With the release of Destiny 2 Lightfall two weeks away, the community is interested in the future of Bungie's space opera live service shooter. While promotional material for the latest expansion has shown off new locations, gear, and a new subclass, the developers have recently promoted quality-of-life and design changes coming to their game's foundation.
The changes coming to Destiny 2 Lightfall
The new quality-of-life improvements coming to Destiny 2 Lightfall were announced on Bungie's blog. In this State of the Game post, Destiny 2's Game Director, Joe Blackburn, wrote at length about what players can expect from the future of the game, as well as changes going forward. First, Blackburn stated that the quality level of the content would be consistent with last year's content; spanning The Witch Queen expansion all the way to its recent content from Season of the Seraph.
Blackburn is also aware that the Destiny 2 community has been vocal about new, rewarding content that can last more than the initial release of a premium expansion. Blackburn addressed these concerns in four different sections. First, the game will be removing the cruft of multiple currencies. Umbral Engrams and Umbral Energy are out; replaced with more direct Seasonal Engrams. If you want to focus that Engram to get a certain piece of gear, it'll just cost you Glimmer. Furthermore, you will no longer need to track seasonal currencies to get bonus rewards during seasonal activities. Instead, keys will be added to loot pools. These keys will provide a much larger reward when used, making it feel like a reward. Finally, seasonal vendor upgrades will be going away in favor of a "more experimental framework."
Next, Destiny 2 Lightfall will bring changes to weapon crafting. Ever since its introduction in The Witch Queen expansion, weapon crafting has been divisive in the community. Some enjoy the freedom to make their own custom weapon, slowly unlocking more powerful perks until it becomes their ideal tool of choice. Others say it cheapens the appeal of getting god roll weapons from loot drops and disincentivizes grinding activities. Because of this, Bungie will be rolling out some changes to how weapon crafting works. First, fewer weapons will be craftable. In addition, players will have a way to seek out patterns (weapon schematics) for weapons they want to craft. In addition, new Adept weapons will be added to endgame activities. The perks and traits of these weapons will be dictated by RNG, but some of them can be enhanced through active investment.
Second, Blackburn addressed the skill challenge of Destiny 2 Lightfall. Ever since the introduction of "3.0" updates to all character subclasses, there has been a noticeable increase in power creep. This will be addressed with some nerfs to the Resilience stat across all player classes, some rebalancing of certain gear-based buffs, and a slight increase to enemy aggression across all PvE activities.
Third, Bungie is dedicated to enriching existing content in Destiny 2. First, the game's PvP mode, Crucible, will continue to receive new modes and maps. Bungie has confirmed the return of Meltdown mode, a new Vex-themed map, and the return of the Citadel map throughout 2023's seasons of content. Bungie also addressed issues regarding Crucible matchmaking, saying that they are working on helping players find consistently challenging matches. Also, thanks to feedback regarding the rework of Iron Banner, Trials of Osiris will be receiving a similar overhaul. No new content was announced for Gambit.
As for PvE activities, Bungie had some refreshing insights. First, they will be introducing an Exotic Mission Rotator. On a weekly rotation, players can replay older Exotic Weapon missions like Presage, Vox Obscura, or Operation Seraph's Shield, and earn rewards from their completion. Adjustments will also be coming to Strike playlists. Both Lake of Shadows and Arms Dealer will be getting revised objectives and encounters. Alternatively, Exodus Crash and The Inverted Spire will be dropped from Nightfall rotations and will show up less often in Vanguard Ops.
Finally, Bungie wants to improve player connection in Destiny 2. Part of this will be addressed with a new Guardian Rank system at the launch of Destiny 2 Lightfall, allowing players to see the achievements of their peers. In addition, a new commendation system will be added where players can send compliments to fellow teammates, which will add to their in-game reputation. Lastly, a new Fireteam Finder is in development. This revised LFG tool will help players connect to any activity in the game, helping them find teammates more easily.
Destiny 2 Lightfall will release on February 28, 2023.
