This week at Bungie, we're about to launch!
Destiny 2 is almost here. This will be our last weekly transmission before you get to play the full game in all its glory. There has been so much said about this new adventure on the road to launch, but we've still seen many of you asking if there would be a live action trailer. Today, it arrived.
We have a lot of information for you today. Tomorrow, we head off to PAX for a full weekend of Destiny 2 awesomeness. Next week is the main event.
If you are at PAX, you can play Destiny 2, you can sit in for any of our panels, or you can score a ton of loot at the Bungie store. If you can't make it out to PAX, don't fret, all of these items will also be available online in the Bungie Store. We'll let you know via the official Bungie Twitter account when the new inventory is available for purchase.
If you're looking for something to pick up while you wait, we do have a Foundation Pin and matching in-game emblem on offer, with all profits going to Direct Relief in support of their Hurricane Harvey aid efforts.
For those who have already supported this much needed initiative, or helped in other ways, our team and the people of Houston thank you for your generous support.
This morning, the Destiny 2 PC Beta closed up shop. As far as tests go, it feels like a huge success. We learned a lot from watching you play and reading your feedback online. Thanks go out to everyone who joined us from whatever PC you were able to use to run the Beta. We've gotten a lot of great insights from the PC community and we'll continue fine-tuning the game before the final release on October 24.
We can't wait to see you back again for the full Destiny 2 experience. Thank you so much for playing!
After launch, there will be a few rituals and firsts that you might want to plan for as you ascend to orbit around the Destiny Endgame. Some of these activities will be ready and waiting as soon as you play your way through to them. Others will go live shortly thereafter, giving you and your teammates time to prepare to get geared up and ready to go.
Here are a few of the dates you should mark in your calendar.
If you have witnessed the race to become the first to topple the final boss, you know we keep Raid info well under wraps. These are your moments to discover - your mysteries to solve. We've given you the when. You will soon discover the who, the what, and the where. Together, as a team, you might even discover the how.
We'll be watching!
Guided Games is a new feature coming to Destiny 2 that will help solo players link up with Clans to tackle the most profound challenges in the game as a Fireteam.
For Guided Games to have a successful launch, we need time for enough players to form into real Clans and be ready to guide other Guardians. If there are too many solo Seekers and not enough Clan Guides, the queues for matching will be quite long. Therefore, we're going to roll out Guided Games as a limited-access 'soft beta', where only a select number of solo players will be able to use Guided Games for the Nightfall on 9/12. This will allow us to slowly ramp up players over the course of September (and allow Clan populations to grow) so that everyone has a great experience.
During the Guided Games Beta period, we need your Clans to fully test the system at scale. All Clans will be able to guide solo players, so once you've mastered the Nightfall, Fireteam up and guide solo players to the highest heights. You may meet some new friends along the way.
If you are veteran of Destiny 1, you're probably familiar with the pre-decryption shuffle. This is where you equipped all of your highest Light gear before you brought your Engrams to the Cryptarch so you would maximize your gains.
In the past, this was a little cumbersome at times, and a huge bummer if you forgot a piece. In Destiny 2, you will suffer those woes no longer.
PSA: In D2 it's no longer advantageous to equip your most powerful gear when decrypting Engrams. We check for your best possible loadout now
— Mark Noseworthy (@knowsworthy) August 28, 2017
Now the game will automagically determine your power potential and give you the reward you deserve without making you dig through all of your Armor and Weapons to equip your best stuff. We recently cornered Investment Designer Daniel Auchenpaugh and compelled him to make some rare promises about character progression.
Tell us about this new system. When do rewards determine their power, and how is it determined?
Daniel: Rewards determine their power at the time they're earned. This means that, when an engram drops in Destiny 2, it decides its power at the time it drops. Also, when we roll rewards, we look at your character's level and your best possible gear to determine the power of the reward. This is true for Crucible end-of-match rewards, Engram drops, Strike rewards, etc. Note that some sources can still produce better gear than others; once you're exploring endgame content look for the "Powerful Gear" rewards in tooltips if you're hunting the best drops.
What gear do you use to determine a players best equipment?
Daniel: When we say "best possible gear," we look at what the best scenario is for your character across your account. This means that, if you are playing on your Hunter (like you should), we might use the Helmet you accidentally left in the vault, the Boots you just picked up but haven't equipped, and the Auto Rifle that you forgot to transfer from your Warlock. Gear on other characters, in the vault, in your inventory, or currently equipped are all compared to find the best loadout you could have.
That's convenient! What if I have a level 20 Hunter and make a new Hunter so I can have 3 Hunters? Will all my drops be level 20 gear on the new Hunter? What if I've got a ton of Exotics?
Daniel: Nope! The system is smart enough to look at level requirements and make sure it ignores anything that is too high for the current character to equip. It also obeys equipping restrictions, so it understands that you can only equip one Exotic weapon and one piece of exotic armor and figures that in.
Okay, what about the contents of Engrams we haven't decrypted yet? Are they included when you calculate my best possible equipment?
Daniel: While Engrams do set their power at the time they drop, they don't roll what they contain until the moment you decrypt them. As a result, best possible equipment can't use their contents in its calculations.
If Engrams set their power at the moment they drop, how am I supposed to know which ones have the best gear?
Daniel: Destiny 2's Engrams are pretty cool, because they'll tell you right on the tooltip what the power they dropped at is. This is the minimum power that will come out of the engram.
You'll understand more about how a new legend will rise in the form of your first Destiny 2 character when you play. Before that journey begins, we wanted to share just one of the quality of life improvements that we're excited about. We hope you find that Destiny 2 is a far more rewarding game than its predecessor.
Very Frequently Asked Question: "What is the exact time I can dive into Destiny 2?"
The answer is dependent on where you live. Destiny 2 will have a rolling midnight release across the globe. You will be able to play the game as soon as it is 12 AM, September 6, anywhere in your country or in some cases region. In the US, for example, that means the entire country is live when the clock strikes midnight Eastern.
It's going to be a busy night. If you plan to go hard right out of the gate, get some sleep, remember to stretch, and be wary of spoilers if you're looking to go in blind.
Stay close to @BungieHelp for updates as the night unfolds. We'll be staying up with you to make sure you're kept informed of any important information you may need.
The Destiny Operation Center provides 24 hour coverage 365 days a year. They are constantly monitoring the live game and the Destiny Player Support team will also be supporting the launch of Destiny 2 with 24 hour coverage for the first week. Before liftoff, they have some vital information to help you reach Orbit.
This is their report:
Destiny 2 Digital Pre-Load: PlayStation 4
Starting August 31, players who have digitally pre-ordered Destiny 2 may begin pre-loading. For steps on how to install Destiny 2 to a PlayStation 4 console, please see this Help Article.
Downloads will first become available in the US. European, Asian, and Japanese regions should become available soon. Stay tuned to @BungieHelp for announcements of availability.
Account Security: How to keep your personal information and Destiny Account Safe
Account security and best-practices are the most effective ways to ensure the protection of personal information, your Guardians, and their items. Below are some helpful hints to reduce any risk of them falling into the wrong hands:
Real Name Security: If a player wishes to prohibit others from seeing real names within Destiny 2, there are specific settings that must be checked:
PlayStation: If a player has accepted or sent a real-name friend request, this will grant permissions for real names to appear within Destiny 2. It is possible for Close Friends to record and share gameplay containing your information. If a player wishes to share a real-name but prohibit it from appearing within Destiny 2, they must follow these steps:
- Navigate to Settings
- Select "PlayStation Network/Account Management"
- Select "Privacy Settings"
- Select "Protecting your Information"
- Select "Games"
- Select "No One"
Xbox: If a player wishes to hide their real name, they may do so by following steps here: Real name sharing on Xbox One.
Blizzard: If a player wishes to hide their Real ID, they may do so by following the steps listed within this Battle.net RealID FAQ.
Some features in D2 use Real Names differently than D1. Please consider your Real Name settings on your platform of choice, especially if you have extensive friends lists or play with players who stream publicly.
Destiny Account Security: Bungie.net accounts rely on PlayStation Network, Xbox Live and Battle.net credentials. To ensure account security, we advise the following best practices:
- Do not share account details with anyone. Bungie employees will NEVER ask for this information.
- Use a different password, and account security questions, for each credential.
- Ensure that any E-mail account tied to these credentials uses an alternate password as well.
- Update passwords frequently.
- For steps on updating credential passwords or increasing security, follow these links:
If a console is shared with multiple family members or friends, players may want to consider 2-step authentication or passkeys for access to an account.
Destiny Companion Update and Known Issues
Last week, Bungie.net and the Destiny Companion App received updates in preparation for Destiny 2. Players may now join or create Destiny 2 Clans, edit Clan Banners, create Clan text chat channels, and more. The Destiny 2 Clans Guide will be updated alongside the release of Destiny 2 to include information concerning in-game Clan features.
The following is a list of known issues impacting Bungie.net and the Destiny Companion App after the most recent updates:
Clans:
- Clan Membership is not currently displaying on public profiles.
- During Clan creation, it is not properly defined to players why failures may occur. Ex: If Illegal Characters are present within culture fields, this is not explained to the player.
- Some admins cannot see their Clan settings page.
Groups:
- Players are unable to interact with the "Request Join" button on Group pages.
- Group admins cannot currently kick, demote, or promote players properly.
Misc:
- Sorting by "Upvoted" is not functioning properly. Alternate forum sort settings are available at this time.
- Players are receiving false notification alerts when no new messages or notifications have been received.
- Group wall messages will present a notification on the Clan Chat icon.
- When leaving a conversation, it is not properly removed from the conversation list.
- Opening a video on iOS does not function properly.
Destiny 2 Launch: Avenues for Support
If players experience any issues within Destiny 2 at launch, support will be available through the following means:
- Help.Bungie.net: All Bungie published Help Articles, Contact Forms, and Support Documentation.
- @BungieHelp: Broad communications from the Destiny Operations Center and Destiny Player Support teams concerning service stability and known issues.
- #Help Forum: Where players may go to report issues impacting gameplay, progression, or general features.
Destiny Support teams and Community Mentors are at the ready to assist. We'll see you at launch.
This will be the last Movie of the Week for Destiny 1. I'm sure you're immediately going to ask if this long tradition of handing out Emblems as rewards for creating spectacular work of art will continue. The answer is yes. But after this week, Emblems for Destiny 2 will be on hold for a bit. We need some time to get the Emblem ready to hand out in the new game. We will still be picking winners each week, but they will have to wait until the Emblem is ready. Then we will send everyone what they are owed.
Movie of the Week: The Complete Story of Destiny
Honorable Mention: Farewell, Destiny
Honorable Mention: The Chaperone
Honorable Mention: My Heart Will Go On
This is it - the moment we've been waiting for. We know this is a special milestone for the community. It's also a special time for everyone here at Bungie. We finally get to fully share this experience we've been crafting for you. You may have seen some of it, and played some of it, but there are still some surprises waiting for you in the wild.
We would like to thank everyone who has stuck with us throughout the first three years of Destiny. Many of you have been here since the Alpha, the Beta, or even the first days of original Destiny. Many of you joined us recently or somewhere in between. Soon, you will all be joined by new players who may not have experienced Destiny at all. You will all be part of this amazing community, and we can't wait to see the amazing things you do in the future, because we know what you have done in the past.
Once more unto the breach.
<3 Cozmo
We are NOT Bungie, Inc.! Bungie Inc. are bungie.net!
Destiny © Bungie Inc., 2010-2024
Intellectual © destiny.bungie.org, 2012-2024
BUNGIE™, DESTINY™, MARATHON® and the Bungie, Destiny and Marathon logos
are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Bungie, Inc., used with permission.
