Raise your hand if you're still playing Destiny 2? Anyone? Anyone...
Destiny 2 got off to a sizzling hot start during the major Fall 2017 video game season but a series of controversies and a lack of endgame content left many diehard Destiny fans questioning their allegiance.
Destiny 2 has promised sweeping changes before, but the first blog post of 2018 actually puts some concrete dates behind these assurances. In addition, Bungie has made some definitive statements about how new content will be introduced and what activities will be locked behind each subsequent DLC Expansion. The activities under Seasons will be made available at no additional cost, throughout the life of the game. However, new Gear, Raid Lairs, Story Campaigns and Strikes will require players to be current on Destiny 2's latest Expansion.
We've examined the remainder of the blog post and here are the critical changes being made and when they'll be implemented:
January 30
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Masterwork armor rolls out and will be a Seasons' perk, i.e. available to everyone.
February
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Timed Strikes will be going away and will be replaced by "Strike Scores" which will determine player score and will utilize the scoring system from Destiny 1. In addition, new emblems will rollout that display High Strike Scores.
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Weapon and Armor Mods will be overhauled to emphasize more variety so that mods have a greater impact on weapons and armor. Bungie warns that this one might get pushed until the Spring as they monitor its effect on gameplay. Gamers are theorizing that Mods will become the new way that player achieve their "God Roll".
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Nonspecific changes to the Quickplay Crucible Playlist that increase match speed and Power Ammo distribution.
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It will be impossible to get the same Exotic consecutively. You'll still be able to get duplicates but turning in 2 exotic engrams in a row will no longer produce the exact same exotic.
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YOU'LL FINALLY BE ABLE TO SEE YOUR FIRETEAM MEMBERS ON THE MAP! (Praise RNGesus!!!!)
Ongoing Implementation That Will Start On Crimson Day (February 13) And Be Completed By Season 3 (Spring 2018)
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Evervese exclusive Sparrows, Ghost, and Ships will be made acquirable through other in-game activities. In short, the Eververse will no longer have exclusive items.
Spring 2018 (Season 3) - Expansion 2 Will Be Released
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Crucible Ranking (of sorts) - Players will have 2 Crucible Aspects tracked: Wins (Valor) and Wins-Loss (Glory). In short, Valor will go up with each Crucible Match win, while your Glory score will go up with each win AND DOWN with each loss.
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Private Crucible Matches
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6v6 Crucible Matches, although the 4v4 Mode isn't going anywhere
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Mayhem will return as a limited-time event
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Swappable emotes i.e you can customize all of your emotes instead of just 1
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Unspecified tweaks to End Game, Exotic Armor and Weapons, Iron Banner & Faction Rallies, Weapon Balance adjustments
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Additional Vault Space (Bungie is targeting an additional 50 space but warns the final number could be less)
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Modifies to Heroic Strikes
Fall 2018 (Season 4)
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Masterwork Exotics
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More Crucible Playlists including but not limited to Rumble
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Improved Clan Rewards
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Pinnacle Weapon and Gear Improvements
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Tweaks to solo vs Fire Team matchmaking i.e. limit the instances where a group of randoms compete against a Fire Team
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Trials of the Nine improvements
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Update to Guided Games
If you're like me and left Destiny 2 quite some time ago, are these changes enough to get you to return? Let us know in the comment section below.