Fly Me to the Moon and Let Me Play Among the Hive
Bungie released Shadowkeep’s launch trailerl just one week before the DLC drops. With this “This Week at Bungie” players can see a whole list of updates coming to the game along with the official roadmap. With Bungie leaving Activision behind, Destiny 2 is looking towards some major changes to PvE combat, Crucible, and the entire economy. So let’s dive into this week’s update as we prepare for our lunar arrival!
Bungie has divided this week’s update into six major points:
- Combat Changes
- Progression and Economy Changes
- Patch Note Preview
- Ritual Weapons and Perk Changes
- Set It Straight
- Wear It With Pride
- Bungie Rewards
We’ll be covering the first five sections briefly to give an overview of what’s coming with Shadowkeep, but the full blog post can be found on Bungie’s website.
Firstly, those 999,999 Celestial Nighthawk shots won’t be popping up as often anymore. Displayed damaged numbers are going through a change, built on a linear curve to calculate damage numbers. This is merely a UI update only, actual player damage output will not be changed.
Progression is going through a massive update. Player level is no longer determined by experience. With the new system, experience progresses the Seasonal Artifact, Power progression, and unlocking destinations for characters. To level the playing field, all players and equipment will be 750 when Shadowkeep drops. The new power levels will be a soft cap at 900, Powerful Cap at 950, and Pinnacle at 960.
Bright Dust, the in-game currency, is also undergoing some changes. Now, Crucible, Gambit, Vanguard weekly and repeatable bounties will earn players Bright Dust. Eververse items will no longer dismantle into Bright Dust but into Glimmer and Legendary Shards.
And, finally, finally, the glimmer cap is now at 250,000.
As for general patch notes to look forward to, there are some great things on the horizon. Rally banners have been added to the Leviathan and all Raid Lairs therein. No longer will players have to sparrow all the way to Bergusia, all Forges will be accessible through the Director on the EDZ. And no more waiting for the three-week cycle for The Shattered Throne which will now be available at all times.
Another big change is pinnacle weapons are now ritual weapons and will no longer have special perks, instead, they will just have curated rolls. This was a decision by the dev team to level the playing field, especially when it comes to Crucible pinnacle weapons. This season will have three new ritual weapons: Vanguard – Edgewise, Crucible – Randy’s Throwing Knife, and Gamit – Exit Strategy.
And Bungie has addressed some miscommunications that have come with Shadowkeep’s massive launch. Trials of the Nine armor was shown in the trailer by mistake and Trials and its armor will not be coming to the Season of the Undying. There was also a slight change to the roadmap and the timing of Nightmare Hunts which will be released November 8th.
Players can also preload Shadowkeep on Steam right now, which will include New Light. And, in preparation for Shadowkeep, both Destiny 1 and Destiny 2’s servers will be taken offline on Monday, September 30th at 10AM PDT for about an hour.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg! Be sure to check out Bungie’s full news post as we dive back in and take another small step for man as we return to the Moon next week. Are you pumped for Shadowkeep? Are you ready for the new leveling system? Let us know in the comments!