This Week At Bungie - 05/12/2016 0h -

This week at Bungie we retraced some of our steps.

There are times when we get up on Twitch to reveal challenges in your future. Those are definitely fun moments, but we don't want our channel to remain dark while we work in our secure hangar to move fresh content onto the launching pad. Just yesterday, with three artists in the hot seat, we delved deeper into some past lives.

During the live show, we shed new light on artwork that helped shape the world of Destiny. We learned the origins of weapons, destinations, heroes, and more. Did you miss it?

Seeing the artistic inception of a game is my favorite thing about working at Bungie. Let me open for you a window into our world.

As promised on the show, you can browse more art from Jesse van Dijk, Joseph Cross, and Adrian Majkrzak.
Disclaimer: Much of what you'll see in these portfolios was never intended to be included in Destiny. Sometimes, art is created simply for the sake of creation.

Next week, we'll be back up on Twitch to enjoy some raiding in King's Fall. There will be developer commentary. There will be blood!

Join us in the chat room. We'll be sure to take a question or three.

Your Own Personal Call to Arms

Whether it lives on your desktop or in the palm of your hand, the Destiny Companion is your fully operational battle station. It's your clubhouse, your art gallery, your vault, and your debate hall. Of all the ways you can spend time using the companion, the one activity that will have the single greatest impact on your player experience is finding new allies to back you up in combat. No matter if your enemies are Guardians or aliens, we believe that Destiny is more fun with someone watching your back.

The #Recruitment forum is always there for you to solicit allies, but it's traditionally been a chaotic wall of potential Fireteams. We've had some ideas for how that could work better, and we've been executing on them. Very soon, we'll be enhancing our forum with new ways to form up and roll out into the Solar System.

You'll find these features on any device you use to access the Destiny Companion. Depicted below is a preview of how iOS devices will display Fireteams in search of Guardians. At a glance, these invitations to battle are marked by platform, activity, and availability.

Have a very specific craving for carnage? You'll be able to sort the forum to display only the invitations that suit your thirst for action. Choose your ideal adventure from a suite of dropdown menus to see who also wants to embark on that specific mission.

If you don't find a Fireteam that suits your needs, you'll be able to start your own Topic to rally new teammates to your side. Design the ideal experience to be shared with Guardians you've never met, and ensure that they'll show up packing the gear they need to swap some tactical chatter with you.

Once the call to arms has been issued, sit back and watch your roster grow in real time. Of course, it will be up to you to make the in-game connections needed to form up in a smart looking formation in orbit over your destination. Fortunately, every user of these features will have a profile linked to an active Guardian in good standing.

What you see here is coming soon to #Recruitment, as well as your own personal Clan forum - assuming you've joined one. If you have not hunkered down as a member of a Clan, using these tools just might introduce you to some fellow founding Overlords. It's dangerous to go alone. Never lament those microphoneless randos again.

All signs point to deployment of these new features next week. Stay tuned!

Like Real Life Damage Referees

Your melee attack is the hot topic of conversation this week. Destiny Player Support is on the case to make sure your punches are landing.

DPS: Update 2.2.0.2 brought multiple melee improvements to Destiny, which were recently enabled in the live environment. These improvements should help to make melees in motion much more reliable, in addition to reducing missed connections when attempting to melee opponents.

On Tuesday, May 10th, some of the 'safer' improvements were turned on. We monitored the forums closely for 24 hours to ensure that no additional issues were introduced. On Wednesday, May 11th, some 'riskier' improvements went live. We are aware of an increase in Weasel errors between 3 to 4 PM Pacific, but these error codes were unrelated. Please note: these issues may still be encountered if you are experiencing networking related issues.

If you are still consistently encountering these issues, please post a thread in the #Help forum with the following information:

• The console on which you've experienced the issue
  
• A link to the Post Game Carnage Report of the game in question (found under the Stats page of your Legend on Bungie.net)
  
• If possible, a video of your melee not connecting or inflicting damage on your opponent
  

Destiny Player Support is also actively monitoring Cozmo's #MayMelee thread in the #Destiny forum. 

What Does High Score Mean?

Cozmo: Three more Fireteams stepped up to the weekly challenge of scoring the most points in the Challenge of Elders. They posted monster scores in a week featuring Super kill bonuses. Let's meet the winners.

High Score - 181,865

• SdBattlefront
• RedSox007
• BlazeBoss17

Second Place - 154,385

• Dighidingo
• azzale
• mattyex83

Third Place - 152,385

• FireBeeble
• MorseCode206
• MrMagicMike89

This week, we're asking you to get up close and personal. Bonus points will be given for punching enemies in their alien faces. You will also do some extra damage while in the air, so keep it flary. 

"In a world..."

When the lights darken and hush falls over the crowd, it's you who's the star!

Cozmo: Do you know how many community videos have been created about Destiny? Neither do we, but it's a lot. Amazing videos pour in every day and we pick a few each week to share with you here. The winners receive this sexy Emblem to show off to the people on their friends list. Submit your videos to the Creations page and you too could have your hard work become a Movie of the Week. 

Movie of the Week: Hard Mode Oryx done Solo.

Honorable Mention: Hate to bust your bubble. 

Now it's time to say goodbye. There will be more to do and share next week. Perhaps we'll even forecast the next time you'll see Lord Saladin in the Tower.

Until then, may your punches be mighty and your scores be high.

DeeJ, out.