Destiny 2 [PS4/XBONE/PC] (Sept. 6, 2017)

[Serra]

Bungie has had the Weekly Update in some form or another since Halo 2 I think. However, forums like Twitter and Reddit have changed communication between fans and developers and Bungie has not done a great job adjusting, especially given the type of game Destiny is. In some ways I still feel Bungie communicates more than other devs, the issue is that there are too many occasions where Bungie is painfully quiet whenever there is a problem.

Sometimes I understand it. Like during the skill-based v connection-based matchmaking issue -- not telling everyone what was going on allowed them to collect data without people biasing the results. Othertimes, it definitely feels like they're trying to spin the damage rather than just admit they screwed something up.

[Wulfgang]

They should have just been upfront about the exp system. Using an example that was mentioned earlier, Overwatch basically uses the same system -- do a low-commitment activity (arcade), receive less exp; play a high-commitment activity (comp), get more exp. I don't think anyone complains about that system (although I admittedly got into Overwatch late, so maybe it happened early?) because Blizzard was upfront and made the numbers visible from the start.

Not really the same. The issue is that XP gains in Destiny experience substantial diminishing returns the more you play across ALL activities. The scalar / raw XP vary across events, but the diminishing returns are present in all activities. For example, if you did the same public event repeatedly, your actual XP gains per completion would decline as time goes on.

https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheG...on_with_xp_in/

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/...-in-destiny-2/

In Overwatch, you will get roughly* the same XP from each match of a given game mode no matter how long you play. That's a pretty significant difference to me and why many players are upset (in addition to the mechanic proving contrary to prior Bungie assertions).

*Performance, and thus medals earned, affect ultimate XP rewards, but most is from match completion.

[6souls]

And it's shitty that the number values that game provides don't actually match up with how much the player receives. I think before they changed it, the lowest you could get was 4% of the value shown.

[Myrrh_Quetz]

Anything fun this week, raid wise?

[Obsidian]

Bungie has had the Weekly Update in some form or another since Halo 2 I think. However, forums like Twitter and Reddit have changed communication between fans and developers and Bungie has not done a great job adjusting, especially given the type of game Destiny is. In some ways I still feel Bungie communicates more than other devs, the issue is that there are too many occasions where Bungie is painfully quiet whenever there is a problem.

Sometimes I understand it. Like during the skill-based v connection-based matchmaking issue -- not telling everyone what was going on allowed them to collect data without people biasing the results. Othertimes, it definitely feels like they're trying to spin the damage rather than just admit they screwed something up.

The TWAB has never been a venue for open dialogue about whatever their current game is though. It was typically used as a blog to talk about tidbits for whatever the next game they were working on was. I'm sure we all remember how much jacking off was done over the improvements to water in each Halo title.

Yes, sometimes unbiased results can warrant temporary silence on a subject. But when your playerbase has clearly figured out that you've changed something "secretly", and made the game worse in their eyes because of it, the last thing you should do is lie to their faces about it for three more months, which is what Luke Smith did with SBMM. The constantly fucked patch notes and infamous 0.04% AR nerf are perfect examples of how Bungie just fails to communicate at every level, even internally. Not only did they put out the wrong numbers in their patch notes, they were intentionally misleading about the severity of AR changes by averaging the decrease across all AR archetypes. The high Impact ARs had their damage cut by nearly 30% while the low Impact ones were untouched. That kind of shit is just insulting to your playerbase, and they just keep doing it anyway.

The only reason they don't show you your actual current XP or To Next Level on the XP bar in the menu (which they allowed you to see in D1) is because they were trying to avoid players figuring out exactly what they figured out anyway.

[Tokitoki]

Thanks for the runs last night Fondue/Zeb. I should have switched weapons sooner. I was doing much better with the Uriel's over the Last Hope. I'm still trying to figure out my PvE weapons for "real" stuff. Most of my weapons are the ones that are considered best for PvP. Old Fashioned, Antiope, Last Hope, etc.

I'm going to be on again tonight around 6pm EST until 8 again. Still have Titan Nightfall to do and the rest of my weekly stuff. Only got the Warlock Flashpoint finished.

[Kaslo]

[Serra]

https://www.bungie.net/en/News/Article/46504

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
We’re targeting a January update to provide better incentives to complete Prestige activities

Better rewards and replay value for Strikes, Adventures, and Lost Sectors
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

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

Forecasted delivery dates:

[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)

[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

[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

Exp is still a work in progress.

[Takiwaki]

These are some good additions, its obvious they were in the works for a while and it sucks that things had to become so bad before they share it with us. I dont get why none of these things were talked about in any of the streams.

[Greedouw]

The vendor changes alone make this update awesome. I should be able to buy the gear I want... I shouldn't have to rely on RNG...

I'm sure there's a catch somewhere...

[Takiwaki]

The vendor changes alone make this update awesome. I should be able to buy the gear I want... I shouldn't have to rely on RNG...

I'm sure there's a catch somewhere...

The catch is that as far as armor go, if you already have it the change does nothing for you lol. IMO all armor sets should be able to roll all 3 stats randomly.

[Greedouw]

The catch is that as far as armor go, if you already have it the change does nothing for you lol. IMO all armor sets should be able to roll all 3 stats randomly.

True.

Also, no mobility change? Come on now, make the stat worthwhile!

[6souls]

Amazon Echo: Ghost Edition - $89

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077J92PYC/

[Wulfgang]

Ok, that ghost Echo is amazing.

Underwhelmed by the rest. I'm not even upset about the XP / communication / etc. issues; the game is simply far less enjoyable from a base gaming experience than D1 in the TTK era. I also hate the current Kinetic/Energy/Heavy weapon paradigm; PVP has devolved into Scout Rifle team-shooting with few effective alternatives assuming comparable skill levels.

[Obsidian]

Most of what I read looked like generally the right direction. Still pretty annoyed they're withholding the balance/sandbox update notes. I also find it hilarious that ranked PvP wasn't already at the top of their priority list and Private Matches being "2018" is pretty comical too.

The sandbox/balance update notes will ultimately determine whether or not I buy the expansion.

[carlweathers]

I'm kinda disinterested in those assistants since I always have my phone in my hand, however, that ghost looks glorious.

Especially when they specifically marketed the game as "Competitive", and made so many changes in the name of making it more competitive... which is a shame because I would think they would embrace their legacy as competitive fps makers, you know?

[Obsidian]

They fought competitive Halo basically every step of the way. They didn't like it in Halo 2 so they added the randomness to the third bullet of the BR burst in Halo 3, and when that didn't work they went full on Bloom in Halo Reach. Bungie embracing competitive play in their games has always been a myth.

[6souls]

Found that there is an exploit in the Legion's Gulch crucible map where a rooftop is accessible that allows nearly the entire map to be taken advantage of.



About 1:10 the mystery sets in and 2:44 for my personal confirmation. Also, definitely not one of my best pvp runs.

[NynJa]

Amazon Echo: Ghost Edition - $89
[IM-G]https://bucket.bluegartr.com/4400b8eeea76b129468fd0cb72d234a1.jpg[/IMG]
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077J92PYC/

This item does not ship to Canada. Please check other sellers who may ship internationally.

[Serra]

Found that there is an exploit in the Legion's Gulch crucible map where a rooftop is accessible that allows nearly the entire map to be taken advantage of.



About 1:10 the mystery sets in and 2:44 for my personal confirmation. Also, definitely not one of my best pvp runs.

That actually explains a couple matches during IB..