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[Blam]

Hey everyone,

With Destiny 2's console and PC launches behind us, we want to take some time to talk with you about Destiny 2 – specifically where it's at today, and where it's going. Our team has been reading feedback and working on updates to improve the game. We've also been reading some tough criticism about our lack of communication, and we agree we need to be more open.

Going forward, Destiny 2's post-launch game systems, features, and updates are being designed specifically to focus on and support players who want Destiny to be their hobby – the game they return to, and a game where friendships are made. We want Destiny to be a game that fits into your life, providing you with reasons to log in and play with your friends, clans, and families. We want Destiny to be a world you want to be a part of.

A month ago, we published a list of improvements on the blog. Today, we're going to revisit that list and update its status, and share some of the work the team is readying for December, January, and beyond.
We know it's frustrating when there isn't enough of a dialog with the development team. You have our commitment that we're going to do a better job going forward.

---

We previously published a list of upcoming Destiny 2 improvements we want to deliver. Some of these updates will be introduced on December 5 and December 12. Others will land in the New Year.

New systems and rewards to give our most engaged players additional, optional pursuits, including:

• A new Weapon Tier: Masterworks, which will feature stat trackers, random, re-rollable stat bonuses, unique item tooltips, and item details screens (see the December Update Details section below for more info)
• Improved vendor rewards, adding ways for people to purchase items directly with their Legendary Shards and Tokens (see the December Update Details section below for more info)
• Adding Armor Ornaments that grant visual permutations of armor as players complete specific Challenges (see the December Update Details section below for more info)

Better incentives for players who complete challenging Prestige activities:

• In December, we will be introducing a Heroic Strikes playlist and more generous Strike rewards
• Rewards for Adventures and Lost Sectors are still on our radar, but will not be delivered for our December updates

Private matches for the Crucible:

• Still targeting early 2018 and expect to have better insight into exact timing in the New Year
• We are also moving Ranked PVP to the top of our priority list for next year to support the competitive community

Crucible tuning like adjusted Supremacy scoring and better spawning rules

• In December, we will introduce additional updates and bug-fixes intended to improve these areas of the Crucible

Better incentives for completing Crucible matches (and penalties for quitting competitive games)

• A "Quitter Penalty" system is currently in development, and you can expect an update on the deployment of this system in the New Year

Continued improvements to Iron Banner and Faction Rallies, including uniqueness of rewards

• The next Iron Banner and Faction Rally will introduce improvements in both these areas (see the December Update Details section below for more info)

Changes to make the mod economy more interesting and impactful

• The Gunsmith will have some updates to how Mods are acquired (see the December Update Details section below for more info)
• We are exploring more updates to this system in the New Year

Ongoing improvements to Exotics, including adjustments to reduce instances of duplication

• We plan to tune under-performing Exotics and will continue to make targeted updates and improvements
• Duplication protection will be added for Exotics in the New Year

New ways to spend surplus currency and materials (looking at you Legendary Shards)

• Players will be able to spend Tokens and Legendary Shards on Vendor inventory (see the December Update Details section below for more info)
• Xur will have new items, as well (see the December Update Details section below for more info)

An emote interface that allows players to equip Salty, Spicy Ramen, Six Shooter, and Flip Out all at the same time

• Emote interface improvements are still on the list, and you can expect an update on the development of this system in the New Year

We will continue to revisit and update this list in the weeks and months ahead to keep you up to speed on what we're working on. Below, you'll find more specific detail about each of the features and updates you can expect to land in December.

December Update Details:

There are four key areas we're targeting for improvements in December. Some of these updates will arrive with the December 5 update, and some additional updates will be included in a patch that will be deployed the following week on December 12.

Both updates combined include improvements set against the following goals:

• Deepen Rewards for advanced players
• Provide More Player Control over obtaining rewards
• Make Shards Useful by adding things to use them for
• Provide General Quality fixes wherever possible

The following changes are the first steps towards achieving these goals, with more planned for our next release in January. Here is a preview of impending changes to Destiny 2. Each category is marked with a forecast delivery date.

Masterworks:

https://www.bungie.net/pubassets/104815/11282017_Masterwork_Inspection.jpg

[DEC 12] Legendary Weapons will drop as or be upgraded to become Masterworks versions

• Masterworks will have a few advantages over the baseline Legendary weapon:
• Track and display the number of kills with that weapon (with choice between total count or Crucible-only count)
• Generate orbs for you and your allies on multi-kills
• Add weapon stat bonuses that are selected randomly from a small pool and are re-rollable
• Masterworks drop from any source of Legendary weapons for characters above 250 Power
• Unwanted Masterworks can be dismantled into materials that can upgrade an existing Legendary Weapon into a Masterwork
• Raid and Trials of the Nine Weapons will have a very high chance to be Masterworks
• We have future plans to extend Masterworks to other gear and expose your kill counts in more places (e.g. Crucible kill screen)

Armor Ornaments

[DEC 5] Armor Ornaments will be added to some existing Armor sets for more visual customization without losing your Shaders or Mods

• These ornaments will be unlocked by completing objectives specific to each set, and are permanently unlocked account-wide, just like Exotic Weapon ornaments
• They will be applied to the base pieces that you may already have collected, and can now unlock on Vendors if not
• In Season 2, the following sets have ornaments unlocked in their respective activities:
• Vanguard Faction Armor
• Crucible Faction Armor
• Trials of the Nine Armor
• Iron Banner Armor
• Dead Orbit Armor
• Future War Cult Armor
• New Monarchy Armor
• Eater of Worlds Raid Lair Armor

[DEC 12] Faction Armor and Weapons will be unlocked for purchase for Legendary Shards and Faction Tokens on most Faction Vendors

• All five Armor Slots will always be present, and Weapons will rotate weekly on Factions that have them
• Slots will be unlocked by claiming Reward Engrams from the respective Faction
• You will get credit for engrams you may have already claimed since launch

[DEC 12]Xur has some new offerings for players collecting Exotics:

• Every week, you'll be able to acquire one of the new Fated Engrams using Legendary Shards that will decrypt as Exotics that aren't already in your collection
• A simpler Three of Coins that boosts Exotic drop rates from any source for 4 hours
• No obscure stacking mechanics or need to re-apply before every boss
• These cost Legendary Shards and you can have as many as you like

https://www.bungie.net/pubassets/104815/11282017_Gunsmith.jpg
General Investment
[DEC 5] Banshee has some updates on the Weapon and Armor Mod front:

• For players wanting to clear some Mod inventory space, Rare quality Mods will dismantle into Gunsmith Materials and have a chance to produce Legendary quality Mod Components
• For players chasing specific Legendary Mods (including Legendary Kinetic Mods), Banshee will offer a selection of specific Legendary Mods for direct purchase, with a selection that will rotate daily and cost Legendary Shards and Mod Components

[DEC 5] For players chasing a world Legendary or looking for Masterworks, Master Rahool will sell some of his rumored hoard of Legendary Engrams for Legendary Shards

[DEC 12] Commander Zavala and Lord Shaxx will sell Gift consumables for Legendary Shards that can be used during a Strike or Crucible Match that will serve the following functions:

• Grant bonus rewards to everyone in that activity upon completion, friend or foe alike
• Award anything from Faction Tokens to a round of Exotics for everyone in the match

[DEC 12] Exploit safeguards on Chests and Resource Nodes are greatly relaxed and players should encounter them less frequently

• Even if they do, drop rates for Tokens is only reduced to 30% instead of 0%, and Glimmer will be unaffected
• We want to associate a visual indicator with this in a future update, but we weren't able to pull that off in this update (but we hear you!)

[DEC 12] Vendors will now beckon you to hand in your Reputation Tokens only when you're carrying enough to earn a Reward Engram

[DEC 5] Changes affecting Reputation Tokens:

• Daily Challenges will have Reputation Token awards increased across the board
• Cayde's Treasure Chests still offer variable rewards, but now guarantee (at minimum) a payout of destination appropriate Reputation Tokens
• Strikes will drop a larger number of Vanguard Reputation Tokens
• Common quality Destination Resource Tokens will have their drop rates increased to 100%, and values per Token increased as well (by 50% for common quality Tokens and 250% for rare quality Tokens)
• On the balance, Reputation required per Reward Engram will increase for Destination Factions (+37%) and Gunsmith (+50%)
• Leviathan Raid Tokens will be redeemed at Benedict immediately upon obtaining a Token, instead of requiring a full clear before unlocking

With the launch of Curse of Osiris, and the beginning of Season 2, you can expect to see a full suite of patch notes that will document all of the changes outlined above, as well as additional gameplay and sandbox tuning changes the team is making to improve Destiny 2. We'll also soon be providing pre-load and launch day details, as well as a roadmap for our Season 2 content, which includes The Dawning in mid-December.

XP Mechanics

Last weekend, we disabled a scaling mechanism that adjusted XP gains up and down without reflecting those adjustments in the UI. Our intention was to keep slower-paced activities as rewarding as high intensity grinding without confusing variations in displayed XP values, but the silent nature of the mechanic betrayed the expectation of transparency that you have for Destiny 2.

We were able to disable the system with a server-side change, but a new solution is now needed to rebalance XP in Destiny 2. We have begun that work, and will continue to provide updates to you about timelines and specifics. The values coded into our website API are being updated today (and may already have been as you read this post) to reflect the removal of this scaling mechanism. In a future update, we intend to link these internal and display-only values together for greater consistency, and to ensure that when changes are made they are accurately reflected everywhere we report them.

We already see that the newly adjusted 160K XP per level value means that leveling is too slow for some activities, and we have begun the process of collecting data and recalibrating XP earn rates to improve them as quickly as possible.

XP boosts, including both consumable items and passive bonuses like the Well Rested 300% bonus, were always applied after this system and never resulted in early slowing of XP. They should be unchanged by the disabling of this system and will continue to provide their stated increase in XP gain.

Expect to see a lot of conversation from our team on this front, as XP rewards are updated and brought back in-line with player expectations.

The Future

Going forward, we plan to continue this dialog as openly and frequently as possible. This will be an ongoing process, but one that we are committed to.

This week we'll be publishing a new episode of the Bungie Podcast where we will sound off on the current state of Destiny 2, how we think about our communication challenges, and what it takes to update the game in the wild. You'll be able to listen on both Apple and Android devices.

Thank you for playing, for being passionate about the Destiny 2 experience, and for working with us as we look to continuously improve our game and studio communication.

This is a pretty massive roadmap they've set out for Destiny 2, and I can't wait for some of these changes. I love the line about "Going forward, Destiny 2's post-launch game systems, features, and updates are being designed specifically to focus on and support players who want Destiny to be their hobby." I hope they stick with this, and I want them to as their games will only improve if this is their mindset.

 

[czk51]

Good changes, a lot to digest but looking forward to getting back into it. Not going to lie though, without any sign of a new raid I wonder how long a lot of this stuff is going to hold my interest (really not a fan of The Leviathan and the 'Lairs' was a bit of a let down for me personally)

 

[Gearskin]

this is so terrible, lets make D2 and delete everything we had for D1 and lets act like these features were adding are totally new.

 

[DanielJr82]

All my friends are playing Warfarme now.

-Edit-
Although, I'm excited for the Masterworks weapon tier and buying specific armor pieces with legendary shards and tokens. Finally!

 

[Ostrava04]

With all my Warlock/Titan at 305 and Hunter at 304, I'm finding it really hard to come back to D2 unless they completely overhaul the loot system.

 

[Peroroncino]

So far so good, hopefully this is only the beginning.

But for fuck's sake implement some system that lets me destroy multiple shaders at the same time.

 

[IndustryX]

They lost me after 3 days on the PC version.

 

[SlavetodaBOX]

Meh...wait and see.

 

[Memorabilia]

I read this as "State of Decay 2" lol

 

[Liliana Eileen]

No thanks, Bungie.

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

It’s broken.

They need to fix it. Period

 

[Finaika]

I'm glad this game is failing hard.

 

[Noirulus]

This fixes some of the little things, but the main problem still persists - the game is just not fucking fun at all. The only worthwhile experience was the raid, which after playing once or twice is just meh.

 

[AllIsOneIsNone]

Ornaments? Ornaments. Nobody gives a shit about Ornaments! Some of the other stuff is okay like bringing some randomness into the loot equation, but I'm extremely skeptical at this point. I'm just not vibin' with Bungie's vision at all right now.

 

[lefty1117]

It really feels like this whole games as a service thing is flaming out

 

[BashNasty]

I'm glad this game is failing hard.

It's not failing hard, it's a fantastic game.

... and why the fuck would you be happy about that?

 

[hikarutilmitt]

I know any of us who care know where it came from, but are you going to, ya know, link to the source?

 

[Blam]

I know any of us who care know where it came from, but are you going to, ya know, link to the source?

oh I thought that was in the OP sorry about that.

https://www.bungie.net/en/Explore/Detail/News/46504

 

[Memorabilia]

It really feels like this whole games as a service thing is flaming out

Let's hope so.

 

[jadedm17]

Why did this take so long after everything they've done for years in Destiny 1?
Why did we lose playlists, crucible options, weapon stat re-rolls and more?

I'm hopeful they can crawl back after the lackluster first few months - much like Destiny 1 - but it's so weird we ever got here : One of the best D1 updates was allowing you to exchange the insane amount of certain materials you got for other things you needed, yet here I am with 700 legendary shards and I haven't even played in weeks?

I'm glad this game is failing hard.

That's a bitter sentiment for the 3 million that played this at launch.
So yea, what I'm trying to say is fuck you.

I want this game to be more : I even liked Vanilla Destiny because the multiplayer engaged me. Even that fails for me in D2.

 

[Kai Ozu]

I'm glad this game is failing hard.

LOL what

 

[Neolombax]

I'm glad this game is failing hard.

Any reason for this hatred?

 

[tryDEATH]

The leadership is bad and the development cycle simply not long enough. This should have never been released in this state period. For all the whining Bungie did trying to leave MS they sure as hell couldn't pick a worse publisher then Activison for their new IP who are choking them to death.

The grass clearly isn't always greener on the other side of the fence. All the goodwill and reputation that they had built up with the Halo franchise was destroyed in 4 years. I guess a congratulation is in order.

In about a years time we will get the game we should have gotten on release, right before they reset all their efforts again with D3.

 

[7he Talon]

As someone who really likes Destiny 2 (but hasn't played much over the past month and a half) this gave me some hope. I'm looking forward to seeing how they continue to outline changes, address issues and communicate with their community.

 

[Seraphym]

I am still dipping in and out of it. I never dropped on the previous DLC until a GOTY edition, and never bothered with the crucible.

Would they not have been better to sort out the base game prior to the DLC release? I am getting the impression that the game is being hampered by "issues" that still haven't been rectified, and this is stopping people from jumping back in?

Not an issue my end, just trying to get other players perspective.

 

[MilkyJoe]

Any reason for this hatred?

Loot box fueled games as a service is not where we want games to go?

 

[Spukc]

Loot box fueled games as a service is not where we want games to go?

Stop spreading this fake news.

Lootboxes are nothing in destiny 2

 

[jpadula]

progressing in Destiny2 is so so boring. I stopped somewhere near 200 light and wont come back proably. Its all about "increase light level".
Its bizzare for me hey released Destiny2 and I feel its less engaging that Destiny 1. They should take all they had in itemisation system and add more fun stuff. instead they just reskinned Destiny 1 ;[

Well its ok anyway - becasue MonsterHunter and Anthem is near.

 

[Wolfgunblood Garopa]

It really feels like this whole games as a service thing is flaming out

It's going to take a lot more Destiny 2's, with a much higher percentage of GaaS games to piss off their audience like this to reach that point. Right now, GaaS is dramatically increasing the value of the gaming industry.

 

[Megatron]

It really feels like this whole games as a service thing is flaming out

Its like any other trend, its only sustainable by a few games. All the other immatators will inevitably fail and the publishers will have to try something else.

 

[recklesscognition]

Destiny 2 became a game too focused on cosmetics and those don't do anything for me at all. I have no vested interest in earning cosmetics like I did earning actual weapons or armor that made a difference.

 

[Blam]

Loot box fueled games as a service is not where we want games to go?

Loot box fueled? Have you played Destiny 2. They are completely cosmetic. They are also only available to you when you finish the game, and hit level 20.

 

[grfunkulus]

Any reason for this hatred?

Attention

 

[Paterson]

Loot box fueled? Have you played Destiny 2. They are completely cosmetic. They are also only available to you when you finish the game, and hit level 20.

Sparrows that go faster, reload your weapons, and give you the ability to auto-summon them are cosmetic? Ghosts that point out resources in the world or grant you extra xp are cosmetic? Shhhhhhhh, stop defending so hard.

Any reason for this hatred?

Shitty things tend to get shit on.

 

[grfunkulus]

Sparrows that go faster, reload your weapons, and give you the ability to auto-summon them are cosmetic? Ghosts that point out resources in the world or grant you extra xp are cosmetic? Shhhhhhhh, stop defending so hard.



Shitty things tend to get shit on.

Alright there junior don’t go getting too excited. Anyone with half a brain knows you’ll get plenty of sparrows and ghosts with those abilities by simply playing the game.

 

[MDSLKTR]

Any reason for this hatred?

A vestige of old gaf

 

[Blam]

Sparrows that go faster, reload your weapons, and give you the ability to auto-summon them are cosmetic? Ghosts that point out resources in the world or grant you extra xp are cosmetic? Shhhhhhhh, stop defending so hard.

Sparrows are literally a convenience, and you can buy faster sparrows, so I'm not sure what you're talking about. Reloading weapons? Seriously that's a useless trait to the point where it's cosmetic. You're not gonna ever use that function on purpose. Ghosts that point out resources are once again barely a legitimate "LOOTBOX DRIVEN" game function and you can't seriously defend this. You're making this XP boost seem insanely huge when it's beyond negligible.

Nobody plays destiny 2 and complains when they get killed by another player, and shout "FUCK THIS GHOST HE HAS IS OP". Also you literally get those ghosts for free. You're paying for a look. Your Sparrows get random rolls on them as well and those are free as well. You can't seriously try to prove a point of "Lootbox Driven" games when you're talking about the ghosts and sparrows.

That's not gonna happen.

 

[Crazy_KiD_169]

Alright there junior don’t go getting too excited. Anyone with half a brain knows you’ll get plenty of sparrows and ghosts with those abilities by simply playing the game.

Yup I got those things pretty quickly and early on in the game without paying anything. Those things also don’t make a real
difference in the game like that.

 

[SkeletonQuays]

Im hopeful with these changes but they're still failing to address the issues that the community has been most vocal about.

1. Return to old weapon system (primary/special/heavy)
2. Worthwhile raid specific loot and raid specific exotics
3. Exotics that are actually good and worth the slot
4. Customizable skill trees
5. 3v3 and 6v6 pvp modes
6. faster charging supers and grenades
7. (my personal most important) RANDOM WEAPON ROLLS!!!

In my (entire clan's as well) opinion they've sucked the fun and life out of D2 in a vain attempt to make it a competitive shooter. They've failed at that and gutted what made their franchise special.

I'm cautiously optimistic but honestly not expecting much. I may just go back to D1 and I'm hoping others do the same.

 

[Blam]

Im hopeful with these changes but they're still failing to address the issues that the community has been most vocal about.

1. Return to old weapon system (primary/special/heavy)
2. Worthwhile raid specific loot and raid specific exotics
3. Exotics that are actually good and worth the slot
4. Customizable skill trees
5. 3v3 and 6v6 pvp modes
6. faster charging supers and grenades
7. (my personal most important) RANDOM WEAPON ROLLS!!!

In my (entire clan's as well) opinion they've sucked the fun and life out of D2 in a vain attempt to make it a competitive shooter. They've failed at that and gutted what made their franchise special.

I'm cautiously optimistic but honestly not expecting much. I may just go back to D1 and I'm hoping others do the same.

I just want my old game modes back. Rift? Like where is that.

 

[grfunkulus]

Im hopeful with these changes but they're still failing to address the issues that the community has been most vocal about.

1. Return to old weapon system (primary/special/heavy)
2. Worthwhile raid specific loot and raid specific exotics
3. Exotics that are actually good and worth the slot
4. Customizable skill trees
5. 3v3 and 6v6 pvp modes
6. faster charging supers and grenades
7. (my personal most important) RANDOM WEAPON ROLLS!!!

In my (entire clan's as well) opinion they've sucked the fun and life out of D2 in a vain attempt to make it a competitive shooter. They've failed at that and gutted what made their franchise special.

I'm cautiously optimistic but honestly not expecting much. I may just go back to D1 and I'm hoping others do the same.

Clearly they haven't succeeded in making the game an eSport but I've had more fun, tense matches playing with friends in D2 than I even had in D1. In fact, some of my friends wouldn't even play D1 because of what they called all the random BS that could kill them. I really enjoy D2 crucible. I didn't think it could touch D1's (and still think vanilla D1 is the best with overpowered exotic hand cannon trio) but I've grown to really enjoy it.

 

[Blam]

Clearly they haven't succeeded in making the game an eSport but I've had more fun, tense matches playing with friends in D2 than I even had in D1. In fact, some of my friends wouldn't even play D1 because of what they called all the random BS that could kill them. I really enjoy D2 crucible. I didn't think it could touch D1's (and still think vanilla D1 is the best with overpowered exotic hand cannon trio) but I've grown to really enjoy it.

Yeah I can understand what you mean I've had quite a lot of Iron Banner matches which get 1 point away from losing.

 

[SkeletonQuays]

I just want my old game modes back. Rift? Like where is that.

Yeah rift was soooo fun. I will never understand why they scrapped 90% of what made us love D1. Pure madness.

 

[SkeletonQuays]

Clearly they haven't succeeded in making the game an eSport but I've had more fun, tense matches playing with friends in D2 than I even had in D1. In fact, some of my friends wouldn't even play D1 because of what they called all the random BS that could kill them. I really enjoy D2 crucible. I didn't think it could touch D1's (and still think vanilla D1 is the best with overpowered exotic hand cannon trio) but I've grown to really enjoy it.

Yeah, I can get behind some of the changes they made to PvP but as a whole it just feels like a shell of what Destiny used to be How does a dev team gut their entire franchise for a sequel? No skill trees, no random rolls, no strike loot, no raid exotics, no dead ghosts, can't choose your strike, can't choose pvp gametype, they stripped pvp modes and force 4v4... why not have 4v4, 6v6, and 3v3 modes and gametypes.

Ugghhhh makes me sad talking about it.

 

[Blam]

Yeah rift was soooo fun. I will never understand why they scrapped 90% of what made us love D1. Pure madness.

Yeah it's really disappointing.

 

[Facegravy]

Even if they add more loot-fixes. I feel that there is nothing to do in game.

I would like something like a grift from diablo 3 with a ladder. Something to chase with my loot.