This week at Bungie we led a mission against the Cabal inside the Dreadnaught.
That loot-filled fortress is ours to conquer. We can’t have a space-faring professional military unit messing up the joint – or the rest of our solar system, for that matter – so we went in there and kicked some ass. As always, we let the community lead the way. For this mission, Mr. Fruit was on point.
Any seasoned Guardian knows that Strikes are cooperative encounters designed for three people. For this reveal, we brought a couple hundred thousand along for the ride. If you were one of them, thanks for watching! If you were not, we captured the event and force-fed it to YouTube.
You’ll have the chance to play this new Strike – along with many other missions – in a few short weeks. This won’t be the last reveal between now and then. Next up, Laced Up Lauren will join us in the Court of Oryx. Same Twitch time. Same Twitch channel.
And then there’s this, hot off the presses:
While you wait for our next broadcast, you can set your Destination for your local newsstand to read more about what awaits us in the rings around Saturn. Edge Magazine has the inside scoop. See The Taken King through their eyes.
Escalation
Once you’ve completed the new story campaign, a whole new suite of endgame activities will beckon. That’s where Strikes get even more challenging. When you seek context for the Destiny endgame, look no further than the Creative Director for The Taken King - also known as the guy who led the construction of your Vault of Glass...
Luke Smith: In our Strike the Dreadnaught reveal earlier this week, we showed some and told some about how we wanted Strikes to move forward into Year 2.
Strike replayability is augmented by variability.
Bosses with more interested combat phases and less vitality.
Strike-specific rewards.
E.g., Armor drops that look like trophies from the Strike boss
E.g., weapons that only drop from certain Strikes
But those aren't the only changes coming to Strikes. We've also looked at the programming/Strike playlists and made some changes there, too.
Nightfall
Our desired Nightfall experience is the weekly ritual where you get together with your friends for a test of thumbskill and allow players to optimize for gear.
Burn skulls motivate weapon rotation and now the Burn resist talents found on chest pieces will rotate armor.
The death penalty of being kicked to orbit often leads to players feeling forced to play too safe, rather than running through the world as a monster killing machine.
Another thing we didn't like about the Year 1 Nightfall was how players could feel forced to play Nightfall as early as possible in the week to maximize the benefit from the Nightfall buff. So, we've shelved that buff until we can reform it into something closer to its original intent - a mark of prestige for having achieved something challenging. We've adjusted sources of XP and Reputation up to account for its absence.
Now Requires Level 40
Wiping no longer returns Fireteams to Orbit
Now uses 30 second time-out penalty for Death (same as Raid Normal)
Weekly Heroic Strikes
We've removed a dedicated Weekly Heroic Strike from the game this Fall. In its place we've added a new playlist: the Vanguard Heroic Playlist.
Each week players receive bonus Legendary Marks from the Weekly Heroic Playlist. These awards are received at the Account level rather than the character level - as was the case with Year One Weekly Heroic Rewards.
We made this change to enable players to focus on a single character more, or feel less pressure to gear three characters at once for Legendary Marks.
Requires Level 40
Removed the Weekly Heroic Strikes
Instead, accounts receive Legendary Marks for completing the first three Weekly Strikes
Removed the Weekly Cap on how many Legendary Marks can be earned.
Guarantee a Legendary Engram drop from a character's first clear of a Weekly Heroic Strike
Weekly PVP Ritual
Nightfall was built as a ritual experience for groups of three players in PVE. In Year 1, we didn't have a good weekly ritual experience for PVP players.
Once players have completed the PVP Intro chain on Lord Shaxx, they receive access to the Weekly PVP quests on Lord Shaxx and the PVP Quartermaster.
Each week, Lord Shaxx has a Bounty called "The True Meaning of War." Completing this Bounty each week (which requires completing the PVP weeklies) grants players Nightfall tier rewards.
Daily Heroic/Daily PVP
It's important to us that Destiny remain compatible with real life. Playing multiple characters can sometimes feel like a job or a chore, the Daily Heroic and Daily PVP often felt that way. So we increased their rewards and made them an account completion. We want players to choose which characters they want to play on and earn Legendary Marks on.
Did we mention that you’ll need to confront the immediate threat first? Oryx lies between you and these challenges. You'll need to survive his wrath to partake in the new endgame.
EXPOsure
PAX is upon us and Seattle has become overrun with gamers! We know there are Guardians among them. We have plans to move among all of you, checking out the games and meeting the players. PAX is all about Community and we’d never miss it.
If you’re sporting Guardian regalia, we want to see you assemble outside near the sculpture garden on the upper decks of the convention center at 3:00 PM on Saturday. We’ll be on hand to admire your creations, shake some hands, kiss some replica weapons, and capture some content for posterity.
Join us. Strut your stuff. Reenact a battle between Guardians and their enemies!
