Destiny 2, Bungie’s longtime online sci-fi shooter, has a year of substantial changes ahead, according to a new script the studio detailed in an extensive blog published on Thursday. While the next major expansion of the game, The Queen Witch, was postponed to the beginning of 2022, Bungie says it has major revisions planned for almost every aspect of the game – from the Crucible’s multiplayer competitive mode to how players progress and become more powerful in the game’s seasonal expansion model.
One of the biggest changes planned for Destiny 2 is a great crossplay implementation that will, for the first time, allow players on PC and players on consoles to come together for activities. In its blog post, Bungie said that crossplay will come later this year, in season 15, and most importantly, the studio confirms that it will not force crossplay for competitive activities as many fans feared. “Don’t worry, we will not combine console and PC players in the Crucible, unless PC players specifically invite their console friends to play with them in the PC Crucible pools,” says the blog.
There are a ton of other major changes planned, many of which address the complaints of longtime players. Here is a summary of some of the most important ones:
- Bungie will no longer “sunset” weapons and armor, making older items obsolete. The studio states that “any weapon or armor that can be applied at maximum power will continue to be able to reach maximum power permanently”. It is a great relief for players who were frustrated by the sunset experiment last year, leaving behind fan favorite equipment.
- The glass vault, Destinythe first attack, is coming back as part of Destiny Content Vault in season 14 this summer. Bungie now says it will eventually release a difficult “master” version to align the raid with the toughest player versus environment (PvE) activities.
- Bungie is planning a “review” of the ultra-competitive Trials of Osiris game mode to improve the mix, rebuild the incentive structure to encourage less skilled players to compete and find ways to allow solo players to participate.
- Bungie outlined the main changes in how its Dark-based Stasis subclass works in both PvE and PvP activities to reduce its dominance against human opponents and bring the older subclasses to par.
- Destiny 2 will no longer force players to get 50 power level points each season and instead introduce small season expansions with just a 10 power level jump. This should make it easier for players to get back into the game at the start of new seasons and not feel pressured to level up. (This is my favorite day announcement.)
Many of these changes represent Bungie’s renewed effort to listen to its diehard fans, many of whom have been playing Destiny 2 and its predecessor since 2014.
Common complaints include exhausting grinds to reach the maximum power level and enjoy the most rewarding activities of the game, lack of attention and focus on the Crucible’s competitive game mode and inconsistencies in the depth and richness of certain expansions versus others that can result in long drafts content and little incentive to keep playing. Bungie seems to be handling all of this with its plans for 2021, all leading to the eventual launch of The Queen Witch Next year.
The studio has endured countless storms before, including an almost constant ebb and flow between the player’s extreme satisfaction and frantic indignation. With last year’s In addition to the light, Bungie signaled that it was ready to push the Destiny universe towards a long-term scope with a more service-oriented model and a more cohesive vision for the game’s history and structure.
In effect, that meant not Destiny 3; the series would advance in its current state and evolve over time, like a suitable MMO or a live service game. And last week, the company also announced a major change in its executive leadership and an expansion of the studio that includes an expansion of the Destiny universe in “additional media”, opening the doors to cinema, TV and other formats.
Bungie has proven that it is more than capable of listening to feedback and focusing its attention and resources where they matter most, and this latest script is doing Destiny 2 it looks more promising than ever.