This Week At Bungie - 3/25/2021

This week at Bungie, it's Diplomacy or Death.

Zavala has issued a challenge to Caiatl. You have been chosen to represent the Vanguard in battle against the Champion of the Cabal in a Rite of Proving. If you are victorious, this could to bring an end to the recent conflicts on Nessus. If you fail, Caiatl fills a seat on her war council in the form of Bracus Zavala. Head to the H.E.L.M. for your quest and gear up for a fight to remember.

This week kicked off not only with the new Proving Grounds strike, but a round of Stasis tuning for the Crucible. Many of you have been spending time testing out the changes and readjusting your strategies in the wake of change. Warlocks have also been taking Mantle of Battle Harmony for a spin in the Iron Banner, as its Exotic perk now functions in Crucible combat. If you haven't read up on the patch notes from Tuesday's hotfix, check them out now!

This week, we'll be looking at some lobby balancing changes being tested in Iron Banner and covering a fresh set of Prime Gaming rewards. Read on for more!

Lobby Balancing Act

In June of 2020, we made some changes to remove skill based matchmaking from all playlists except Survival. Since the change, we've been monitoring player feedback, watching data, and getting some hands on in the Crucible to see how games felt with connection based matchmaking prioritized. A common feedback item has concerned lobby balancing, and how we distribute players among fireteams within a Crucible match.

Starting today, we'll be testing out some changes to how players are split between teams once a match has been formed in Iron Banner and Iron Banner: Freelance playlists. These changes are expected to be deployed around 10:00 AM Pacific, so by the time you're reading this TWAB, they may already be in place.

To give a simple explanation of the change, our current algorithm tries to make the average skill level even between the teams, which can lead to lopsided teams depending on the skill range of everyone put in the match. With the changes being deployed today, we're updating our Crucible lobby balancer to balance teams with a modified algorithm which can be compared to "School Yard Pick" or "Snake Draft". This will attempt to place the best player on team one, second best player on team two, third best player on team two, fourth best player on team one, and so on.

As a note, we are making no changes to matchmaking. This is specifically a change to how players are divided among teams once a match has been formed. We'll be watching feedback over the weekend to see how players are feeling about this change in Iron Banner and we have plans to expand to more playlists once the changes are verified to have positive effects!

Prime Gaming Rewards Refresh

Earlier this week, Destiny 2 rewards available through Prime Gaming were updated! This month, Huckleberry is in the spotlight, featuring a sweet Exotic ornament for those who prefer black and red over white and gold.

Haven't signed up yet? No sweat. Head here to link your Bungie.net account and follow directions for claiming rewards. If you've done everything right, Amanda Holliday will have a package for you containing the following:

• The Huckleberry Exotic SMG
• The Devil's Work Ornament
• Sanctified Vigilance Ghost Shell
• Bicameral Promise Legendary Ship

If you have any questions or hit any snags, be sure to check the Prime Gaming Support Article on Help.Bungie.net.

PANIC! at the Proving Grounds

While Guardians are in the Proving Grounds strike taking on a Cabal Champion, Player Support is working in the background with the development team to smash any bugs that might be getting in the way of your progress.

This is their report.

KNOWN ISSUES LIST  #HELP FORUMS  BUNGIE HELP TWITTER

GUARDIAN GAMES GHOST SHELLS
Last week, with the launch of Patch 3.1.1, it was discovered that players' Guardian Games Ghost Shells were being replaced with other Ghost Shells, and would disappear when equipped. Due to this, the ability to equip the shells was temporarily disabled.

These shells have now been re-enabled, and we will provide a fix for players who had their upgraded Guardian Games Ghost Shells dismantled in a future update.

HOTFIX 3.1.1.2
Hotfix 3.1.1.2 will go live next Thursday, April 1, at the daily reset. Maintenance windows and expected downtime can be viewed here once they are made available.

Here is a small list of the issues being addressed:

• The Insight Terminus Nightfall Triumph will now be correctly awarded when the score requirement is reached.
• The Lost Sector puzzles for the Xenophage quest will now work as intended.
• Heavy ammo will no longer spawn underneath the Distant Shore Crucible map.

EXOTIC ENHANCEMENT CORE
Enhancement Cores that are sent to the Postmaster will appear in the Postmaster's inventory as Exotic engrams with zero Power. Collecting this Exotic engram is intended to only award a single Enhancement Core, and players should be aware that they are not missing out on a real Exotic engram reward.

WEEKLY 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:

• The Adept Mag Mod does not grant bonus reserves for Sola's Scar.
• An inaccurate quest node will appear for the Proving Grounds strike on step 5 of "Challenger's Proving VII". Players will instead need to launch into the strike from the above strike node to access the activity.
• We are continuing to investigate reports of issues with Steam chat.
• 2020 Guardian Games class items are no longer honoring placements from the previous games.
• The Ether Ritual Public Event may not record event participation.

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.

Black Eyes

Raids in Destiny are like peanut butter on jelly. You can totally just have some toast with jam or jelly, but making a sandwich with peanut butter mixed in? Perfection. This week, our winners head back to the Last Wish raid to take on Riven, but with an added challenge of only hitting eyes with melee abilities.

Movie of the Week: Riven Eyes vs Hunter Melee

Honorable Mention: Task Force Titan

If you'd like to put your hat in the ring for a MOTW feature, please submit a post to the Creations page. Be sure to credit any Guardians in your video by putting links to Bungie.net profiles in the description. That way, we know where to dish out the emblems.

Weapon & Guardian

This week, the community has something really special for you to see. Twenty-two artists collaborated to create an absolutely amazing website, showcasing each of their Guardians and their favorite tools of destruction.

Art of the Week: Weapon & Guardian 

⚒️데스티니 무기&수호자 합작 공개합니다!
★ https://t.co/wu2IE0RsdO
(PC로 감상하시는 것을 추천드립니다) pic.twitter.com/gDznre8czb

— ?? (@wang_ran_) March 22, 2021

Now, this one's a bit tricky as there isn't a single image to share. Click through and take a scroll. Cheers to everyone who contributed to this collaboration and thank you for sharing your work!

If you're here right at publication, this is an early TWAB! We wanted to get the word out on lobby balancing as the changes went into effect, but we'll likely return to the normal "afternoon Pacific" release time next week. We've got a bit to chew on between now and then, don't we?

I personally need to get a bit more time in the Crucible to see how the Stasis tuning is landing. 6v6 Crucible is one thing, but Trials will be a fun test over the weekend as I hunt for a better roll on my [REDACTED]. Oh, c'mon. You know we wouldn't spoil what the Trials rewards are before they're live!

I also have a few Deep Stone Crypt raids and Grandmaster Nightfalls to get through with my clan. Fingers crossed for some Eyes of Tomorrow drops for my teammates, and I'll personally be hunting some fun rolls for the Adept Shadow Price. Until next time, fingers crossed for good loot! Not just for myself, but for you and your fireteams as well.

Cheers,
dmg04