Destiny: FIN

[Gorf King]

Are we sure that existing engrams can't/won't decrypt into the "new" exotics? They are only adding some new stuff to the pool, not bringing out a new set for a DLC. If RNG has been as good to me as it has everyone else, we'll all have a pile of chest engrams in the vault (I've got 5), so we'll find out soon enough.

We won't know for sure until it's happened, no. And this isn't 'DLC' as such, but it is an update which will require a patch, so there obviously is new code involved. We do know that engrams have their contents set when they are dropped, not decoded (unless they are within a package and therefore one layer further down, in which case the engram itself isn't set until the package is opened, because that's when the engram is generated). So I'm pretty much 100% sure that an engram looks to the existing loot table at the time of being generated, and since the current loot table doesn't include the new-old exotics coming next week, they'll not have been able to generate a next-week item. The time at which an engram's decoded is irrelevant - the Cryptarch adds no data to the item and alters none; he just unwraps it for you.

And yeah, Soi, I'm looking forward to my RDMs as well. Of course, when I discover that the MIDA stagger-nerf wasn't a nightmare but an actual event, I'll just shard them in disgust and throw my gun through the TV. I don't like being shot at when I'm dancing - it's just not cricket.

[Soi]

Dancing boots and double jump boots. Hunters get the coolest boots.

[LiMuBai]

If engrams are pre decided before decoding, that would imply they are set when the drop yeah? That can't be right though, as pretty much all of my exotic engrams have dropped on my Titan, but I moved them to my other characters and they've decoding into their relevant items.

When is the light level set? I decoded an engram on my 314 hunter the other night that gave me a 290 chest. But I think that engram dropped on my Warlock a while ago when he was still sub 300

[lordscotland]

I don't think the character you decrypt them on makes the slightest difference. I always use my titan as it has the highest light (to get 310s) and get a fairly even split between all 3 classes.

[Bonzai1888]

The games a dick.

[Gorf King]

If engrams are pre decided before decoding, that would imply they are set when the drop yeah? That can't be right though, as pretty much all of my exotic engrams have dropped on my Titan, but I moved them to my other characters and they've decoding into their relevant items.

When is the light level set? I decoded an engram on my 314 hunter the other night that gave me a 290 chest. But I think that engram dropped on my Warlock a while ago when he was still sub 300

The engram type is definitely set when it drops, and an exotic engram doesn't tie its type to the character who picks it up, or decodes it. With TTK, the light level of an exotic is determined by the character's level at the time of decoding - that bit is the only part that's affected by the decoding process, and it's new to TTK obviously.

Your experiences sound unusual, but having said that I have heard odd reports - very few - of 311+ characters getting 290 exotics from engrams. But they seem to be exceedingly rare, and every time I've had exotics drop to sub-311 characters I've given them to a 311+ and the decode has always produced a 310 item. And the same is true for everyone I know. So I'm not saying it's impossible, but it seems an outlier, at best. Perhaps there is a 99% probability of a 310, or something - I don't know for sure. Maybe it's just a bug.

I do know that the exotic armour type is not tied to the class of the character who hands it over for decoding, though. That is definitely not a deciding factor, according to every decode I've ever had - the majority of my many (100s of?) exotic armour decodes have been for one of my other two character classes. I haven't worked out odds, mind - it may not be entirely RNG and might give a slight probability boost to the class handing the engram over. But I'm only leaving that possibility in because I haven't done any real research - there's nothing in my experience to suggest it even has an effect. And if the item type (albeit not its light level) is decided within the engram when it drops - which every single piece of evidence points to - then it can't be affected by the character handing it over anyway.

[ph0rce]

Yeah, the game doesn't care who decrypts it, it's just random.

If you've always got the type of armour for the class you were using, then that's just blind luck I'm afraid.

[Oz]

WHERE ARE THE FUCKING ENGRAMS YOU MASSIVE MASSIVE CUNT!!?

[Mercury]

I don't have a lot of the Year 1 Exotics. If I buy a Legacy Engram, do I have a chance of getting a weapon I didn't discover during year 1, e.g. Mida?

[Bonzai1888]

Maybe they have removed them coz they know people may stockpile them only to moan like fuck when they are all pre update rewards.

[Oz]

Looks like they were waiting for me to hit 311 to remove them though. Fucking hell.

[Gorf King]

I don't have a lot of the Year 1 Exotics. If I buy a Legacy Engram, do I have a chance of getting a weapon I didn't discover during year 1, e.g. Mida?

Yes, it's RNG just as it would have been in Year One. Otherwise there'd be no point to them - if they were only the ones you already had, they'd be available in the terminal anyway.

[Mercury]

Yes, it's RNG just as it would have been in Year One. Otherwise there'd be no point to them - if they were only the ones you already had, they'd be available in the terminal anyway.

I assumed so but thought I'd check - thanks for confirming. Think I'll spunk a load of SC's on Legacy Engrams. I already have enough 3OC's to last several lifetimes.

[Uncle Mike]

Supposedly, Xur's Legacy Engrams have a higher-than-random chance to decrypt into something you don't already have.

[Bonzai1888]

Supposedly, Xur's Legacy Engrams have a higher-than-random chance to decrypt into something you don't already have.

Yip, I got my millionth no land beyond when I bought one accidently, RNG genius at work.

I also ran a prison of elders.... I got a no land beyond.

[Mercury]

Supposedly, Xur's Legacy Engrams have a higher-than-random chance to decrypt into something you don't already have.

I'll let you know but am fully expecting another fucking Telesto.

[berties paw]

I'll let you know but am fully expecting another fucking Telesto.

I can guarantee you won't get a Telesto from a Legacy engram

[Oz]

I can guarantee you won't get a Telesto from a Legacy engram

With the number of glitches and weird little fuck ups with this game I don't think we can even guarantee that. He might get moldering shards.

[Oz]

What a weird little mechanic moldering shards are no? Almost seems like an afterthought. Like that is what you were going to use to upgrade raid gear. Then they decided to make raid gear shit, then they decided to give you an extra drop with 20 of them (why 20?) but didn't think to exclude moldering shards from the extra drop. So you can loose 20 and get 2 in return. Bungie have nailed the shooting but regarding RPG mechanics they are not exactly blizzard are they.

[Mercury]

What a weird little mechanic moldering shards are no? Almost seems like an afterthought. Like that is what you were going to use to upgrade raid gear. Then they decided to make raid gear shit, then they decided to give you an extra drop with 20 of them (why 20?) but didn't think to exclude moldering shards from the extra drop. So you can loose 20 and get 2 in return. Bungie have nailed the shooting but regarding RPG mechanics they are not exactly blizzard are they.

Yep. And then you have Etheric Light, Armour and Weapon cores, Ascendant Energy and Shards. They took away the ability to re-roll weapons but gave us Glass Needles for armour. The materials/consumables stuff could really do with an overhaul.

[Mr Ben]

Not exactly Blizzard? Nowhere near fucking Blizzard morel like!

Ah well at least Xur has that hunter helm I've never managed to get as a drop (smart loot my arse).

[LiMuBai]

Why is the door to Xur in the reef shut?!!

[Mr Ben]

He's not at the reef thats why. No idea why someone said he was. He's in the hangar, to the right on that little walkway.

Waiting to be thrown off!

[berties paw]

It was shut when I went earlier too, you could see the blue icon for Xur through the door but it was closed. Done the daily crucible, went back and it was open.

[wretcherd]

Last year boots were my very last legendary armour piece. Lo and behold I'm currently being held back by my 297 boots, again.

One decent drop and I'll jump multiple levels.

[carlospie]

He was in the reef. I saw him today

[Gorf King]

Aye, he was definitely there first thing this morning, cos that's where I kicked him in the nuts. I reckon Bungie sealed the door later on and then moved him for his own protection before the pubs kicked out.

[Bonzai1888]

The door wasnt opening so they moved the twat, there was a workaround from bungie then they decided fuck that.

[Bonzai1888]

From Bungie.

"Hello Internet,

My name is Sage, and it's been my pleasure to guide the Sandbox for Destiny. At Bungie, we define the player "Sandbox" as anything the player directly interacts with. So Weapons, Subclasses, Abilities, Armor, Exotics, Vehicles, etc. If it feels good to move and shoot, ("Sweet!") thats us. If it's totally broken or un-balanced, ("Boo!") thats also us. We want the game to be amazing just as much as you do.

TL;DR: If you don't care about the Why and only want the What, scroll down to the bottom for an excerpt of the 2.1.0 Patch Notes.

Now, brace for a wall of text!

Last time you heard from me, I promised that we would make an effort to update the live game more often (vs. spending all of our time making new hotness). "Newsk" has been leading the charge for Weapons already, but this will be the first time we have ever significantly touched Class balance. Why did it take so long? Well to be honest, this is the first time that we have felt it was necessary. Thats not to say that we think the Classes have been perfect - far from it. Previously, the desire to make changes were overshadowed by some higher-priority things (like fixing Thorn or making new Sub-Classes and Exotics). It's finally time to make some changes.

Before we shipped The Taken King, the Sunbreaker was feeling so sweet that I was walking around telling everyone we should add an additional subtitle to the game. Something like "Destiny: The Taken King: Rise of the Titans." Although I wanted the Titans to have their moment in the sun, we didn't intentionally ship them hot. At the time, our internal data and playtests showed that the Sunbreakers were strong, but not overly so. Yeah, I know, how could we be so dumb? It's possible that I may have overdone them just a little bit.

Before we dive into the changes, I want to point out something about how we make Sub-Classes. When we create a new Sub-Class from scratch, one of the things we try to do is to weave three strong paths into the fabric of the build. You can see evidence of this in all the Sub-Classes, but some are more successful than others. Typically, a path starts with one of the Super upgrades, and then creates additional synergies with the remaining passives/melee/grenades. Why is this important? Because, although the Sunbreaker definitely has a balance problem, that problem is mostly confined to what I would call the "Hammer more Hammers" path (Forgemaster + Flameseeker + Cauterize). So you can expect changes to those nodes, bringing them in line with other paths.

"Enough Talk! What are you actually doing!!!"

First up: Melee Range. We are extending base Melee range for all Titans. It would take another few pages to explain the entire sordid history of Class balance that led us to the current situation with Titan Melee vs. the other Classes. Let's just say that I agree that the Titans should be the primary Melee Class, but thats not going to happen overnight. We are not touching the melee for the other Classes, but we are extending the Titan's Melee range from 4m to 4.5m (a gain of 12.5%). This should improve the feeling of having short, little, inadequate T-Rex arms. I'm also touching Catapult Lift because it was awesome once, but we nerfed it in a fit of panic right before we shipped Destiny back in 2014. The slight bump to initial velocity should help it be more competitive with the other Lift choices.

Now let's look at some hard data to help explain some of the other changes.

DATA! PvP kill death ratio for the past 90 days

(6v6 modes only, Mayhem excluded)

This chart shows what the average Kill/Death Ratio looks like in PvP across the Titan Class for the past 90 days. As you can see, the Sunbreakers (Solar Titan) average KD is high (~1.06), while the other Titans are in the basement. For the Defender (Void Titan), that's actually okay, because they're intended primarily as a support Class. In other metrics, we see that Teams with Defenders fair significantly better (HINT: Consider some Void Titan backup in your future Iron Banner plans). Living in the KDR basement is not okay for the Striker (Arc Titan), so they need to come up a bit.

I know from other data that the Sunbreakers high KD can be attributed mostly to the Hammer of Sol. Most of the other Sub-Classes hover around 14% Super Kills in PvP. The Sunbreaker is closer to 19%, so that needs to come down.

Note 1: Yes, you are seeing behind the curtain. Internally, Solar = Thermal. Bungle Secrets!

Note 2: I'm not showing the other Classes in this chart but all of the other Classes fall in the (0.91 - 1.06) KDR range.

Next, we're looking at the Class distribution across the game. In the PvP section, you can see that the Sunbreaker (Solar Titan) is dominant relative to their Arc/Void brothers and sisters. This should come as no surprise to anyone who has been playing PvP recently, but I thought you might appreciate seeing the actual distribution. As I said before, the Defender is a force to be reckoned with when played correctly (providing back up and "Instant Base!" functionality to a team). However, they could use a little additional something to avoid getting squashed in the chart below. So, we're giving the Defender back their Grenade and Charged Melee on Super cast. That should help make them "Ready for Anything."

DATA! Subclass distribution for the past 90 days

Given all that, we arrive at these simple goals for Titans:

Solar Titan

Give other players a glimmer of hope standing against a Solar Titan in PvP.

Bring down the average KDR so it's closer to the ideal (1.0)

Encourage taking alternate paths through the Node tree.

Arc Titan

Bring average KDR up so that they are competitive with other Subclasses.

Reinforce the Strikers Hard Charging Melee role.

Void Titan

Double down on the Instant Base/Ready for anything Combat/Support role.

Those goals result in the following change list.

Titan Patch Notes:

Sunbreaker

Melee

Titan Melee: Extend Titan Melee range (+12.5%)

Sunstrike: Decrease DOT Time (6.5s ->5.5s)

Super

Hammer of Sol: Reduce Damage Resistance during Super (-9.09%)

Hammer of Sol: Slow Hammer travel speed by (-1.32%)

Passives

Forgemaster: Reduce Splash damage detonation radius multiplier (-20%)

Flameseeker: Turn down Hammer tracking bonus (-25%)

Flameseeker: Remove +1 Recovery, and +1 Agility stat bonuses

Fleetfire: Added +1 Agility stat

Firekeeper: Added +1 Recovery stat

Cauterize: Added cooldown (0s -> 3s)

Movement

Catapult Lift: Faster Initial velocity (+5%)

Striker

Melee

Titan Melee: Extend Titan Melee range (+12.5%)

Storm Fist: Increase base damage (+18.2%)

Overload: Now also provides faster melee recharge (+50%)

Discharge: Additional Damage (+7.69%)

Discharge: Changed AOE to spherical shape

Amplify: Increased Super energy bonus (+30%)

Passives

Headstrong: Now also provides Faster Sprint

Transfusion: Improve cooldown(5s ->3s)

Unstoppable: Now provides a total of +2 Armor (+1 additional)

Unstoppable: Increased damage resistance (+25%)

Juggernaut: Improved Shield health (+14.3%)

Juggernaut: Now works when airborne

Movement

Catapult Lift: Faster Initial velocity (+5%)

Defender

Melee

Titan Melee: Extend Titan Melee range (+12.5%)

Super

Ward of Dawn: Recharge Grenade and Melee Abilities on Super cast

Movement

Catapult Lift: Faster Initial velocity (+5%)

I hope you are all excited about these upcoming changes to the Titan Class. I know the Sandbox team is. Keep playing and posting feedback, and we will keep reading it, analyzing data, and pushing to continually improve the game. Looking at these changes the first time, some may say we ruined the Solar Titan. I assure you we have not. They are still very, very good, but you'll find that out for yourself soon enough.

Thanks for reading, stay safe, and keep punching all the things.

-Sage"

[Mr Ben]

Not too bad for Strikers, but Defenders didn't get a lot it seems. Here's my thoughts on it all.

The melee range buff was called for by a lot of people, so that's nice to see it get fixed finally. T-rex arms indeed.

I never use Catapult, but its shit anyway so who cares? The extra control = speed, so that beats everything unless you need the height for PvE stuff, in which case you'd be better off having Increased Height, because its sustainable instead of a burst, so you get far more control over how high you go. I cant see a faster initial velocity of +5% changing that.

The Ward of Dawn buff doesn't sound that great to me, unless it also works in conjunction with The Armamentarium so you get *both* grenades back, in which case - Wahey! All in all though Defenders get the least love.

Amusingly the biggest buff to Strikers will come when Shotguns get nerfed - so many times you get shotgunned while trying to shoulder charge someone it was getting ridiculous. All thanks to players being able to swap to a shotty so quick it rendered the ability almost pointless unless the player had a sniper or fusion rifle equipped instead. It will be interesting when that change happens, and I predict strikers may become more prevalent.

The Transfusion cooldown will also be a nice addition, and the addition of a faster sprint to Headstrong now means its a good alternative finally. Overload will be amazing, even though it was the perk I always used, and the extra stormfist damage is a bit odd, as it wasn't exactly weak anyway. All in all Striker may become a bit of a beast with the addition of the shotgun nerf.

Sunbreaker nerfs are not as bad as I thought, although turning the tracking down as well as the speed may be overkill, especially as the tracking isn't amazing unless your only a few feet from where the hammer was thrown. It literally does not track like a tracking rocket launcher for example, and you can quite easily waste a hammer, even in pve. Will have to see how bad this is, but sadly the other choices aren't amazing, as agility and reload speed is useless while the super is activated for obvious reasons so Fleetfire is kind of useless. Buffing it with 1 whole agility wont change that. Explosive Pyre is the only alternative, and that can be provided by the amazing exotic arms, which any PvP player worth his salt will have equipped.

The melee DoT nerf is a weird one, and I cant say I've seen any complaints about being punched to death by a Sunbreaker. Hmm.