group early in the season. Even then, I want to get through that content as quickly as I can. <\/p>\n
My characters generally look HIDEOUS on the climb, and then I start to make them look good again once I get to the end game (and since I\u2019m color-blind, my friends think my characters look pretty hideous in the end game, too). I think for me, I\u2019ll shelve my nicely rolled items, delete everything that I wouldn\u2019t wear raiding, and start using new equipment while I power up and find some looks I like\u2014and then, when it\u2019s time to go on JacketQuest, I\u2019ll infuse up my well-rolled raiding equipment. <\/p>\n
End of LiveJournal post.<\/i><\/p>\n
Back to what I started this with\u2014we want the transition to ultimately be your choice, one that you decide to make when <\/i>you want to make it. Maybe you\u2019re ready to start tinkering with stats. Maybe you really want to start combining universal ornaments and currently dropping armor to up your fashion game. Or maybe, like me, you\u2019ll do both at the same time (but hopefully with less mocking from your so-called friends). <\/p>\n
The Pursuit of Power: Increasing Player Agency <\/h2>\n
We\u2019d like the act of chasing Power and stats for your build to be something you have a bit more agency over. Not a full-blown \u201cplay whatever you want all the time\u201d\u2014because that means people just find the most efficient thing, rather than dipping their toes into a bunch of different activities\u2014but certainly less restrictive than it\u2019s been in the past. <\/p>\n
We\u2019ve also had a long-standing challenge in Destiny <\/i>of making XP matter, and that feels like a real growth opportunity for us to dig into something we\u2019ve wanted to look at for a while. <\/p>\n
This section discusses Power and the changes coming to it this Fall. <\/p>\n
Part I: Powerful Sources, Primes, and the World<\/b><\/p>\n
- We paired it with a free entry point in New Light<\/i> to welcome new Guardians into the fold. <\/li>\n