This Week At Bungie - 8/23/2018

This week at Bungie, we witnessed a Gunslinger's last stand.

Earlier today we showed you another glimpse of Cayde-6, surrounded by Barons, fighting off a barrage of enemies. Take a look.

You will be able to experience the full story of Cayde's fate and claim your revenge when Forsaken launches on September 4.

That wasn't the only thing we showed off on the Blizzard stage at gamescom—we also announced an upcoming 24-hour Gambit Trial that is free to all players of Destiny 2.

If you want to give Gambit a try before Forsaken, the competitive co-op activity will be on full display September 1. 

Gambit 24-Hour Trial
Begins: 10 AM PDT September 1
Ends: 10 AM PDT September 2

You will have to wait until after September 4 to start earning Gambit-specific rewards and ranking up your Infamy, but you will still see some Year 1 reward drops. Gambit stats will not be recorded during the 24-hour trial, but they will be available for tracking on bungie.net after September 4. 

About That Time

Many of you have been reaching out with questions about start times and dates. You want to know the exact time you will be able to start hunting down Uldren and his Barons, and then, when you can turn your might toward whatever horrors await you within the raid.

On September 4, there will be a day one patch that players will need to download before they can play Forsaken. Destiny 2 will be brought down for maintenance at 7 AM PDT, and we anticipate that the patch will become available to players on all platforms by 7:30 AM PDT. Maintenance will end at 10 AM PDT, and assuming you have completed your download, you can start playing Forsaken at that time. 

The next date we know you want to circle on your calendar is when the raid will open up and when the race for World First will begin. Here is Senior Designer Joe Blackburn to tell you more.

Joe: Forsaken is proof that the full Destiny 2 experience is just beginning when the campaign comes to a close. With so many new things to do and so much Power to gain, we knew that players would need more than just three days to prepare for the incredible challenges of Forsaken's raid. That's why "Last Wish," the next chapter in Destiny's raiding legacy, goes live on September 14 at 10 AM PDT, a week and a half after you'll have first set foot on the Tangled Shore. Good luck, Guardians.

Mod Squad

There has been some confusion about the new mods coming on September 4. Many of you are asking what gear will take mods and what will happen to the old mods when the new hotness arrives. We brought in Design Lead Joe Shamrock to answer these questions.

Ham Slamrick: Hey everybody! I'm back on this beautiful "TWAB before 'THE TWAB BEFORE'"—if you catch my meaning—to paint you a clearer picture regarding Year 2 mods...

The first thing we need to do is to properly set expectations for the acquisition of Year 2 mods. We want mods to be more meaningful customizations to your gear that allow you to make it your own. As you've likely seen from the combat stream, we've added several options that will let you adapt your arsenal to your style of play.

Although the stream showcased a huge stockpile of mods, when you can't give yourself an unlimited number of mods using a debug build, you'll find these items are intentionally rare. Those of you who are Smaugly sitting atop a pile of mod components will be able to stock up on some Year 2 mods from the Gunsmith. The rest of us, however, will slowly mod our way to victory one hard-earned drop after another.

Specifically, Year 2 mods come from the following sources:

• All Exotic armor drops, regardless of year, have a chance to come equipped with a mod.
  
• Non-raid Year 2 Legendary weapons and armor drops have a small chance to come equipped with a mod.
  
  • You are free to keep the weapon, should that particular weapon-and-mod combo suit your needs, or you may choose to dismantle the weapon to break out the mod for use elsewhere.
    • You may pull mods out of gear for use in other gear by dismantling the original item they dropped in.
    • Alternatively, should you want the item but not the mod, you can choose to slot in a new mod over the old one.
  • Weapons and armor purchased from vendors do not come with mods.
• If you have the mod components and Glimmer necessary to feed your habit, you may choose to go straight to Banshee-44, the Gunsmith, who will have two mod packages available for purchase:
  • Direct-buy Year 2 armor mod (updated daily)
  • Direct-buy Year 2 weapon mod (updated daily)
  • You may acquire mod components for trading with Banshee-44 by dismantling other loose mods:
    • Armor:
      • Year 2 armor mods always drop one mod component when dismantled.
      • Year 1 Legendary armor mods always drop one mod component when dismantled.
      • Year 1 Rare armor mods have a small chance of dropping one mod component when dismantled.
    • Weapons:
      • Year 2 weapon mods always drop one mod component and Legendary shards when dismantled.
      • Year 1 Legendary weapon mods always drop one mod component and Gunsmith materials when dismantled.
      • Year 1 Rare weapon mods have a small chance to drop one mod component and Gunsmith materials when dismantled.

Finally, this one goes out to the Year 2 armor mods and the Year 1 armor that loves them...

As of the launch of Forsaken on September 4:

• Year 1 armor mods in your inventory will cease to work but can be dismantled or traded for materials.
• Year 1 armor mods currently slotted into your Year 1 armor will cease to work but remain slotted into the armor (see below).
  
  
• Year 2 armor mods will be able to be slotted into both Year 1 and Year 2 armor mod slots.
  

And that's the deal with mods.

—Ham "I'm gon' be invading your Gambit games real, real quick like..." rick

Patch Notes Sneak Peek

Next Tuesday, a lot of changes go into effect. We have covered many of them in the combat stream and previous TWABs. But there are still a few more bullet points to fire out. Here is a look at a few more things changing in Update 2.0.0 on August 28.

Changes by Class

• Hunter
  • Marksman's Dodge is now considered a reload; it can interact with Kill Clip, Rat King, etc.
  • Exotic armor:
    • Celestial Nighthawk
      • Will grant 33% of your Super energy back if a target is killed by the Golden Gun shot
    • Wormhusk Crown
      • Will no longer start regeneration of health and shields
      • Instead will grant a larger health and shield bump at the beginning of dodge instead of at the end
• Warlock
  • Increased Healing Rift effectiveness
    
  • Empowering Rift now increases precision damage (previously, bonus damage was capped at the weapon's precision damage in PvP)
    
  • Exotic armor:
    
    • Skull of Dire Ahamkara
      • Increased Super energy gained from Nova Bomb kills
      • Killing higher-ranked enemies will grant more Super energy
    • Transversive Steps
      • Enhanced mobility
      • After you sprint for a short time, your currently equipped weapon will be automatically reloaded
• Titan
  • Rally Barricade no longer requires players to take cover to reload—it now feeds ammo to your magazine over time
    
  • Exotic armor:
    
    • Helm of Saint-14
      • Now grants allies an overshield for a short duration when they're passing through Ward of Dawn
    • Mask of the Quiet One
      • Increasing energy gain from incoming damage
      • While critically wounded, health will be granted from kills
• Grenades
  • Axion Bolt
    • Increased base damage
    • Increased the amount of time it takes for tracking strength to lessen
  • Flashbang
    • Increased base damage
    • Incendiary Grenade
    • Increased base damage
  • Storm Grenade
    • Increased base damage
  • Scatter Grenade
    • Re-tuned range and falloff ranges for the detonations for more reliable damage
  • Magnetic, Fusion, and Flux Grenade
    • Increased base damage
    • Damage is now the same whether a target has been stuck or simply walked over grenade when detonating
    • Magnetic Grenade now detonates a second time only if it's attached to a target
    • The second detonation no longer only occurs on the grenade itself and will now be applied to each individual target hit by the initial detonation
  • Skip Grenade
    • Increased impact damage of each Skip Drone impact for a higher total potential damage
  • Void Wall
    • Increased the damage of initial Void Wall wave

Misc QOL

• Swords will have the ability to accept shaders
  
• Adding a timer to the status effect for Healing Rift, Empowering Rift, and Rally Barricade to communicate the time remaining before they expire
  
• Wanted escapees from the Prison of Elders will roam the open world
  • They will not drop rewards until September 4, 2018
• Increasing the difficulty of Lost Sectors
  • Example: EDZ Lost Sectors will become 240 Power

Xûr

• His will is not his own
  • Will no longer display a vendor icon on destination maps
  • Will no longer be tied to Flashpoints
• He has a clear purpose but cannot explain it—forgive him
  • Fated Engrams will grant only pre-Forsaken Exotics

Munitions Support

In the time between 2.0.0 going live and Forsaken launching, things might get a little weird. Player Support has the info you need to know.

Here is the full Player Support Report.

Destiny 2 Update 2.0.0

On Tuesday, August 28, Destiny 2 will receive Update 2.0.0. This update will introduce changes in preparation for the launch of Forsaken and will be the official conclusion to Solstice of Heroes. For the Update 2.0.0 deployment schedule, please see the times listed below.

On Tuesday, August 28:

• 9:30 AM PDT: Players will no longer be able to log into Destiny 2
  
• 9:45 AM PDT: Destiny 2 will be taken offline for maintenance, and all players will be returned to the title screen
  • At this time, Solstice of Heroes will end, and Moments of Triumph will no longer be available
• 10 AM PDT: Destiny 2 Update 2.0.0 will begin rolling out across all platforms and regions
  
• 10 AM-2 PM PDT: Destiny 2 will remain offline for maintenance
  
• 2 PM PDT: Destiny 2 maintenance is expected to conclude
  

Players should be aware that at 9:45 AM PDT, they will no longer be able to access Destiny 2 or participate in Solstice of Heroes and Moments of Triumph. Players with lingering objectives and unclaimed rewards should act now to make sure nothing is missed when this maintenance begins.

For more information on the Destiny 2 Update 2.0.0 deployment, players should see our Destiny Server and Update Status page. For Destiny 2 Update 2.0.0 storage requirements, please see our System Requirements page.

For live updates during the maintenance window, players should follow @BungieHelp on Twitter or monitor our support feed on help.Bungie.net.

Update 2.0.0 System Changes

Players should be aware of the following changes to the game experience following Update 2.0.0 on 8/28:

• Year 2 Weapon Slots will be live for all players
  • During this transition, weapons that overflow players' inventories will be sent to the Postmaster
  • Year 1 slots equipped with weapons that are moved during this update will remain empty until players equip another weapon
  • The following Year 1 Power weapons will become Kinetic in Year 2
    • Alone as a God
    • Baligant
    • The Frigid Jackal
    • Hawthorne's Field-Forged Shotgun
    • Perfect Paradox
    • Shepherd's Watch
    • Silicon Neuroma
  • The following Year 1 Power weapons will have their elemental attribute changed and locked to Solar for Year 2
    • IKELOS_SG_V1.0.1
    • IKELOS_SR_v1.0.1
  • The following Year 1 Exotic Power weapons will remain in the Power slot, as exceptions to Year 2 weapon slot changes
    • D.A.R.C.I.
    • Legend of Acrius
    • Tractor Cannon
    • Whisper of the Worm
  • All other Year 1 Energy and Power weapons will have their elemental attribute locked for Year 2
  • New ammo economy will be live to support Year 2 weapon slots
• Exotic weapons, armor, and emblem collections will become unavailable until 9/4
  • Players should grab their desired items before 8/28
  • Updated collections will return on 9/4
• Some tooltips may not reflect actual item behavior during the 8/28-9/4 transition, examples include:
  • The perk description for Thin the Herd on Fighting Lion will incorrectly list old behavior of dropping Energy ammo
  • The perk description for Bring the Heat on Ashen Wake will erroneously list non-existent perk functionality mentioning recharging grenade energy
  • The perk description for Triple Tap will incorrectly describe old behavior of pulling ammo from reserves
• Exotic weapons will lose their +5 Power mods in preparation for 9/4
  • All remaining Legendary and Exotic gear will lose their +5 Power starting on 9/4
  • Year 1 armor mods will be deprecated entirely starting on 9/4
• Nightfalls will not feature strike scoring until 9/4

For the full Destiny 2 Update 2.0.0 patch notes on 8/28, players should keep an eye on our Updates page or follow @Bungie on Twitter for live announcements.

Trials of the Nine

Following the weekend of August 24, Trials of the Nine will be on hiatus and the Trophy/Achievement "Lest Ye Be Judged" will not be available to players who have not yet unlocked it.

Players who wish to unlock this Trophy/Achievement before Trials of the Nine goes on hiatus will need to win 1 Trials of the Nine match this upcoming weekend of August 24 and meet the Emissary of the Nine at the Third Spire before the start of maintenance on Tuesday 8/28.

Solstice Armor

Last week, we confirmed that players will be able to Masterwork their Legendary Solstice Armor (Resplendent) after Solstice of Heroes ends on August 28. This week, we are going over some known issues that players may encounter trying to Masterwork this armor set after Solstice of Heroes ends.

• Players will not be able to complete the Prestige Nightfall objective between 8/28 and 9/4 due to strike scoring being unavailable
  
• After 9/4, the Heroic Strikes playlist is being retired for a single, adjustable strike hopper. Players will need to complete strikes in this new playlist with at least one clanmate to unlock this Masterwork objective.
  
• Valor ranks reset at the conclusion of Season 3 on 9/4. If players do not unlock their Masterwork for achieving Legend in their Valor ranking by the end of Season 3, their Valor rank will reset, and they will have to begin anew in Season 4.
  • As a reminder, to complete this Masterwork objective, players must max out their Valor ranking with a Valor score of 2,000, then complete one more match.

Players can expect more information about changes leading up to the launch of Destiny 2: Forsaken in next week's Player Support Report.

Popcorn.gif

It's time to fire up the reel. We have the movies, you have the eyeballs. Let's introduce them. All of these movies are created by the community, and everyone who worked on them will receive a special emblem for their efforts. For your chance at winning Movie of the Week, submit your movie to the Creations page.

On to the movies.

Movie of the Week: Ultimate Teamtage

Honorable Mention: Cayde-6 Time-Lapse Drawing

Before we go, here are last week's top Nightfall scores. Remember, Nightfall scoring will be disabled next week.

We're close now. Next week, everyone gets to experience some of the major system and sandbox changes coming to Destiny 2. Forsaken comes in hot off the heels of that release, and you will have a little more breathing room to get raid ready for September 14.

I'm looking forward to playing some Gambit with the community during our 24-hour trial. Keep an eye on bungie.net next week, and I will post a sign-up sheet if you want a chance to play in my fireteam. No invasion experience needed.

We will also be at PAX next week! If you are attending, swing by our booth. We are going to do some signing and Gambit will be playable. The Bungie store will also be there with Destiny themed merchandise. We'll see you there! 

<3 Cozmo