This Week At Bungie - 1/9/2020

This week at Bungie, the Devils were reminded of their ruin.

Hello, and welcome back to your weekly roundup of Bungie and Destiny 2 related news. We've entered our final week of the Dawning, so get to baking if you haven't already earned your Sparrows. You have through next Tuesday to complete as many double XP bounties as you can! Additionally, the Sundial has been kicked up a notch with a Legend difficulty. If you're looking to get the Savior title or round out your Pinnacle power drops each week, get your fireteam together and challenge these Psions in the ways of old.

A new Exotic has also made its appearance, packing a little bit of Unstoppable heat, so to speak. Load up the Sundial and start your quest to acquire the Devil's Ruin Exotic Sidearm.

We're still warming up from our holiday hibernation, but we're hitting the ground running! This week, we have an update from our Game Security team, an announcement for a fundraiser to help send aid to Australia, and news on a hotfix coming early next week. Let's get to it.

Keep it Clean

The Game Security team has been improving Destiny's anti-cheat functionality which detects players violating any of Bungie's restrictions and bans policies. The anti-cheat improvements will result in more players receiving restrictions and bans.

Historically, Bungie has not given players the ability to appeal a restriction or a ban because all restrictions and bans are already reviewed by a trained Bungie employee. However, going forward we will be providing a resource for players to appeal a restriction or ban. More details will be available on our Appeal Contact Form, which can be found here.

If you encounter any players suspected of cheating, please be sure to use the in-game reporting tool, as well as the Report Suspected Cheating contact form on Help.Bungie.net. Bungie will never issue a restriction or ban based purely on player reports, but player reports do help us corroborate other evidence. 

Frivolous appeals will not be considered. Additionally, not all appeals are guaranteed to be responded to by a Bungie employee. As always, we'll be closely monitoring our security systems to ensure a healthy and fair experience for players who are not violating any of Bungie's restrictions and bans policies.

Helping Australia: Star Light, Star Bright

In the last few weeks, you may have heard about the bush fires that are currently impacting Australia. With every Bungie Foundation effort, we are reminded of how much good can come from the gaming community. Sr. Foundation Manager Christine Edwards has details on our upcoming efforts to assist those in need, opening an avenue for Guardians around the world to lend a helping hand.

Christine: Over the past two decades, the Bungie community has been an amazing force for good in our world by raising millions of dollars to assist those in distress. In addition to supporting thousands of children through our iPads for Kids Program, you have helped victims of hurricanes Katrina and Harvey and have donated to those affected by earthquakes in Haiti, Japan, and Nepal. Time and time again, you have been Guardians to others in their greatest time of need.

The bush fires currently ravaging Australia have been devastating. Many people have lost their homes, firefighters are risking their lives daily, and an estimated hundreds of millions of wild animals have fallen victim to the fires.

We are developing a limited-edition T-shirt fundraising campaign to support both Australia's firefighting efforts and the country's animal rescue and conservation efforts. The T-shirt, which comes with an exclusive Destiny 2 "Star Light, Star Bright" emblem redemption code with purchase, will be available for pre-order on the Bungie Store and Bungie Store EU between Thursday, January 16 and Tuesday, February 18 at 9 a.m. Pacific, ending with the weekly reset and the end of Crimson Days. The team is currently hard at work on the T-shirt design and we'll share a preview early next week.

The first half of all profits generated by these T-shirt sales will be donated to WIRES, Australia's largest wildlife rescue organization. The other half will be donated to NSW Rural Fire Service, which services the state of New South Wales, where the fires have been especially devastating and are in dire need of containment.



Be sure to check out next week's edition of This Week at Bungie for more details on how you can support Australia through this fundraiser. In the meantime, our hearts go out to all that are impacted and we are wishing for clearer skies ahead.

Hammer Down

So, let's talk about Titans. You know, the ones that like to punch everything into oblivion. The class that sometimes throws their weapon aside in favor of a good ol' headbutt. This week, Destiny Player Support has some vital information concerning a specific exotic that could amplify the damage of a throwing hammer to game-breaking values.

This is their report.

WORMGOD CARESS DISABLED
Earlier this week, we identified an issue with the Wormgod Caress Exotic Gauntlets where the "Burning Fists" perk could retain increased melee damage after its intended timer countdown, allowing players to easily defeat raid bosses.

The Armor 1.0 and 2.0 versions of these gauntlets have been disabled until a fix can be deployed at a later date.

DESTINY 2 HOTFIX 2.7.0.2
Next Tuesday, January 14, we will release Destiny 2 Hotfix 2.7.0.2. This hotfix will resolve a few known issues, including the EDZ Obelisk accessibility and Eververse waypoint notifications. Please see below for our rollout timeline.

• 8 AM PST (1600 UTC): Destiny 2 maintenance will begin.
• 8:30 AM PST (1630 UTC): Players will be removed from all Destiny 2 activities and will be unable to log in until 9 AM PST.
• 9 AM PST (1700 UTC): Players will be able to log in again and Destiny 2 Hotfix 2.7.0.2 will begin rolling out to all platforms and regions.
• 12 PM PST (2000 UTC): Destiny 2 maintenance is expected to conclude.

TRACKING KNOWN ISSUES
Over the past few weeks, a few more issues have surfaced that our Player Support team has been tracking. Below is a list of the latest known issues that were reported in our #Help Forum:

• The Leviathan's Breath Exotic Bow currently cannot be acquired due to an issue with 'The Arms Dealer' strike where it can only be completed in Season 8.
• The Tower Obelisk can sometimes not be accessed. Players encountering this should return to orbit and launch back in to The Tower.
• The Giddy Laugh emote keeps loading in the Emote Collection and can't be unequipped if slotted.

For a full list of emergent issues in Destiny 2, players should view our Known Issues article. Players who observe other issues should report them to our #Help forum.

UNTIL NEXT DAWNING
As the holiday season comes to an end, so too does the Dawning. The Dawning ends this coming Tuesday, January 14, at the weekly reset. Players have until then to create their holiday gifts, upgrade their Dawning Sparrows, and earn double XP from Eva's bounties.

That's a lot of Crucible

This week's winner features eight-minutes of pure Crucible carnage with a variety of weaponry, abilities, and straight up skill? Bows, throwing knives, Arc Beam, Hand Cannons, Sidearms... you name it. Legend of Acrius even snuck in for some love. Language warning for the final moments. Frostbolt, you'd better wash your mouth out with soap!

Movie of the Week: Mastery of Destiny

Honorable Mention: Solo Flawless Pit of Heresy using Two Sidearms and a Sword.

Cheers to each submission, as they'll both be taking home a Movie of the Week emblem. If you'd like a chance for the emblem, submit your video to the Community Creations page.

First TWAB of a new year. Prepare for things to ramp up here in the next few weeks. Season of Dawn still has more in store with an upcoming Exotic, Empyrean Foundation, Crimson Days and more.

Before we go, we need to give some spotlight to AGDQ2020, otherwise known as Awesome Games Done Quick. For years, this speedrunning event has been yet another source of positivity within the gaming community, bringing people together in the fight against Cancer. Later today, the Last Wish speedrun will be on stream with commentary provided by a few familiar Destiny raid experts. The current time is projected to be around 7:30 PM Pacific, but things may change. Be sure to check their schedule for the most up to date information.

Have a wonderful weekend, and we'll see you again next Monday.

Cheers,
-Dmg04