This Week At Bungie - 2/6/2020

This Week at Bungie, we're calling in reservations.

It's been a wild week in Destiny 2. Inotam, Oblivion's Triune, made their grand entrance into the Sundial. Guardians descended upon Mercury, weapons in hand, eager to protect the timeline from certain annihilation. While you've prevented the Psions from changing history, this isn't the last trial you'll face - not by a longshot.

The first three Empyrean Foundation goals have been met with haste. One billion Fractaline isn't enough for the Foundation, and the next goal is currently in reach. Your next stop: 2.2 Billion Fractaline donations.

We knew you'd rise to the challenge, but this? This is absolutely insane. Keep that Fractaline coming. We're seeing quite a few Guardians investing in their Fractaline futures, but many hitting the donation button to quickly earn some sweet Timelost weapons.

The final triumph for the Savior Seal will be completed once the community completes the seventh stage of this event. We're excited to see a new title in the wild. Players will also unlock the ability to pre-order the Savior Bungie Reward pin once they have completed all Triumphs for the Seal.

Now, let's look at the calendar. We have some beats to cover that are coming up quick, with a new Season on the way in just over a month! Below, you'll find details on Crimson Days, Destiny 2 Hotfix 2.7.1.1, and a patch note preview for Season 10.

Love is almost in the air

Have you been feeling a bit lonely lately? Lacking a partner by your side in the heat of battle? Crimson Days is on approach, bringing the perfect opportunity for you to form an unbreakable Crimson Bond with a fellow Guardian.

Crimson Doubles returns to the Crucible during the event, bringing explosive 2v2 combat to the fold. Stay close to your partner: you'll each have heightened ability regen as long as you retain your Crimson Bond. If you stray too far away from each other, opponents will be able to see your every move. If you'd rather take your partner out for a stroll in one of Destiny 2's PvE activities, Shaxx will offer bounties for you to complete in a two-person fireteam.

As you complete Crimson Doubles matches and bounties, you and your partner will be showered in delicious candy hearts. To sweeten the deal, Daily and Weekly bounties will offer double XP. Bright Dust will also be rewarded when completing your weekly bounties.

As you begin to stockpile Confectionary Hearts, they can be exchanged with Lord Shaxx for Crimson Days themed rewards, including two new Exotic Sparrows. Ride in tandem to show the strength of your Crimson Bond!

If this is your first Crimson Days event, or you didn't earn enough hearts in years past, rewards from previous events will also be available to earn alongside the new Sparrows.

Additionally, spare Confectionary Hearts may be exchanged for Warmhearted Gift packages containing Glimmer, with a slight chance for legendary loot. Once you've collected both Sparrows and claimed the associated Triumph, an exclusive emblem will become available through Bungie Rewards.

Eververse will feature many items from previous events for Bright Dust, including two new items exclusive to Crimson Days. One new item will be available for Silver only, the Heartfelt Union Multiplayer Emote.

Here's the emote in action:

Crimson Days will be available from February 11 to February 18, 2020.

Cutting Edge

We're a little over a month out from the next Season of Destiny 2 and this seems like a good time to start talking about Sandbox. Over the next few weeks, we'll be covering upcoming changes to weapons and abilities. Some changes will be PvP-centric, while others will bear more of a PvE focus.

Our first subject: Swords.

Some are sharp. Some are blunt. One lets you bend space and time to teleport through enemies. Another has projectiles that can take down foes at range. Since the launch of Destiny 2, we've been seeing feedback on general functionality and the team has been kicking around ideas on how to make things a bit more enticing.

After some brainstorming and development time, Swords are receiving a sort of tableflip when it comes to light attacks, heavy attacks, and guarding. While you'll still rip and tear through opponents, as you would expect from a Sword, most of what you know needs to be unlearned. The blades have been rebalanced, and a new energy meter is making its way to swords. Below, you'll find a full rundown from our development team.

Dev Team: Swords are getting a little more love this Season. While Swords have been a staple of Destiny ever since their introduction in The Taken King, we felt they were due for an update both to freshen them up, but also to allow us more room to work with them in later releases.

Sword Energy

• Swords now have their own reserve of energy that recharges naturally on its own, and is not to be confused with ammo capacity. This energy will overtake your melee slot while you're wielding a sword and is spent on various actions.

Guarding

• Guarding now uses sword energy instead of consuming ammo. Different guards have different consumption rates, damage resistance and behaviors, so be sure to experiment and find a guard type you like. You'll still need at least one ammo to begin guarding, though.
• Back during Season of the Drifter, the Stronghold exotic for Titans was introduced, allowing them to guard with relative impunity and opening up a more interesting opportunities for swords to shine in a variety of content which caused us to take another look at the guard function itself. Although the guard function has always existed, it was never really considered worth the cost. With this change, we hope that players will use their guard intelligently to protect themselves instead of it being an almost unused button. Rest easy, Stronghold has also been modified to still allow Titans a unique guarding experience.

Light Attacks

• Grounded light attacks for all Swords will now loop for an infinite combo, and all Swords can cleave.
• While the basic three hit combo is quite a staple of melee weapons in many games - In a shooter this leaves the player extremely open to enemies. By letting the light attacks loop, we also push them and the heavy attacks apart further. Cleaving on light attacks was previously only on the Aggressive Swords, but we opted to add it to the rest of them for more hack 'n slash.

Heavy Attacks

• Heavy attacks now consume Sword energy. While you are always able to perform a heavy attack, the attack is stronger when you have full energy, and weaker when you don't.
• A lot of swordplay in many situations simply boiled down to endlessly mashing the heavy attack button instead of mixing up attacks which wasn't quite the most interesting experience. Do note that aerial heavy attacks as a general rule do not consume Sword energy, but that can vary based on the Sword.

Shield Bypass

• A portion of most Sword attacks can partially bypass elemental shields.
• We added this to give Swords a little bit of a personality difference from shotguns who share a very similar role in combat as powerful CQC weapons.

In general, Swords have also had some of the damage amounts for different attacks changed, and the various Sword perks have been adjusted. So you'll want to experiment a bit after the changes hit. We do hope you'll enjoy the changes.

Blinded by the Light

Hotfix after Hotfix, Destiny Player Support is here for you. Timetables, known issues, and frequently asked questions are handled with care. They approach each conversation with white gloves and gold standards.

This is their report.

CONTRIBUTING TO EMPYREAN RESTORATION

On Tuesday, the Empyrean Restoration went live. Player Support noticed that some players were confused on how to participate and contribute their Polarized Fractaline. To do so, players must complete the Bright Light quest from Saint-14. To unlock this quest, players must complete the following prerequisites:

• Complete the following quests from Osiris: A Matter of Time.
• Then, complete Saint-14's quests: Tribute to the Colonies, Cornerstone, and A Guardian's Duty.

CRIMSON DAYS AHEAD

Next week, Crimson Days returns to the Crucible. Our Help article will update on February 11, 2020, to bring you updated information about the event, including that it will end at the weekly reset on February 18.

Here are a few known issues about the event:

• Players will be unable to accept Lord Shaxx's "Fire of the Crimson Days" emblem if they already have this emblem in their inventory. Deleting the emblem will allow them to accept the new one and complete the "Welcome to the Crimson Days" Milestone.
• Players who are removed from a match and rejoin will not be able to respawn until the current round ends. These player will see "Waiting for Ally to Revive" for the remaining duration of the round.
• Crimson Days bounties do not advance the Crucible Bounty Vendor Challenge.

HOTFIX 2.7.1.1 AND RESOLVED ISSUES

Next Tuesday, February 11, we will release Destiny 2 Hotfix 2.7.1.1. This update will resolve some issues currently affecting players. Here is another preview of some of the issues that will be resolved:

• The Efrideet's Gift Triumph will retroactivity unlock for players who turn in 50 Iron Banner packages in Season of the Dawn.
• The Get Closer pursuit will no longer have its progress reset when resetting Infamy. This is retroactive and will auto-complete for any player who has already been above Mythic rank this season.
• A Season 9 Iron Banner Triumph has been added that tracks purchased packages from Lord Saladin. This is also retroactive.

Additionally, here's the timeline for the Destiny 2 Hotfix 2.7.1.1 release on Tuesday:

• 8:00 AM PST (1600 UTC): Destiny 2 maintenance will begin. Players may experience sign-on issues during maintenance.
• 8:45 AM (1645 UTC): Players will be removed from activities and will be unable to log in until 9 AM.
• 9:00 AM (1700 UTC): Destiny 2 Hotfix 2.7.1.1 will be released and players will be able to log in.
• 10:00 AM (1900 UTC): Destiny 2 maintenance will end.

CURRENT KNOWN ISSUES

While we continue investigating various known issues, here is a list of the latest issues that were reported to us in our #Help Forum:

• Players are continuing to report increased Tower load times after Update 2.7.1.
• The Playin' the Odds emblem doesn't drop and cannot be reacquired from Collections. While we investigate, the only way to receive this emblem right now is to reset your Infamy rank three times in one Season.
• In the Bright Future quest, Orbs of Light that are collected sometimes are not accurately reflected in the quest's progress. Some players have reported that deleting or claiming a bounty may help with progression issues.

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

Variety

Over the years, there have been quite a few "metas" in Destiny 2. Different Legendary weapons will take the spotlight from time to time, sometimes usurped by a truly Exotic underdog. This week, our winner brings a montage using every exotic in the game.

Movie of the Week: SoaR-ing

Honorable Mention: Guardian Bowl LIV

Winners will find their new MotW-themed emblem in their collections within the next year or so. If you have some sweet clips or a fun montage, make sure to submit it to the Community Creations page. For carnage, or a chance for a sweet emblem, apply within.

We're almost to the weekend, but we'll be scouting the Destiny Fashion scene for combinations worthy of an emblem. In case you missed it, we kicked off another Fashion Week on Tuesday. Only requirements: the Star Light, Star Bright emblem from the Guardians for Australia foundation effort, and a good eye for fashion.

Reply to this tweet with a picture of your Guardian and the emblem equipped. If we retweet you, the Levante's Prize emblem will be granted to you within a week. Here's a quick example of a recent winner:

My titan is a Lucha libre. He's ready to wrestle the fire. pic.twitter.com/43LQivnkPq

— Ivan (@Im_mudkip) February 3, 2020

I can't wait to see what combinations you cook up. Have a great weekend, and we'll see you next time.

Cheers,
Dmg04