This Week At Bungie - 7/30/2020

This week at Bungie, we shared our Prophecy.

Challenge. Mystery. The Nine. Deserts, cubes, and... whiteboards? Earlier this week, we did a deep dive on our newest Dungeon, featuring some behind the scenes developer commentary. Did you miss it? Well, let's fix that. Hit the jump for a recap!

These are some of our favorite streams to host. We've opened the minds of our designers to bridge the gap between Guardian and developer and get you into their headspace. If you're not in a place where you can watch a stream, we also released a companion blog article. What does it take to build out a dungeon? How do these ideas come about? And most importantly, how many lines did Jon To write to stay occupied when quarantine began?

I don't think I've ever put that many questions into a single intro, but it's fun to embrace the chaos, isn't it?

Ironheads

Lord Saladin returns to host the second Iron Banner of the Season. Before we get too deep, if you haven't heard of the Iron Banner, let's give you a quick lesson. First, get your Power up. This activity offers Power-enabled combat in the Crucible, so that means your opponents might have an edge if they're five (or more) Power above you. Second, snag weekly bounties from Lord Saladin in the Tower before jumping in. You can earn some pinnacle power gear when completing their objectives! Third, capture the zones. The more zones you hold, the more points you get whenever you defeat an enemy. Fourth, stick with your teammates. While being a lone wolf can be fun, hunting with the pack can yield the best results.

During Saladin's last visit, two Legendary weapons made their return with random rolls in tow. The Fool's Remedy Sidearm and Forward Path Auto Rifle pack a pretty good punch in the Crucible. I've personally gotten around 400 Guardian defeats with my trusty sidearm; maybe you'll find a good roll that fits your playstyle.

And if you're searching for some enhanced armor mods, or armor pieces with high stat rolls, now's a great time to jump in for some PvP action. These rewards can drop simply from playing matches, or turning in tokens to Saladin between matches.

Iron Banner will be available from 10 AM on August 4 through 10 AM on August 11.

Hotfix Preview

Next Tuesday, we'll have a fresh hotfix to address some issues that were introduced in Destiny 2 Update 2.9.1. While Destiny Player Support will have a run-through of patch times below, we have a quick preview of patch notes for you.

Nightfall: The Ordeal

• Fixed an issue where the Ordeal version of Lake of Shadows was inaccessible at tiers above Adept for players who do not own Forsaken.
• Fixed an issue where the Festering Core Master Nightfall was listed as 1080 Power in the Director, but was actually 750 Power.
  • Guardians should expect a much greater challenge when engaging with this strike.
    

Raids

• Leviathan rewards of XP, Glimmer, and chances towards Exotic Engrams or Bright Engrams are now back on a weekly lockout.
  • Note: Weapons and armor are not affected by the weekly lockout, and can be earned multiple times a week.

Investment

• Fixed an issue where some players could not acquire the "Means to an End" quest from the Prismatic Recaster.

Armor

• Fixed an issue where Ruinous Effigy could trigger the heal from the Stronghold Titan Exotic armor while blocking with the carry object.
• Fixed an issue where Umbral stat Focused engrams could provide less than 10 in the selected stat.

We'll have a few more patch notes in the article next week, but this is a short and sweet update to tackle a few minor issues found over the last few weeks.

Maintaining Course 

I don't think I know many people in the Destiny community who have as much game-related information in their heads as the members of Destiny Player Support. Not only are they keeping track of upcoming fixes and patch timetables, but they're also an encyclopedia of general information. It can range from the location of a random Dreg to the angle at which skip grenades bounce when hitting a wall.

This is their report.

HOTFIX 2.9.1.2

On Tuesday, August 4, Hotfix 2.9.1.2 will be available to players. Below is a timeline of Destiny 2 maintenance for Hotfix 2.9.1.2:

• 9 AM PDT (1600 UTC): Destiny 2 service maintenance begins.
• 9:45 AM PDT (1645 UTC): Destiny 2 will be taken offline on all platforms. 
• 10 AM PDT (1700 UTC): Destiny 2 Hotfix 2.9.1.2 begins rolling out across all platforms and regions.
• 10:01 AM PDT (1701 UTC): Destiny 2 is back online and players can log in.
• 12 PM PDT (1900 UTC): Destiny 2 service maintenance concludes.

For future release timelines when they are available, players should visit our Destiny Server and Update Status help article. For live updates as this maintenance occurs, players should follow @BungieHelp on Twitter or monitor our support feed at help.bungie.net.

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 who acquire Calcified Light without the Pendulum step of the Growth quest in their inventory will be blocked from completing the quest.
• Picking up a Throwing Hammer while holding a Sword will not recharge Titan's melee ability when running Code of the Devastator.
• Enemies in the Hexahedron encounter of the Prophecy Dungeon can stop spawning.
• Previously uncensored nicknames on Steam are now being censored.
• The Seasons tab of the Director will flash to indicate an available reward when none are there.
  

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.

Sugar, Spice, and Just a Little Bit of Nice

Hunting for a movie fitting of receiving the MOTW title can sometimes be a challenge. Every so often, we get crazy footage of raid strategies that end up making mincemeat of cosmic gods. Other weeks, the clear winner is a short film recorded entirely in-game. This week, we've got a little bit of PvP hotness from a crafty Hunter, a fun idea for custom games to evoke some nostalgic feels, and an amazing raid save.

Movie of the Week: Knife Test

Honorable Mention: House Rules: Rift

Honorable Mention: Spire of Saves

Honorable Mention: Fight Against Destiny

"Fight against destiny!"

This took 56 hours please watch it#destiny #SwordArtOnline pic.twitter.com/U2dbOvFxm6

— Zev ✡ (@zevcandraw) July 23, 2020

Want to take a swing at the title? Well, it's not a title, but a cool emblem. Either way, submit your video to the Creations page on Bungie.net. Make sure your Bungie.net profile is present in the description of your video, or delivery of your emblem may be delayed.

While Moments of Triumph is in full swing, we still have some summer fun on the way. Solstice of Heroes begins in under two weeks! Hard to believe that it'll be August in less than two days.

Next week, we have Iron Banner to play on Tuesday, and some Solstice details to dive through in the Thursday TWAB. Now it's time to get started on my solo flawless Prophecy completion. Cozmo will give you an update next week on whether I succeeded, or failed in spectacular fashion. Until then, we'll see you starside.

Much love,
-dmg04