This Week at Bungie, we’re counting down the minutes till Warmind
This week at Bungie, we’re counting down the minutes till Warmind.
In recent months, a series of updates for Destiny 2 has added some quality-of-life improvements to the game. On May 9, the team will deliver even more. Wednesday can’t come soon enough.
Season 3 will make all players more powerful and give them new ways to earn some Glory (and Valour).
Expansion II will send you starside in search of new activities, new lore, new challenges, and new loot.
Cheers to Vicarious Visions for their passion and dedication to the craft of creating amazing experiences for players. They’ve been wonderful partners with the team on this journey. With Destiny 2 PC and Warmind under their collective belts, the team are excited about the future of this collaboration. Before you see their contribution to the world of Destiny, Creative Director Brent Gibson has a message from his team:
Brent: The team at Vicarious Visions have been fans of Destiny long before we started working with Bungie on this amazing franchise. While working alongside our counterparts at Bungie, we’ve met the challenge of expanding the Destiny universe and we are beyond thrilled that the day is nearly here! We are honoured to have added to this rich world with passionate fans numbering in the millions. This is the kind of thing that game developers dream about. We are fortunate enough to not only add to the gameplay experience, but the franchise as a whole by bringing the legendary Hunter, Ana Bray, to life! She has carried our banner through this entire journey and we can’t wait for you to meet her on this adventure. See you on Mars on May 9!
On Approach
We’ve had a lot of fun hosting “Warmind Week” on the blog. There’s a lot we want you to know before you plot a course for Mars. If you missed a beat, here’s a recap:
The Destiny 2 Narrative Preview set the stage with five pieces of weblore written by our team.
This week, we released the “Warmind” digital comic, written by Mark Waid (Doctor Strange) and David A. Rodriguez (Destiny 2: Warmind), and inked by Kris Anka (Runaways).
The team have also released two new Developer Insights to give more details on what to expect when Warmind launches. Creative Director Brent Gibson from Vicarious Visions and Design Lead Evan Nikolich from Bungie shed light on the state of Mars, Rasputin, and the enemies you’ll be introduced to. Sandbox Design Lead Josh Hamrick and Senior Crucible Designer Kevin Yanes walk us through the Exotic Masterwork weapon process, with additional information about Crucible Ranks, which will be available to all players when Season 3 begins on May 9 in ANZ.
The team have one more Developer Insight planned for release on Saturday, May 5 in ANZ, featuring commentary from Design Lead Jacob Benton and Design Lead Ben Wommack on the development of Escalation Protocol. Stay tuned to Bungie.net/Warmind for more!
Patch Note Preview
In previous articles, the team have been diving deep into the details of design goals for some of the larger changes coming in Season 3. There’s quite a bit more to Destiny Update 1.2.0, to read more about the feature changes and bug fixes that will also be deployed next week, head over here.
Details on Design
The Exotic Sandbox that you’re familiar with is about to change. The team had Senior Sandbox Designer Jon Weisnewski on the hot seat to talk us through the upcoming changes on stream and on the blog. You may have seen some demonstrations of new and improved Exotic weaponry this week. Some of the changes have some nuance to them, so here he is again with the exact details on how your arsenal is evolving:
Jon: Due to a lengthy update this week, I’m going to keep my section short. This’ll be the last Exotic tease from me. After this week, you’ll be playing with all of the new changes!
- Risk Runner: We gave Arc Conductor increased resistance to incoming Arc damage (50%) and enabled it in the Crucible. Arc Conductor will now activate when the weapon is stowed, but damage resistance will only work when the weapon is in your hands. This was already a strong gun for PvE. We’re hoping these changes give it a place in some interesting Crucible load outs, strategies, and counters. Watch the preview here.
- Sweet Business: If you run this gun, you probably just want to shoot forever. We gave it a capped ammo inventory of 999. It’s not forever, but it’s a lot. Watch the preview here.
- D.A.R.C.I.: This Sniper Rifle now grants 4x damage once locked on a target (exact scaling depends on activity, difficulty, light level delta, etc). It shouldn’t take a master strategist to figure out how this will benefit you in PvE. Any Crucible combat snipers will also want to give this gun a try; it’s got a: 7 round magazine, reduced zoom for closer engagements, and an aim assist stat retuned to be more generous when you haven’t locked a target yet for better results while drag sniping. Watch the preview here.
Mixing Things Up a Little
Destiny Updates 1.1.2, 1.1.3, and 1.1.4 have brought quality-of-life changes to Destiny 2. Update 1.2.0 is almost here to bring more community-requested features to the table. Senior Investment Designer Daniel Auchenpaugh has details on the upcoming Heroic strike modifiers and the new Legendary Nightfall Challenge Card.
Dan: In Season 3, we’ve increased the baseline difficulty of Heroic strikes to make combatants more aggressive and make the experience feel more, well, Heroic. Additionally, at any given time the Heroic strike playlist will have three modifiers on it: one Burn (rotates weekly), one Advantage (rotates daily), and one Disadvantage (rotates daily).
To get a quick rundown of what you can expect in those categories, head on over here.
It’s exciting to see players reaching new top scores through a variety of modifiers on the Legendary Nightfall Challenge Card. Here are the top scoring fireteams from last week’s Nightfall, “A Garden World”:
Prismatic Matrix
In the January Development Update, the team spoke of shifting the balance of vanity content in favour of activity rewards, rather than purely through Eververse. They first addressed this balance by adding vanity rewards to Crucible, Nightfall, strike, and raid activities. To further improve the overall Eververse experience, a new feature the team are calling the Prismatic Matrix will debut in Season 3. This feature has been developed with three key goals in mind:
- Give players more control over how they earn Eververse items
- Offer a more predictable path each week that guarantees access to specific items
- Drop fewer duplicate items
To read more, head over here.
Movie of the Week
The title of “Movie of the Week” is frequently earned by those who showcase skill in the Crucible, or moments of success against overwhelming odds in endgame activities. This week, the team are looking at the word “creation” in a more literal sense…
- Movie of the Week: Ana Bray Speed
- Honourable Mention: Herald
Cheers to this week’s winners! If you’d like a chance to earn the Lens of Fate emblem, make sure to submit your video to the Creations page on Bungie.net and include #MOTW in your title.
Wednesday, Warmind goes live at 4AM in ANZ. Saturday, May 12, the Spire of Stars raid lair goes live at 3AM in ANZ. Who among you will take the challenge head on? Good luck!
As a reminder, Season 2 ends with the launch of Warmind. This is your final weekend to earn Season 2 rewards from activities and Bright Engrams. Make sure to check with the Vanguard, Crucible, Iron Banner, and Trials of the Nine for your last chance to earn Season 2 ornaments before they’re gone.
It’s almost time to head to Mars. See you next week.
For more information, head on over to Bungie.net
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