This week at Bungie, we're sharing our thoughts on security concerns and challenging Guardians to put their best-dressed foot forward by getting those kilts ready for the Bungie Foundation.
Some third-party peripherals are a godsend, others can have unintended consequences. With the topic of certain third-party usage becoming more and more frequent, our security team is here to answer some common questions we get concerning how these interact with Destiny 2. But before we get into that, here's a brief summary of what you may have missed and what we're talking about this week.
In case you missed last week's TWAB wisdom:
As for what we'll be talking about this week:
All caught up? Dope, let's jump right in then, shall we?
Our community has grown increasingly frustrated by a form of cheating that uses third-party peripherals with the intent to manipulate the game client. These devices are plugged into a computer or console, where they can—for example—execute simple scripts or trick the game into giving you extra aim assist. You'll note that we aren't calling out the services by name, the primary reason for that is we simply don't want to offer a bigger spotlight than necessary. Instead, our focus is on what the impact of using tools like this has on a PvP environment. To this end, Bungie has adopted the following policy on any form of external aides:
Bungie embraces the use of external accessibility aids that enable an experience the game designers intended but will take action, including bans, on people who abuse these tools specifically to gain an advantage over other players.
We will be monitoring for violations of the policy and issuing warnings, restrictions and/or bans appropriately. This has been a matter of extended conversations both internally and in the community, and we want to strike the right balance between Bungie's goal of simultaneously enabling everyone to enjoy our games and protecting our community.
Here at Bungie, we love ourselves a good fashion show. After all, you can't fight crime if you ain't cute, am I right or am I right? Here to talk about how fashion is taking over Commendations is our Player Identity Team, so let's talk drip.
Player Identity Team: Hi Guardians! Back when we were first developing Commendations, we had a sneaky suspicion that a fashion-focused Commendation would be highly desired. As we continued into long-form playtesting, the need became even more obvious—but by then we were past the point of adding anything new to Season 20 and could only tweak and tune what we already had.
So, when we started on Season 21, it was one of the first things we worked on.
But once Lightfall launched, we saw the feedback over and over again, "I just want a Best Dressed Commendation." Or, "I'm just giving the Commendations to the teammates with the best outfits." And on and on! So, because we love our fashion community so much, we dug in and moved it up to the Season 20 Midseason Patch!
Now, Best Dressed isn't going to have a large Commendation score, but fashion is never about getting the highest score, just the most accolades.
Best Dressed Commendations also are restricted to what we call "low-trust" activities—matchmade activities that don't rely on significant communication or teamplay. Not raids and dungeons, not Trials of Osiris. And if you think your clanmate is the Best Dressed, you can just tell them! This isn't a high-school award, Best Dressed is about giving a stranger a compliment.
Just as a reminder, we will have two more Trials Labs on week 8 and 11 of Season 20. In both, we'll be testing the new matchmaking parameters to gather analytics and verify they work as intended on a large scale. For a refresher on how the new matchmaking works from the dev team:
As a reminder, the updates to the Passages of Wealth and Mercy, and the changes to the gilded Flawless Triumph requirements will not be live on these weekends. Those will come in Season 21 alongside the new emblem and introductory quest.
We will be playing alongside you all in both pools and monitoring feedback on the new matchmaking system over the course of these Labs. Later in Season 20, we will have a more in-depth discussion about the changes that are coming to Trials in Season 21.
The 12th Annual Kilts for Kids is back in action, full of plaid and prizes to help raise critical funds for Seattle Ronald McDonald House! Joining the familiar faces of Christine, Mark, and Forrest is our newest kilted comrade, Aaron Rosler. Thank you to all of you who have helped keep this tradition going for so many years. To date, the Bungie community has helped fund over 26,000 nights for families from all over the world to stay free of charge at RMHC Seattle while they receive medical treatment at Seattle Children's Hospital. That's astonishing!
Help us achieve our $77,777 goal by heading to the RMHC Donation Page and casting your vote for Team Bungie. Each vote is worth $10 and every donation of $30 will pay for a family to stay at RMHC Seattle for one night.
In addition to helping kids and families facing illness, check out these incentives*:
*Rewards will not be automatically redeemed, as we must receive donor data from RMHC before reward distribution.
Thank you for bringing hope, smiles, and comfort to kids in need by participating in this fun annual event. We can't wait to share with all of you the impact of your support!
Second Strand-type game.
It's that time again, time for our Player Support Team to chime in with the latest updates on known issues and what's coming down the pipeline in the immediate future. Because they're superheroes like that.
This is their report.
Known Issues List | Help Forums | Bungie Help Twitter
UPDATE 7.0.5
Next Tuesday, April 18, Destiny 2 Update 7.0.5 will be released. View our Destiny Server and Update Status page for maintenance times, as well as the timeline below (all times are Pacific):
- 8 AM: Maintenance is scheduled to begin.
- 8:45 AM: Destiny 2 is brought offline.
- 10 AM: Destiny 2 will be brought back online. Update 7.0.5 will be playable on all platforms and regions.
- 11 AM: Destiny 2 maintenance is scheduled to be completed.
GUARDIAN RANK OBJECTIVE DATES
We have made scoring updates to the following Guardian Rank objectives:
- Legend Score: 115,000 (was 130,000)
- Nightfall Score: 180,000 (was 200,000)
- Scoring Grandmaster: 210,000 (was 230,000)
Additionally, we have increased the Lake of Shadows score multiplier to 1.0x.
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:
- Weekly red border weapon focusing may not count progress for the Defiant Focusing Triumph.
- If players wipe in the boss encounter of the Lake of Shadows Nightfall, already defeated Champions may respawn in previous zones, resulting in inaccurate scores and completion rewards.
- Suraya Hawthorne may continue to reference visiting Amanda in her voice lines.
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.
Hippy: "Don't let your dreams be dreams" sounds inspirational... unless you have oneirophobia. Then it's terrifying. Oneirophobia is the fear of dreams but one thing that doesn't inspire fear is this incredible 8-bit #Destiny2MOTW submission with sounds that inspire the best nostalgia.
Movie of the Week: Oneirophobia
Sam: 2D animation is one of those crafts that can push the boundaries of your creativity in a new way because you aren't able to tap into the depth of field and curvature of 3D. In this video, we get to see this artist's perspective of what it would look like to be on Titan in its final minute during the Collapse in 2D.
Movie of the Week: Collapse
Ivan: Do you think this Hunter is planning her next adventure? Or just finished one? Probably both. The transparent chair and Black Talon's blade pattern are such great details. Also, these vibrant colors give a feeling of warmth. Emily, congrats on the well-deserved #Destiny2AOTW!
Art of the Week: Pastel Hunter Queen
🌈💖Pastel Hunter Queen💜✨
— ☽ EmilyMegan Art ☾ (@EmilyMeganX) April 7, 2023
Everything about this is just 🤩
Totally aesthetic 👌🏻
This was so fun and satisfying to draw, All my fave colours!
Piece for @AlIysvn + @wheaty8806 🤍#destiny2art #Destiny2AOTW @Bungie pic.twitter.com/tVKqnDf4c5
Timon: This amazing piece celebrates the chaotic jumping from Nightmare Containment with a scythe in Season of the Haunted!
Art of the Week: Scythe Hunter
Nightmare scythe Merit for @The_Gamestr! 🔥 Thank you very much
— Brighan⚡ (@BrighanArt) April 7, 2023
_#Destiny2Art #Destiny2AOTW pic.twitter.com/JJDtQ2CPqR
And that's a wrap! Another TWAB in the books and another week in Destiny 2 getting our swing on and ignoring those that may or may not swing off of cliff edges despite numerous warnings from a surrounding fireteam. Totally not a self-dunk. Because that would be silly...
Anyway.
Just your usual reminder to make sure you go out into the world leading with your kindest foot forward, practice that self-care, and drink some delicious H2O. We'll catch you next time, friends.
"I should go,"
<3 Hippy