There has been many a hoopla since the release of Bungie’s Destiny 2, and not all of it positive. Following the industry-wide crisis regarding microtransactions and loot crates, Destiny 2 did their best to pacify fan concerns about bright engrams, Tess Everis, and gimped progression system by offering a timeline where the community can start seeing changes. Now, with the first of these January 12 milestones out the way, Bungie is keeping good on their promise to keep the fanbase informed offering an updated timeline.
Revealed on the Bungie.net blog, Destiny 2‘s Game Director Christopher Barrett laid out the timeline for where the team was headed. First and foremost, the team made a line in the sand regarding what is unique to the three various dimensions of the game: Expansions, Seasons, and the Eververse.
As you may guess, Expansions are considered the large-scale purchasable updates (like Curse of Osiris) that happens at select times through the year. Meanwhile, Seasons include events like The Dawning that are free to all Destiny 2 players regardless of secondary purchases outside the base game. Last but not least is the Eververse — the spot for microtransaction purchases (or earned loot) that is the most limited of the three. You can check the infograph below:
Worth noting, Bungie explicitly notes that Iron Banner and Faction Rallies (along with all of their rewards) will be available to all regardless if they choose not to pick up the latest expansion. This addresses one of the loudest concerns that was resolved in the most recent update. Players will be able to partake in Faction Rallies beginning January 16, and Iron Banner beginning January 30.
Next on the list, Bungie specifically addressed the Eververse and how they “recognize that the scales are tipped too far towards” the microtransaction-heavy market. In the upcoming Season, Bungie is shifting the balance and adding new rewards to activity (versus Bright Engrams). Along with that, Bungie plans on opening up more avenues to earn Bright Engrams through gameplay as well as direct purchase options and RNG loot that hones in on items you don’t already own.
But how will new engrams be dropping in events? Bungie gave a preview for how it will work in the Valentines-themed Crimson Days event (beginning February 13, 2018):
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Completing Nightfall, Raid, and Crimson Days milestones during Crimson Days will reward you an exclusive Legendary Emote, Weapon Skin, and Exotic Sparrow, respectively.
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Players will earn double engrams at level-up: one Crimson Engram and one Illuminated Engram for the duration of the event.
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Crimson Engrams can also drop from completing the Crimson Days match and from completing the Crimson Days milestone on each character.
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Each Crimson Engram is very strongly weighted to new rewards when decrypted until all new event items have been obtained.
Next on their list was the change of XP rates, which still hasn’t been addressed. According to Bungie, they are looking to strike a balance to make grinding high-level activities rewarding, while also not overly-penalizing the lower-level activities. Without much more added to the statement, Bungie noted that they “will continue to update you as [they] move forward.”
The final line item in the update was the timeline for January 30, February, Spring 2018, and Fall 2018 updates. And while nothing in the list overhauls the game, they do address a ton of concerns that have been reverberating in the Destiny 2 community. For instance, a revitalization of mods, re-ranking crucible, and private matches (coming to all Destiny 2 players). Oh yeah, and the return of 6v6 playlists.
Destiny 2 is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. You can check out the full update timeline below:
- Masterwork Armor
- We are expanding the Masterwork system to include armor.
- Masterwork Armor provides increased damage reduction while using your Super.
- You can reroll the armor stat type on Masterwork Armor, and similar to Masterwork weapons, you can upgrade a piece of armor to Masterwork by spending Masterwork Cores and Legendary Shards.
- Raid Reward Rework
- We are updating Raid rewards to make them more unique and interesting. They will now feature mods with Raid-specific perks, and we are adjusting the rewards to ensure a Raid item drops from each major encounter. The Raid vendor will also directly sell Leviathan and Eater of Worlds armor and weapons for purchase with Raid tokens and Legendary Shards.
- We are also adding a new Ghost with Raid-specific perks that has a chance to drop from the Leviathan and Eater of Worlds final encounters. We intend to return to creating more Raid and other activity-unique rewards in the future.
- Strike Scoring + High Score Tracking
- Strike Scoring is coming to Nightfall and replacing the current time limit mechanic. The scoring is similar to the Destiny 1 system but with adjustments to emphasize competitive execution of Strike objectives and support for player selectable score modifiers. In February, Nightfall High Scores will be exposed in-game via new emblems and will unlock rewards. We also have plans for Clan and Community High Scores in the works.
- Mods 2.0
- Work is underway on a full rework of armor and weapon mods. This will focus on reducing redundant mods, more unique theming, and greatly increasing their impact on your power. We are aiming for a February release, but the scope of the rework could push parts or all of it out to early spring. We will be evaluating how Mods play into the Bright Engram economy as a result, because we’re sensitive to pay-to-win outcomes.
- Quickplay Improvements
- We are adjusting game mode rules to increase the pace of gameplay and power ammo acquisition in Quickplay.
- PC Tower Chat
- We are adding text chat to the Tower for the PC version of the game.
- Exotic Repetition Reduction
- This will prevent players from receiving the same Exotic twice in a row. You may still receive duplicates, just not consecutively.
- Fireteam Members on Destination Map
- You will finally be able to see the other members of your fireteam on the destination map. No more having to ask your fireteam where they went when they fast travel to another landing zone.
- Crucible Rank
- Beginning with Season 3 we will introduce Seasonal Crucible Ranks. There will be two different ranks for players to pursue:
- Valor – A progression rank that goes up as you complete matches. Winning helps you move up faster, but there are no loss penalties.
- Glory – A progression rank that goes up when you win and down when you lose. Performance is how you move up here.
- Beginning with Season 3 we will introduce Seasonal Crucible Ranks. There will be two different ranks for players to pursue:
- Private Matches
- Private Matches are coming to all players of Destiny 2. Players will be able to invite their friends to play on the map and mode of their choosing.
- 6v6 Playlist
- We’re bringing 6v6 PvP to Destiny 2 in addition to the current 4v4 game modes.
- Mayhem Event
- Mayhem will return as a limited-time event during Season 3 and going forward.
- Additional Fixes
- We are making some changes to make quitting less common and behind-the-scenes security improvements to help improve the overall Crucible experience.
- Weapon and Ability Balance Pass
- Sandbox adjustments based on player feedback and data from the live game. The Sandbox team will share specific changes as we lead up to Season 3.
- Exotic Weapon and Armor Balance Pass
- Exotic weapons and armor are receiving a comprehensive design pass to ensure they stand out from the rest of the gear and offer new, exciting, powerful ways to play.
- Seasonal Reputation
- Specific vendors will now display a Seasonal ranking. Earning reputation will unlock unique Seasonal rewards and will reset each Season.
- Improved Iron Banner and Faction Rallies
- In addition to the changes that you will see when Iron Banner and Faction Rallies return this month, we will continue iterating on these to make them unique, exciting experiences that you all look forward to.
- Playlist Repetition Reduction
- This feature solves the problem of experiencing the same playlist entry multiple times in consecutive or frequent succession for both Crucible and Strikes.
- End Game Player Pursuits
- We agree with your feedback on the imbalance between Achievement and Bright Engram rewards, and we will be making adjustments to shift more rewards into specific endgame pursuits instead of generic XP grinding for Bright Engrams. We are excited to share the details as soon as we have them worked out.
- Multi-Emote
- When multi-emote launches, you will be able to choose which emote you have equipped to each of your four emote slots.
- Vault space
- We are targeting an additional 50 slots to player vaults. We don’t believe just adding more space is a complete solution and are actively working on other changes to reduce load on your vault space.
- We are adding an Exotic accessory tab to Vault collections so you will no longer need to spend Vault space on Exotic Ships, Sparrows, and Ghosts.
- PC Clan Chat
- In addition to the Tower chat that is targeted for February, we are adding clan chat to the PC version of the game.
- Heroic Strike Changes
- We’ll be introducing modifiers to add more gameplay variety to the experience.
- Item Collections and Records
- Weapon Slot and Archetype Improvements
- Additional Crucible Playlists (e.g. Rumble)
- Better Clan Rewards
- Masterwork Exotics
- Pinnacle Weapon and Gear Improvements
- Trials of the Nine improvements
- Shaders and dismantling
- The Future of Guided Games
- Address Solo Vs Fireteam matching