Destiny 2: Lightfall

[Gorf King]

But it's miles away from the Tower, in an abandoned section. You fly there. Ada being in the Tower itself - and her little room going entirely unnoticed for the past year or more - is absolutely laughable. So laughable that we did indeed laugh. But I don't understand why a lost vault being somewhere else in the City in a largely ruined section, and that a splinter group of Fallen are trying to rob it, is hard to swallow. Especially in the context of a game that features such completely believable conceits as Ada's Secret Gun Boutique, that Ada set up in a place owned by the very people she hates most, who shot her with their guns, in order to sell them better guns. 

[K]

7 minutes ago, Gorf King said:

But it's miles away from the Tower, in an abandoned section. You fly there. Ada being in the Tower itself - and her little room going entirely unnoticed for the past year or more - is absolutely laughable. So laughable that we did indeed laugh. But I don't understand why a lost vault being somewhere else in the City in a largely ruined section, and that a splinter group of Fallen are trying to rob it, is hard to swallow. Especially in the context of a game that features such completely believable conceits as Ada's Secret Gun Boutique, that Ada set up in a place owned by the very people she hates most, who shot her with their guns, in order to sell them better guns. 

 

I meant Ada's secret pop-up gun shop. 

[Gorf King]

Oh, sorry - you mean the Secret Gun Boutique itself. Yeah, as you said, the whole reason for it being there is that it's just where you meet all the other NPCs, and so they don't have to build a whole new area just to go and visit Ada in and annoy players with travel time. I thought you meant the relics in the vault, which is the basis for the raid, which is also in the City. That actually does make sense.

[Ghost Pirate 101]

Blimey

 

[K]

Blimey indeed. 

[Flub]

Interesting. Did they choose to split or did Acti tell them to sling it.

[K]

It's hard to see it as a vote of confidence from Activision. I guess it's possible that Destiny was so successful that Bungie want the whole pie for themselves (they self-published all their own games up until Halo, so corporately speaking, they've historically always wanted to operate and control everything they do), but given the reports about Forsaken underperforming, I'm not sure that's very likely. I think that Destiny was always in a slightly unusual position given that Activision published the game, but Bungie owned the IP. Maybe Bungie thought Activision didn't do a very good job of selling the game, and wanted to take things in-house?

[moosegrinder]

Chinese money? From a couple of months ago?

[lewismistreated]

[Mafro]

Looking forward to the massive content drought without Vicarious Visions and High Moon Studios showing them how to get shit done.

[Nate Dogg III]

Ahh Mafro, such a ray of sunshine!

 

Played some more last night. Unlocked the second forge, completed it first try, got a so-so roll on the sniper. I am afraid I have questions.

 

1. Are you really limited to two weapon frames per week? I thought the point of this was to restore the daily grind, no? And give people a way of chasing god rolls. Is there another way of getting ballistics logs outside of the two weekly bounties?

 

2. Does every frame involve a ludicrous number of fairly boring steps (ok ok, 75 Fallen melee kills was fun) to charge it up? I'm already starting to feel bad for those orange bars when you load in to Leviathan.

 

3. If you are indeed limited to two frames per week, what's the daily rhythm supposed to be? As it stands I'm planning on knocking out the second frame tonight and then spending the time until reset doing Dreaming City and all that. I feel like I'm missing something. 

[RubberJohnny]

I think from Activisions perspective, Destiny probably had all of the big development and marketing costs of an annual series like CoD, but the fact that the releases were positioned as expansions rather than full priced games meant they probably saw a lot less profit from them despite them taking the same effort. It makes me wonder if these live games are actually going to be a thing long term, or if they'll just shift into "regular games + DLC where it shares the progression so people actually buy it".

[Gorf King]

1 hour ago, Nate Dogg III said:

Ahh Mafro, such a ray of sunshine!

 

Played some more last night. Unlocked the second forge, completed it first try, got a so-so roll on the sniper. I am afraid I have questions.

 

1. Are you really limited to two weapon frames per week? I thought the point of this was to restore the daily grind, no? And give people a way of chasing god rolls. Is there another way of getting ballistics logs outside of the two weekly bounties?

 

2. Does every frame involve a ludicrous number of fairly boring steps (ok ok, 75 Fallen melee kills was fun) to charge it up? I'm already starting to feel bad for those orange bars when you load in to Leviathan.

 

3. If you are indeed limited to two frames per week, what's the daily rhythm supposed to be? As it stands I'm planning on knocking out the second frame tonight and then spending the time until reset doing Dreaming City and all that. I feel like I'm missing something. 

 

You are limited to two powerful frames (with the big light level gain). After that, you can use modulus reports to buy lower-levelled frames of exactly the same type, which replace them in the menu, and do them again infinitely for better rolls. So if you want you can grind away on them (I don't). You can get modulus reports from doing a forge (with or without frame), bounties, and I think also from breaking 'augmented' guns down that drop from forges randomly whether you have a frame or not.

 

When you do a repeat frame in the way I outline above you only need to get x precision kills, or mutikills, or whatever, with that class of weapon, then 20 of those things that drop from powerful enemies. I usually do that Taken lost sector in the Dreaming City, getting the precision kills in the first run, then the boss drops 10 of those drops, and you can usually just skip to the boss second time for the full 20. But even so, it's five minutes grind that I usually skip by not bothering with a frame.

 

After the first couple of goes to acclimatise, the last forge is actually more fun to play than the others. It's really weird how it's by far the easiest boss, too. We did the quest for the sniper last night, which has a really shitty grindy bit near the start (you have to get 200 units of another made up thing, and they drop from strikes (20 per), PEs (10 per heroic, 5 per normal), or open world chests (1 per)). You might not be surprised how many people were in the EDZ zooming around the heroic PE loop. The sniper itself is... ok I suppose. But what I want is the Jötunn fusion rifle, which I think can drop at random from any powerful frame you forge in the last forge. That looks really nice, and something I might actually bother to do a couple of frames a week for a chance at.

[Nate Dogg III]

Ohhh the blue ones, right. That makes sense, yep. Thanks.

[Gorf King]

I might have not put that very clearly. No, the black ones, like in this pic (that I didn't take and shows only one for some reason):

 

 

So the weapon frames, not the research ones. They're different guns. The black ones are the repeats of the powerful ones you did earlier. Once you've made one of those with a ballistics log, it should be replaced in the second row of the menu by another version of itself which is bought using modulus reports. That's how you grind for great rolls on those - by keeping the powerful one you have and using that as infusion fodder for the lower light god roll one you get eventually.

 

Of course, you can make the blue weapon frames as well. But they are weapons that are already in-game (e.g. Bygones) with an extra selectable perk in one of the perk columns.

[Nate Dogg III]

You explained it fine, it's just early and/or I am dumb. Thanks for clarifying!

[Broker]

Is it likely that Bungie are starting to think about D3 about now? It seems like activision would have been crazy to give them another 500m for something which is clearly on a downward trajectory.

[DonRumsfeld]

2 hours ago, Gorf King said:

 

then the boss drops 10 of those drops, and you can usually just skip to the boss second time for the full 20.

 

Is that guaranteed?  I'm sick of loading into Leviathan all the time.

[Gorf King]

Dreaming City lost sector bosses always drop 10, yes.

[DonRumsfeld]

Sweet, cheers!

[Uncle Mike]

Yeah, I discovered the 10 drop last night doing the Lost Monastery in the Dreaming City - pop the Odynom, 10 things fly out.

[Hexx]

I just do some Gambit.

 

"Don't worry guys I'll handle the orange/yellow bar Blockers! I'm a team player! There's nothing in this for me at all! Self sacrificing hero, that's me"

 

 

 

[Hexx]

Our couple of hours last night didn't clear the raid -- we didn't even finish first encounter (we got tactics I think, just need to practice. No hints please)

 

It's so much better than Leviathan

 

[Gorf King]

Good stuff. It is immensely better than Leviathan, and well worth persisting with blind if you can manage to stay that way. Lots of challenging stuff, and much frustration, lie ahead. Don't forget to go exploring when you get a chance.

 

Meanwhile, almost four days into the infamous symbols puzzle, still no-one's broken the seventh seal. Get ready for a massive facepalm at whatever the answer turns out to be.

 

Gonna be a really sweet emblem for the lucky winner tho.

[mop]

5 minutes ago, Gorf King said:

Meanwhile, almost four days into the infamous symbols puzzle, still no-one's broken the seventh seal. Get ready for a massive facepalm at whatever the answer turns out to be.

 

Gonna be a really sweet emblem for the lucky winner tho.

 

So, you're saying you want a run at it tonight eh? Hey, with just the last seal to work out, forget about it.

[df0]

Perhaps irrationally, but I am much more interested in all of the Destiny 2 DLC now than I was before this split.

[Gorf King]

Fuck me. I happened to tune into Gladd for one last try a few minutes ago, just out of curiosity, and they just this second cracked the seventh lock. Jesus. 

 

Emblem earned, lads. (Though arguably it should go equally to the Destiny raid secrets subreddit as they came up with the solution.)

[Gorf King]

 

[Mr Ben]

Exotic ghost as well.

 

Right I want that, so we're doing it Sunday

 

Edit: TWAB's up.

Quote

This week at Bungie, the fourth forge was unlocked.  

 

But not in the way we intended. Sometimes at Bungie we try new things. On many occasions in the past, we have enjoyed watching as the community worked together to solve puzzles. That was the idea behind Niobe Labs. As the puzzle hunt started to drag on for too long, Guardians watched from the sidelines, eager to forge some new weapons. The feedback was clear: Puzzles are fun, but not when they gate content you were expecting to play. We’re flexible enough to change a plan when it’s not playing out as we had hoped, so we decided to give Annual Pass owners access to the Bergusia Forge. The final forge is open now!

 

Niobe Labs is still waiting to be solved (TWAB was put out before Gladd did it). Some of the clues in the Niobe Labs puzzle are not as clear as we intended. Our designers are looking into this and will have a clarifying update at 6pm PST. If you are still interested in helping solve it, keep an eye on our forum. We’ll share the link from @Bungie as well. 

 

We will be applying what we learned from this activity to experiences we’re creating for future releases.

 

Thanks for playing.

Class changes (supers mostly) - this is long! Coming on January 29:

Quote

Hunter

Gunslinger

Changes:

Golden Gun

Six-Shooter kills return a bullet

Practice Makes Perfect Super regen increased

Blade Barrage 

The damage is now heavily weighted on the delayed explosion instead of the knife impact

Now deals self-damage if the knives explode too close

Fixed a bug where the knives would track allies

 

Notes:

This Golden Gun change brings increased uptime with your Super. For the Way of the Outlaw, this means a skill-based mechanic to extend it. For Way of the Sharpshooter, it’s the ability to earn your Super more quickly. 

 

Nightstalker

Changes

Moebius Quiver

Entire damage bonus is applied on the first hit instead of stacking and multiplying

Increased tether radius and lifetime

Made it easier to fire successive tethers

Spectral Blades

Damage resistance in stealth decreased

Duration of Super while invisible slightly decreased

 

Notes:

This is step one for Shadowshot, and we intend to keep improving the way it works. For this pass, we focused on Moebius Quiver quality of life. 

 

Arcstrider

Changes:

Super damage is now more heavily weighted toward the heavy palm strike attack

No attack damage was reduced, but much of the added damage for this Super went into the heavy attack

Lethal Current bonus damage increased

 

Titan

Sunbreaker

Changes:

Sunspots

Doubled the damage of the burn on enemies

Sun Warrior

Buff length increased from 3 seconds to 5 seconds

Now increases ALL outgoing damage

Burning Maul

Slam radius increased

Slam fire tornado improved homing

 

 

Sentinel

Changes:

Super damage is more heavily weighted on the heavy shield charge attack.

No attack damage was reduced, but much of the added damage for this Super went into the heavy attack

 

Striker

Changes:

Terminal Velocity
There are now three tiers of hang time

The amount of hang time for each tier has been reworked

Each tier of hang time now causes four damaging shocks instead of three

The damage for the hang time bonuses has been increased significantly

Trample

The light shoulder attack Super cost has been reduced by ~85%

Trample can now trigger every 0.5 seconds, up from every 1 second

 

Notes:

For Code of the Earthshaker, the change to Terminal Velocity should make it more engaging. The first tier is now easier to achieve. For the second tier, you’ll probably want some high ground, but if all you have is flat land, a directional slam near the peak of your lift can proc it. Finally, there’s a new third tier that will require some serious height to activate. On top of that, you’ll not only need to land your hang time slams, but also do it quickly enough to get in all four possible to maximize damage.

 

With Code of the Juggernaut, if you play it right, you can extend your Super for minutes (in PvE). I know this sounds crazy, but it takes foresight and strategic choices. The light shoulder attack is almost a movement mode with the new cheaper cost. With the increased mobility, you should be able to lay some shoulder on bigger targets and then go on a run for little guys to rebuild your Super energy.

 

Warlock

Dawnblade

Changes:

Super duration increased

 

Voidwalker

Changes:

Cataclysm

Increased detonation radius

Cluster damage increased

Improved cluster bomb homing to make it more consistent against single targets

Cluster bombs no longer detonate one another

Vortex

Linger damage increased significantly

Nova Warp

Slower movement while charging

Charging costs more energy and overall duration is reduced

Damage resistance reduced very slightly

PvP damage reduction

Charged detonation will no longer be able to one shot another player in their Super, provided it has damage resistance

Notes:

Summed up: “Nova Bomb, now not just for large groups.”

 

The Nova Warp changes above are all small, but we think together they will help bring it down into a good place—a place similar to the Supers that we're raising up. 

 

Stormcaller

Changes:

Stormtrance

Increased number of targets for chain lightning by 1

 

This is the current plan, but things could change in the next few weeks. The official patch notes will ship with the update which is currently slated for January 29. 

Competitive Matchmaking change:

Quote

Next week, we will adjust matchmaking settings in Competitive. This change is scheduled to take effect on January 15 at 10 AM PST. The World Systems Team has been gathering feedback and using it in conjunction with player data to make the next change for how we match opponents in the Competitive playlist. 

 

We will be changing the matchmaking parameters so that opponents you find in Competitive matchmaking will be closer to your Glory rank. While the imbalanced match can still happen, we believe this change will reduce the number of occurrences dramatically. Players may experience longer matchmaking times as we will try to ensure a good Glory rank match before opening up the search criteria. Thank you so much for your feedback, and please keep it coming. We’re always improving the game and your feedback helps steer the conversation.

Iron Banner and Valor Bonus

Begins: January 15, 2019

Ends: January 22, 2019

[Mr Ben]

However even Deej agrees with the community: