Posted by: xSicKxBot - 05-03-2018, 05:54 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Destiny 2 Narrative Preview
Game Director Christopher Barrett:
As you know, we’ve been engaging with the Destiny community to pivot and improve every part of our Destiny 2 experience. This includes a commitment to the tone, story, and lore of Destiny both in and out of the game.
This week, I wanted to give a shout out to Destiny’s hard-working Narrative group, who has been collaborating with myself and the rest of the dev team on a whole bunch of new lore content that will be coming your way in the near (and in some cases, very near) future. While I can’t tell you everything we’ve been working on together, I’m happy to reveal that another (free) Destiny digital comic – Warmind – is headed your way this week, written by Mark Waid (Dr. Strange) and David Rodriguez (Warmind) and inked by Kris Anka (Runaways). I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did.
And if the week seems like a long wait, I’ve got more good news; you can join us in celebrating the upcoming launch of Destiny 2: Warmind with a few pieces of new and original Warmind Weblore, now available here.
<3 Chris
[Editor’s note: Revised copy to accurately reflect the release date of the comic.]
Tyra
“Ghost, open a new file. Research Notes TK-48725.8, Category: Clovis Bray.”
“I don’t like it when you call me that.”
“What, ‘Ghost’? Oh, come now. We’ve been having this discussion for more than three centuries. Ghost is what you are, my friend. If you want a name so badly, choose one for yourself.”
“Maybe I will. Now that everyone’s gone back to the Tower and we’re still out here, I have plenty of time to consider what my name should be.”
“Can you open my file while you ponder the possibilities?”
“If you insist.”
“Thank you. Research Notes TK-48725.8. Data recovered from Freehold—Bray Landing. Kirren found an entire cache of intact data cores there. Brought them back just before the attack on the City.”
“It’s these little miracles that intrigue me so much… Fragments of memories, frozen in silicon and quartz, trapped in a moment that survives the end of a civilization, centuries of decay, and the predations of invading armies, only to be recovered and end up as flotsam of a second war. That this cache even managed to survive the Collapse is a wonder, and then the Red War? The probabilities of such an occurrence are…”
“Tyra?”
“Yes, Ghost?”
“Ahem. You’re rambling. Again. You said I should remind you.”
“Thank you. As I was saying, this data was recovered more than six months ago but is just now being decrypted—2.6 exabytes of documents and schematics have been decoded so far. At first glance, most of this was just the detritus of Bray’s work: review notes, payment records, memos. I did find some very interesting notes on a propulsion system design that I’ve already sent to Amanda, and there are some messages between the sisters that will illuminate Master Melivander’s work on the history of Clovis Bray.”
“But then I found something extraordinary. The records were fragmented—some files had been partially deleted—but there’s enough there to indicate that the Bray facility at Hellas Basin was larger than we previously thought.”
“Hellas Basin? The tourist spot?”
“The same. And while we know there was a BrayTech Futurescape there for promotional purposes— Bray even had an AI-led tour—all indications had been that if any research was done there, it was mostly for show: low-level projects creating improved cold-weather gear and the like.”
“But if these records are correct, the facility operated on a far larger scale. It could have been the site of the initial Warmind development. Perhaps even a core site for Rasputin itself. This could have been where the Warmind was born.”
“You got all that from some fragmented files? Is this going to be like the time you thought you’d identified a second Warmind? We spent a decade searching for Charlemagne’s vault.”
“I was correct about Charlemagne existing, just not about what it was. If we hadn’t done that research, we wouldn’t know anything about subminds.”
“Rahool still disagrees.”
“Rahool needs to get his head out of his engrams. This is why Guardians look for fragments of the Golden Age! We are the descendants of a lost civilization. Only by understanding what was can we understand what we are now. How the world we know came to be. And each artifact we find helps us interpret what we already know. Adds layers. New identities. We are experimenting in the laboratory of time, testing each observation through a crucible of evidence.”
“Sometimes our conclusions change. And with each shift, we learn more of where we came from. The next shift in our perceptions? It may be on Mars.”
Apocrypha
In the beginning, there were five.
Yul, the Honest Worm. Akka, the Worm of Secrets. Eir, the Keeper of Order. Ur, the Ever-Hunger. Xol, Will of the Thousands. And they were Virtuous.
In time, Yul spoke truth and bargained well. Its children escaped the Fundament and spread throughout the worlds. They followed the words of the Deep and brought low many agents of the Sky. They took, and a portion of all they took was returned to the Virtuous.
They grew strong.
In time, Auryx learned Akka’s secret. That he was stronger than the gods. That they had given their power, and in giving, it was diminished. Auryx rose up and slew Akka. He took, and he grew strong with Akka’s power.
After the five became four, Yul spoke.
Behold my majesty. Behold my crushing might, my staggering size, my scales that shine with an oppressive gleam.
Behold my wings, which create winds that sweep through the stars.
Together, we have called life to Fundament, and made that life thrive. Protected it from extinction. They are our hosts, and we are their strength.
But we do not give. We take. For this is the struggle to exist. We are not immune. The weakest of us must give way to the stronger.
And Xol felt [fear|cunning], for it knew that Yul would in time turn its teeth to Xol.
But Akka was not the only one with a secret. Xol had a pact with a forgotten child, abandoned by its father.
The cursed one took a fraction of Xol’s power, and in return, Xol took the heart from the child, whose name had been struck from the World’s Grave. The orphan called life out of death, and fed that power to Xol.
Together, they would find a new world to rule.
And the five became three.
I, the child become [herald|death], record these words. They are not of the Sorrow. They are mine.
Cryptarch
From “Collapse and Post-Collapse Incidents on Mars: An Examination of Ecological Changes in the Polar Regions,” by Master Reinhart, Cryptarch
We have detailed records of the expedition sent to the Moon to battle the alien race known as the Hive, the calamitous results of that assault, and the subsequent Lunar Interdiction that was lifted only after definitive evidence was found that the Interdiction had not restricted the Hive’s movements (Rahool et al., “The Great Disaster: From Burning Lake to the Hellmouth”).
However, there are indications that while that event may have been the Vanguard’s first engagement with the Hive, Earth’s Moon was not the first place the Hive made contact with Human settlements.
Golden Age records detail an extensive network of Clovis Bray structures on Mars. The vast city of Freehold served as the Bray headquarters, but ancient mass-transit lines that lead from the remains of Freehold across the planet reveal multiple other sites, including the Clovis Bray Health Center in Skyline and an extensive Futurescape near Core Terminus, in the Hellas Basin region.
It is the Futurescape facility that is of interest when considering the effects of ecological changes in the Collapse and post-Collapse eras. Although there are records that show that, just after the Traveler’s departure, the region had a mesothermal climate with an average temperature of 20°C, the region’s ecological zones today range from boreal to ice cap near the planetary pole, with harsh winds and a thick layer of ice that has made exploration in the region difficult.
What caused such a drastic change in the climate? If it were related to the cessation of Traveler energy during the Collapse, then we would have seen similar effects on other planets in the solar system, which we have not.
If we cannot look to the Traveler for causation, then we must contemplate other external factors. Recovered satellite data reveals that the climate change in the Hellas Basin region was too rapid to have resulted from long-term ecological damage, as it had on Earth in the pre-Traveler era. In fact, data from Warsat J54987F122S, which crashed and was recovered near Freehold, indicates that the climate change on Mars may have happened over a matter of mere days. However, this Warsat was heavily damaged during reentry, and the data may be suspect. Until we have a secondary source for corroboration, this is mere supposition.
Nonetheless, if we accept the data from J54987F122S, then we are looking at an external endothermic event, caused by artificial means, on a scale so massive that it altered the entire climate of the region.
Why would this have happened? Our only source is J54987F122S, and if it is to be believed, an invasion of unknown biological entities, including one of massive size, was detected in the region immediately before the event. Could this have been a Collapse-era attack with a weapon of unknown origin?
As of yet, Guardians have not reached Hellas Basin, and we have not had the resources for remote exploration. But if we did dig into the ice, what would we find?
Ana,
Told you I remembered an article from the Mars research we were doing at Owl Sector. This could be what you’re looking for—if you can dig it out.
Reinhart goes on for a few hundred pages from here—I’ll send the whole thing to Jinju if you’re interested— but his conclusions are all wrong. Because he never mentions the ONE THING that could have done this.
There’s something in Hellas Basin. And you’re going to be the one to find it.
—Camrin
Zavala
Ikora has confirmed my fears. The ice on Mars is melting.
She says it’s the Traveler’s Light—that when it awoke, it sent out a wave of Light that altered everything it touched.
I don’t know what to believe. I look at the Traveler now, shining and alive, and I remember all the times I begged it to respond. To help its chosen through our trials.
I remember its silence. Even now, it does not speak… or if it does, there is no one to hear and understand its words.
Ikora says that we cannot understand the Traveler, or its desires. They are too far removed from our own. But can we rely on something that doesn’t understand us to protect us? Or must we protect ourselves?
I think we must. I have been searching the databanks—records that even the Cryptarchs cannot access—and sifting through data that the Speaker thought too dangerous to be disseminated.
I know what is on Mars.
What is buried beneath that ice is too dangerous to allow back into our world. It doesn’t think like we do. It weighs and judges our existence in its ruthless calculations, and we don’t even know what the goal is. Once, long ago, it might have been created as a tool to save Humanity. It is far more than a mere machine now.
And it is broken.
When Saladin sealed all the records relating to SIVA, he also put a lock on certain data concerning what lies hidden on Mars. We were stumbling around blindly in those days, in the wrong place and at the wrong time, calling out to something that could not respond or understand us. And Saladin let it happen, because our failures were safer than the alternative.
But the locks are open now. I’ve studied the monsters in our past to prepare for the battles in our future. I know how to reach this particular monster before anyone else does.
Ikora is too intrigued by the knowledge it holds to heed the dangers. Cayde is wasting his time filling the Prison of Elders. It’s up to me to keep this secret buried.
To keep us safe.
Rasputin
218CBI800JRS101
AI-COM/RSPN: ASSETS//POLARIS//IMPERATIVE
IMMEDIATE EVALUATION DIRECTIVE
This is a POLARIS ASSETS IMPERATIVE (secured/UNDISCLOSED)
This is an INTERNAL ALERT.
Multiple distributed Polaris axons report increased sterile neutrino patterning correlating to increase in AVGPOLARISTEMP. Reactivated areoseismic analysis detects high quantities of nonnative organic chitin.
Axon 5-Sierra’s event footprint includes evidence of vermiform parasites (UNCONFIRMED/RED).
One hypothesis on event mechanism (FLAG ACAUSAL). Possibility of HARD CIVILIZATION KILL EVENT is NONZERO.
Check variable AVGPOLARISTEMP
>AVGPOLARISTEMP greater than or equal to MELTINGPOINT
I am assessing available VOLUSPA and CHARLEMAGNE resources.
I am assuming control of atmospheric defenses (Warsat COMPREHENSIVE) and invoking AURORA PALISADE.
From the multi-award-winning strategy series, A Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia combines huge real-time battles with engrossing turn-based campaign, set at a critical flashpoint in history. Anglo-Saxons, Gaelic clans and Viking settlers clash for control. What Kingdom will you build?
Stardock released the first DirectX 12 game as well as the first game to support both DirectX 12 and Vulkan. We are currently seeking a full-time Graphics Engineerto work on our next generation game engine for both announced and unannounced titles to build up our team of dedicated and experienced talent! This is a salaried, full-time position at our Plymouth, Michigan office.
Primary Responsibilities Include:
Develop graphics technologies to enable aesthetics and gameplay.
Create and optimize shaders and materials to run on a variety of platforms and machine specifications.
Develop systems for animations and special effects.
Creating and maintaining game art pipeline.
Education and/or Experience Desired:
Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics or equivalent work experience.
5+ years of DirectX, Open GL, or Metal experience.
Strong proficiency in Math including Linear Algebra, Trigonometry and Quaternions.
A passion for optimization and familiarity with optimization tools.
Self-motivated, likes to identify and solve problems.
Familiarity with Vulkan and excitement about its potential.
Whether you’re just starting out, looking for something new, or just seeing what’s out there, the Gamasutra Job Board is the place where game developers move ahead in their careers.
Gamasutra’s Job Board is the most diverse, most active, and most established board of its kind in the video game industry, serving companies of all sizes, from indie to triple-A.
Video: Pulling off portal locomotion in the VR game Budget Cuts
Giving players the power to move around your VR game without making themselves sick is tricky business, but Neat Corporation seem to pulled it off pretty well with the “portal” locomotion in its VR sneaker Budget Cuts.
As part of VRDC @ GDC 2018 earlier this year, Neat Corp.’s Joachim Holmer gave an insightful talk about how the studio conceived of and implemented the solution.
It was a fun, concise talk that shed light on the ins and outs of the game’s portal translocator device, the technical implementation of the system, and Neat’s solutions to making it performant.
In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its accompanying YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.
Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC or VRDC already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.
Gamasutra and GDC are sibling organizations under parent UBM Americas.
New Preview Delta and Omega 1804 System Update – 4/21/18
Starting at 12.00p.m. PDT today, members of the Xbox One Preview Delta and Omega Rings will begin receiving the latest Xbox One system update (1804.180418-1415). Read on for more about fixes and known issues in the latest system update.
Fixes:
Apps
We have fixed an issue in which certain apps would fail to launch such as Hulu, Spotify, Microsoft Edge, You Tube and Kodi.
Known Issues:
Audio
Some users may experience intermittent loss of Audio with certain configurations of AV receivers with ATMOS or with changing audio configurations during console use.
Microsoft Edge
Sometimes users may encounter crashes in Microsoft Edge when using or viewing multiple tabs or videos.
Workaround : Perform a full reboot of the console.
Pi-hole
Pi-hole users may encounter issues signing in, creating, or recovering accounts upon downloading the 1804 update. This is due to a new configuration file which is downloaded from a URL Pi-hole blocks by default.
Workaround: Add clientconfig.passport.net to the Pi-hole allowed IP address list.
Profile Color
Sometimes users may encounter an incorrect Profile color when powering on the console.
Review: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Switch)
Platformers aren’t quite what they once were; whether they’re 3D or 2D we’ve had a bit of a mini-renaissance with them in recent years, but they hold nowhere near the draw that they did in the ’80s and ’90s. What a shame then that one of the best and most polished games of the genre happened to not only launch after these golden years, but on a console that – for the most part – passed most people by. In case it wasn’t already obvious enough given the title, we are, of course, referring to Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, the latest entry in the revitalised Donkey Kong Country series. It made a splash with the handful of people who bought a Wii U, but it received nowhere near the commercial success it deserved. Blasting back onto Switch, is it finally time for this game to shine, or have the years been too cruel? It’s the former, let’s not even try to pretend.
As stated in our review of the Wii U original, Tropical Freeze takes everything that made Donkey Kong Country Returns great and doubles down on it. The running, jumping, and rolling that made the original games so enjoyable has been refined further and tightened to the Nth degree. The higher resolution also pays dividends in allowing you to see more of the level from afar, meaning you can react more appropriately when pits or enemies lie ahead of you. The Wii U version was only able to display at 720p, but it still looked good. This new version, however, boosts it up to a gorgeous full 1080p that fits the style and aesthetic so well we didn’t even notice. It’s a real testament to the art direction.
Other changes are fairly minimal, as shown by Digital Foundry’s recent video comparison. Shading appears to be marginally different and DK’s fur is a bit nicer to gawp at, but overall the biggest change is absolutely the resolution. The frame rate remains the same, solid 60fps as well, which has proven absolutely unshakeable regardless of what’s going on on screen. For a hardcore platformer like this that stability is essential, and they’ve completely nailed it.
Speaking of hardcore, let’s address the gorilla in the room. The biggest new addition to this version of the game is that of Funky Kong, the bodacious ape that’s totally tubular or mondo, or whatever. When you start a save file for the first time you’ll be asked whether you want to play in Original Mode or Funky mode. The former is the game just as it was with absolutely nothing changed beyond the previously mentioned resolution and fur and stuff. The latter Funky mode, however, is a totally ‘hang-ten’ way to play, noticeably reducing the difficulty thanks to Funky Kong’s shiny new move-set.
He behaves much like DK, only he can roll forever just as though he had a partner Kong with him (although when playing as Funky you can never use a partner Kong), double-jump, slow his descent by using his surfboard as a makeshift helicopter, obviously, and also stand stationary on spiked floors without taking damage. You’ll also have five hearts to play with rather than the standard Kong default of two each, allowing you to take a lot more punishment before returning to your last checkpoint.
You’ll not be locked into this new way to tackle the game’s challenges however, as at any time you can switch to playing as good old Donkey Kong should you wish, provided you’re not in the middle of a level. You’ll get a smidgen more health than if you were playing in Original Mode, so it’s not heading directly from one extreme to the other. Whichever mode you choose to play in, that decision is permanent, so make sure you’re absolutely certain what kind of challenge you’re after. Of course, there’s nothing to stop you starting a new save file in the other mode, as well.
While some of the more seasoned players may be put off by the idea of taking the sting out of the game’s difficulty, it really is a superb addition. The fact that save files are locked in either mode means no matter how tempted you are, you can’t quickly beat a tricky level as Funky Kong before reverting back unless you’ve specifically selected Funky Mode. If you’re committed to playing it in its original form, you lock yourself into that decision, and the game offers no relief at any time. If you want a challenge, it’s still here, and it’s still chuffing hard.
For less experienced players, this is an absolute godsend; what was once a bright and colourful yet deceivingly devilish platformer is now much more accessible to those new to the Donkey Kong Country formula. That’s not to say that Funky Mode is straight-up easy though. Despite having played through the Wii U version several times we still found our time with Funky frustratingly unforgiving at times. It’s certainly easier than with DK, but it’s by no means something you can blitz through without taking a hit. Enemies are exactly where they were before, pits are just as big, and Funky’s new moves aren’t as overpowered as they may seem on paper.
Despite having the ability to slow his descent to a crawl by holding the jump button, when you’re doing so your horizontal movement is cripplingly slow. Unless you’re about to miss a ledge by a very small margin, you’ll probably still end up tumbling to your death, albeit gradually. Standing on spikes is all well and good, but it’s just standing. You can’t run or even walk, meaning you have to jump each time you want to move forward, which can put you in troublesome situations if an enemy is approaching you. Being able to roll forever also has its drawbacks, as it’s not as easy to come to a stop when doing so, and on several occasions we’ve blasted ourselves into spear-wielding foe before we can stop ourselves. So can all this hardship, even in Funky Mode, be worth it? Absolutely.
The difficulty balance is borderline perfect. Levels are tough, but each time you die you’re painfully aware that it’s your fault and you’re the one who misread the situation or mistimed that jump. We believe we only encountered one instance of what you could call a ‘cheap’ moment where we didn’t have had enough time to react, and even then it was only a single hit from an enemy rather than an instant death. It was during one of the infamously tricky ‘K’ levels which can only be unlocked by finding all the KONG letters in a world.
The sense of accomplishment for finally completing a level you’ve been struggling with is undeniably wonderful, yet no single level is so frustrating that it made us quit out of anger. Every time you’ll progress a little bit further, you’ll learn where you went wrong, and you’ll improve for the next run. Again, we feel this is largely due to the almost total absence of cheap, artificial difficulty spikes.
Let’s quickly round up by talking about the presentation. It’s totally and utterly gorgeous, with every screen looking entirely original and unique and bursting with colour, a soundtrack to make Mozart jealous, and animations smoother than butter. Everything is refined to a T, from the gameplay, to the presentation. Sure, the rough charm present in the Rare titles is missing, but that’s to be expected; those games were created by a different team with different sensibilities using much cruder technology. Tropical Freeze is a glorious refinement of Rare’s approach, but we can see how some diehard DKC fans might prefer the SNES originals, perhaps due to the use of rose-tinted specs.
Conclusion
There’s no doubt about it, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is one of the most refined and enjoyable platformers money can buy. The levels are all beautiful – not only because of their delightful new 1080p resolution, but also their structure; the characters move with fluidity and brilliant responsiveness, and the inclusion of Funky Kong brings balance for those who have less experience with brutally tough platformers. It’s so well-made that it’s almost too well-made; there’s an absence of a certain ‘rough-and-ready’ charm found in the original DKC trilogy. This is, however, a complaint so minor it’s practically insignificant. Donkey Kong’s first appearance on Switch is streamlined, rewarding, and immensely good fun; any fan of 2D platformers simply has to get this game.
Hands On: Bouncing From Bumpers In Yoku’s Island Express
Team17’s upcoming pinball and platformer mash-up Yoku’s Island Express is getting ever closer to release and, as luck would have it, we’ve had the chance to get an early look at exactly what will be on offer. Developed by independent Swedish studio Villa Gorilla, the game takes you on a journey alongside protagonist Yoku, who just so happens to be both a dung beetle, and a super awesome postal worker.
As we just mentioned, Yoku’s Island Express is a mix of platforming and pinball action, and while these two genres aren’t necessarily the first two you’d think to combine, the entire premise actually works really nicely. Rather than being split into sectioned-off levels, or even set over a handful of worlds, the whole game takes place within one ever-expanding map, with the pinball elements acting as little puzzles to progress. The two styles work effortlessly hand-in-hand, and we instantly forgot all doubts about how they might gel together.
As you bump and flick Yoku around the game’s world, you’ll find yourself collecting pieces of fruit that are added to a tally at the top of the screen. The fruit acts as a sort of currency, allowing you to unlock extra pinball flippers dotted across the map to aid your travel. This fruit can be found almost anywhere, but you’ll find tons of the stuff tucked away inside the pinball sections; if you stay inside one of these pinball areas, sending yourself flying from bumper to bumper, you’ll start to see lots of extra juicy fruit pop out ready for you to collect.
It’s not just about running around and playing pinball, though. Yoku is on a mission to deliver letters and part of this plot point sees you locating the world’s chiefs – which act in a way as checkpoint bosses. We only managed to reach the first of these chiefs during our hour-or-so playtime, but the meeting introduced a special, beefed-up pinball section to play, with all sorts of tasks to complete as we flung ourselves around. You’ll be sucking up explosive slugs to destroy rocks, placing other balls into specific areas with the flippers, and collecting gems to unlock doors, all while zooming around the living, breathing table.
Falling through the flippers in these sections, which would usually result in a lost ball in real pinball, doesn’t really have any consequence here; Yoku can never ‘die’ or be sent back to a previous section, and it isn’t long before you unlock a sidekick who can save you from any pitfalls anyway. This makes it a pretty relaxed affair, which you can probably already tell from the calming artistic direction, both graphically and musically. The game places a much heavier focus on exploration and soaking up the world around you than intense pinball action.
For any classic platformer fans out there, this approach works a treat. The setup means that you’ll be foraging through the entire world, looking in every last nook and cranny for any hidden collectibles – some of which are very cleverly hidden indeed, without stressing too much along the way. It’s the sort of game that will take a good few number of playthroughs to find every last hidden detail, and it will be interesting to see how the plot progresses and if even more new elements are added in future boss sections. We’ll make sure to find this out and more in our final review.
Yoku’s Island Express is scheduled to release on 29th May, and will be available to pre-order from the eShop from today for £15.99/€19.99/$19.99. Will you be grabbing a copy?
This week at Bungie, we introduced you to Warmind.
Several waves of developers talked about what you’ll find in the game on May 8. Creative Director Brent Gibson from Vicarious Visions joined Design Lead Evan Nikolich from Bungie on our Twitch stream to talk about Destiny 2: Warmind. It was our first conversation about a new story created by two studios working as partners. After a quick tour of Hellas Basin and an introduction to Ana Bray, we dove into a bit of gameplay. Design Lead Jacob Benton and Design Lead Ben Wommack walked us through Escalation Protocol, a new cooperative endgame activity with some intense challenges and exclusive rewards. For the final act, Senior Crucible Designer Kevin Yanes gave us a preview of Seasonal Crucible Rankings and Private Matches, with Cozmo riding “shotgun,” while Senior Sandbox Designer Jon Weisnewski and Sandbox Design Lead Josh Hamrick spiced the live fire exercise with some commentary about how Exotic weapons are evolving for all players in Season 3.
Oh, and DeeJ hosted, but no one cares what he has to say. If you missed the stream, here’s footage in full:
[embedded content]
There’s a lot more we have to tell you today about Season 3. Read on for more!
Exotic Investments
How do you make an Exotic feel more Exotic? It’s a two part question, including how it feels to acquire and upgrade the weapon and how it feels to use the weapon. To answer the first question, Senior Investment Designer Mark Uyeda is here to walk us through the process.
Mark: Our goals in extending Masterwork perks and mechanics to Exotic weapons are primarily to create new in-game goals for hobbyist players and reinforce specific activities with these long tail pursuits.
There were a few “problem spaces” that we wanted to address when creating the Exotic Masterwork pursuit. First up, Exotics in Destiny 2 are very easy to acquire. Many players have most, if not all, of the non-quest Exotics. As we don’t want to make players re-earn every Exotic weapon, Exotic Masterwork acquisition and progression needed to take place after acquisition. Additionally, we needed to figure out a player-friendly way of representing the process of obtaining and applying an Exotic Masterwork. The milestone tray doesn’t provide a good flow for every Exotic Masterwork, and bounties are planned for summer (as noted on our recently updated Development Roadmap).
With these goals and restrictions, we landed on the following player experience:
There will be one Exotic Masterwork per Exotic weapon that exists so far in Destiny 2. In order to begin the Masterwork process, players will have to find an Exotic Masterwork Catalyst. When inspecting the Exotic, there will be a hint at what activities can grant the catalyst for that weapon. Not all Exotic Masterworks have the same drop rates. Some Exotic Masterwork weapons are guaranteed after a certain amount of engagement, while others are earned at random.
Once acquired, the catalyst can be applied to immediately enable orb generation on double kills for the weapon. Exotic weapons with a catalyst applied will also start tracking enemies defeated, like their Legendary Masterwork weapon counterparts.
After applying the catalyst, there will be bounty-like objectives available that need to be completed in order to upgrade to the final Masterwork state, which will apply stat/perk bonuses to the weapon.
A few Masterworks will require you to do a single thing, where others will have multiple steps. These objectives will vary in difficulty and length, but will not be determined by RNG. The goal for these objectives is to push the player to engage with the weapon that they wish to make into a full Masterwork.
When it comes to difficulty, there are a few Exotic Masterworks paired with difficult activities or accomplishments in-game. We’re expecting that there may be one or two Exotic Masterwork weapons that give players the opportunity to set goals in mastering specific activities in order to earn their most desired Masterwork.
To get ahead of a few questions we’re expecting, here’s a quick roundup of more specific notes:
Exotic weapon Masterwork pursuits only need to be done once per account- you don’t have to chase your white whale on each character.
Through the Masterwork process, duplicate drops of an Exotic weapon via engrams, milestones, or even the Exotic Collection will be initialized at your current Masterwork upgrade state.
The Exotic Masterwork process takes place fully in the weapon details screen – there won’t be any objectives that take up character inventory space.
Not all Exotic Masterworks will be available immediately when Season 3 begins. If you inspect an Exotic Weapon and a Masterwork socket is not visible, the catalyst is not yet available.
We won’t be publishing guides on how to acquire specific Exotic Masterworks. This is in your hands!
As with all things in Destiny 2, these new features are subject to evolution. We’ll be monitoring acquisition rates and community reaction once these are in the wild and adjusting as needed.
The Exotic Gunsmiths
Over the last few weeks, Senior Sandbox Designer Jon Weisnewski has been giving previews on how some Exotic weapons are evolving at base level to feel more powerful in Season 3. We’re keeping the streak up. This week, Tractor Cannon, Hard Light, and Borealis are up for conversation!
Jon: Quick thanks and recognition to the video capture team that has been working hard to play, record, and publish this stuff on a tight deadline.
The Tractor Cannon has delivered a high amount of spectacle and has a huge fun factor, but was lacking utility for many players. To address this, in addition to the expected damage and physics impulse, any target hit by Tractor Cannon now has a debuff applied that adds suppression and makes the target vulnerable to Void damage for 10 seconds. Suppression will function as you expect, so in the Crucible, this will shut down active supers and prevent players from using their abilities. In PvE, this will put most enemies in the suppression state where they cower and grovel. The Void vulnerability adds a significant weakness to any source of incoming Void damage. So if you’re a solo player, run it with your favorite Void weapons and/or subclass for optimal effect. If you’re running with a coordinated fireteam… we’re both excited and terrified to see how fast you can melt some of our harder bosses with strategic Void attacks. The Void vulnerability does not stack with itself, but it does stack with other damage debuffs. Get to work!
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Hard Light is inheriting the Borealis damage type reload swap: Holding reload will cycle elemental damage types in combat. The teaser clip shows this off pretty well, but what it doesn’t show very clearly is the other interesting change we made to lean in to this weapon’s gameplay. The bounce projectiles have always been a dazzling laser light show, but actually using them to do real work on your enemies around corners or off of walls has been difficult. It’s more of a suppression tactic than reliable offense. One option we considered was preserving aim assist for the lifetime of the projectile, but we couldn’t commit due to the sheer amount of pressure this would put on our runtime engine. (Imagine 12 players on a console in 6v6 all using this weapon, each player firing a round every three frames, and our aim assist code trying to predict the trajectory of each bullet for up to three bounces and then attempt to correct it to hit a target.) So, rather than make it easier for you to land a bounce shot, we made the payoff better for when it does happen. Bounced bullets now do double damage. We’re looking forward to seeing some montages from the geometry nerds out there.
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So a natural question that may come from this is: doesn’t this change make Hard Light a better choice than Borealis? While Hard Light will definitely have more uptime due to living in your Energy slot, Borealis is also getting an update that will make it a tempting choice.
For Borealis, the utility of having a weapon that can match any damage shield on the fly is good, but in order to make the weapon great we wanted to double down on the reward for successfully pulling this off. After breaking an enemy shield with a matching damage type, Borealis now deals double damage until the next reload or damage type swap. For PvE activities it gives the weapon a more reliable benefit than Hard Light, in both casual modes and high pressure activities. However, it’s not a perk that was meant just for PvE. This behavior also applies to enemy Guardians in the Crucible while their supers are active. Simply put: If you use a Void round to break shield and/or kill an enemy Sentinel Titan who is actively using their super, you have double damage sniper rounds (yes, that’s a one hit kill to the body) until you die or reload. It’s pretty rare to pull off and requires a fair amount of predictive awareness, but we’ve had it happen organically a few times during internal playtests and I’m highly confident that skilled players will be able to make some amazing plays with this weapon.
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That’s all for this week! I’m sure we’ll be chatting again soon.
Real soon? Maybe next week. We still have a few more development videos to share – stay tuned to @Bungie on Twitter.
Glory, Valor, and Combat
Since their original announcement, Seasonal Crucible Rankings have been a hot topic. The Crucible team has been hard at work to implement the system. Starting with Season 3, Crucible Ranks will be available to all players of Destiny 2. Senior Crucible Designer Kevin Yanes gave a quick overview on stream of what to expect. We’re diving deeper into the weeds to answer some of your burning questions.
Kevin: Hey everyone. During the Warmind reveal stream, we showcased Seasonal Crucible Ranks for the first time. We’ve been seeing a lot of questions from the community, so let’s get into the hot topics you’ve been asking about:
“What are Seasonal Crucible Ranks?”
Seasonal Crucible Ranks are comprised of two key mechanics: a level and rank points. As players earn points in each rank, they will level up and unlock new rewards for Shaxx to dole out in the Tower. Leveling up gives players an assortment of Crucible Tokens, Crucible Engrams, and Masterwork Cores depending on how far up they have leveled. There are six specific Crucible Ranks that players can reach, starting with the rank of “Guardian” and ending with players becoming “Legend.” Here is the full break down of what levels each Crucible Rank will feature:
Guardian
Brave
Heroic
Fabled
Mythic
Legend
“What types of Seasonal Crucible Ranks are there?”
Starting in Season 3, we’re launching two Crucible Ranks: Valor and Glory.
Valor is a progression rank that goes up as you complete matches. Winning helps you move up faster and there are no loss penalties. Valor Ranks serve to showcase a player’s time commitment to playing Crucible. As players win, they will accumulate a win streak that will give players bonus points for each subsequent win. These win streaks will cap out after five wins, and then reset. Try to see how often you can hit a full five win streak! Players who complete their Valor Ranks can choose to reset them to begin their journey anew and even make progress toward some rewards that require a fixed number of resets.
Glory is a progression rank earned in the Competitive playlist that goes up as you win matches, but down as you lose. Closing out wins is how players are going to move up here. Glory Ranks serve to showcase the mastery players have in some of our most intense game modes, and show how they stack up against worthy opponents. Glory features the same win streak system from Valor but with the addition of loss streaks that work similarly. As players lose consecutive matches, they will lose more and more points. This means no game is without its stakes, so it’s best to keep on your A-game.
“What do I earn for moving up the Ranks?”
Beginning in Season 3, new crucible rewards will be attached to Seasonal Crucible Ranks. This means that armor ornaments, emblems, and new weapons will require players to earn both Valor and Glory ranks to acquire them. Players receive reward packages when reaching a new level in Valor or Glory. (Note: Players receive Glory reward packages only the first time a new rank is reached in a season; if you lose a match and drop a rank, you do not receive another reward package when ranking back up.)
In addition to the suite of Season 3 rewards, we’re planning on bringing a unique weapon to Glory Ranks for players to work toward. The weapon will only be available for the duration of the season and once the season ends, it will disappear for a long, long, long time. This season we have a new weapon called Redrix’s Claymore. This Pulse Rifle features a unique perk set in Outlaw as well as a new synergistic perk called “Desperado” – “Reloading while Outlaw is active increases your rate of fire.” This translates to defeating enemies in the same three bursts it currently takes from a high-impact Pulse Rifle, just much faster. Make sure to land your headshot kills and you can keep Desperado and Outlaw running indefinitely.
Redrix’s Claymore will be available to players once they reach the Fabled level in the Glory Rank. Ranking above Fabled will be rewarded with an ornament for Redrix’s Claymore and a new emblem- and for those who push their Glory rank to Mythic and above, a special secret awaits you.
“Where can I earn these ranks?”
Valor
Quickplay
Rumble
Mayhem
Glory
Competitive
Trials and Iron Banner will not have any Crucible Ranks attached to them as they have their own investment rewards and are separate from the Crucible. Additionally, to maintain the integrity of Glory Ranks, players will only be able to earn Glory in the Competitive playlist.
“Why should I keep earning Glory week over week?”
Each week your Glory Rank will change depending on the number of games you played, maxing out at three games per week. Players ranked Fabled and below will earn bonus Glory Rank Points each week. For players ranked Mythic and Legend, each match completed will reduce the amount of Glory Rank decay, up to preventing the decay for the week. This means if you’re a player in Mythic or Legend you’ll need to hop into the Competitive playlist at least three times a week to maintain your status.
“Will matchmaking be based on Glory Ranks in the Competitive playlist?”
The Competitive playlist will be using our existing matchmaking system. At the start of Season 3 we are going to reset the skill bucket in Competitive to give every player an equal start as they begin their climb to Fabled and beyond. This means that as you win and lose, your skill and rank will go up or down accordingly. As always, we are never done iterating and improving our systems, and so once you’ve had time to sink your teeth into ranks we’d love to hear your feedback.
“Too long, give me bullets”
Valor
Caps out at 2,000 Rank Points
Features win streak bonus points
Can be reset when fully completed, with no cap on resets per season
Resets each season
Has ornament, emblem, and weapon rewards
Requires a fixed number of Valor resets to earn some rewards
Featured in: Quickplay, Rumble, Mayhem
Glory
Caps out at 5,500 Rank Points
Features win streak bonus points
Adds loss streak penalties for recurring losses
Players can earn bonus rank points or fend off decay by completing three competitive matches each week
Only resets each season
Has ornament, emblem, and weapon rewards
Features unique seasonal chase weapon that can be earned at Fabled level (about ~40% of the way through your journey in Glory Ranks)
Lets players earn ornament for seasonal weapon at Legend level
“How are you going to make sure everyone plays fair in the Ranked environment?”
Update 1.2.0 will come with a slew of improvements to our security systems to better maintain the sanctity of the Competitive experience. We’ve made what we feel are appropriate arrangements to ensure your Crucible experience is a good one.
“When can I begin earning Ranks?”
Players can start earning Seasonal Crucible Ranks beginning on May 8 with the release of Update 1.2.0.
Worthy Opponents
Playing the role of matchmaker isn’t an easy feat. In Destiny 2 Update 1.2.0, the Crucible team will be addressing player feedback about pre-made Fireteams being matched against solo players. PvP Design Lead Derek Carroll has a quick breakdown of the changes that are going in, and what players can expect starting May 8.
Derek: From reading your feedback and looking at data, it’s clear that solo players are facing an uphill battle in the Crucible when they encounter well-coordinated opponents. Players in Fireteams have a substantial advantage, particularly as average skill increases. In the current Crucible, solo players at virtually all skill levels win fewer than half of their games.
We’re making some under-the-hood adjustments to try to ensure that even when solo players do end up fighting against Fireteams, they’ll be doing it on a more-even battlefield.
Instead of using your normal skill value when in a Fireteam, we will use a modified value that takes your Fireteam size into account. The larger your Fireteam, the larger the potential modification. We don’t want to try to completely nullify the benefit of team-play, so our initial values are conservative and can (and will) be tuned as we see the system working in the wild. All of these settings can be configured on our servers without waiting for a new update, so we’ll be able to make additional tweaks based on what we see.
We always encourage you to bring your friends with you into the Crucible, but we think this change will improve your experience during those times you have to fly solo. As always, we’ll be keeping an eye on how well these changes are working once they’re live, and look forward to hearing your thoughts!
#FTMM
(Editors note: For those like me who didn’t understand this hashtag immediately, this means Fireteam Matchmaking.)
Season 2 Finale
Lord Saladin returns for the final bout of Iron Banner in Season 2.
Begins: Tuesday, May 1
Ends: Tuesday, May 8
The game is Control!
As some of you may have noticed, we’re diving back into the Iron Banner playlist pretty quickly compared to previous months. Senior Designer Jeremiah Pieschl gave us a quick rundown of initial feedback we’re looking to address since 6v6 went live:
Jerpie: While we continue to evaluate the feedback and data from the last Iron Banner Control with 6v6, we’ve heard two messages very clearly. Having more opportunities to play 6v6 is highly desired and Control remains the most popular mode for 6v6. As such, you can expect Iron Banner to feature 6v6 Control exclusively moving into Season 3.
As a warning, this will be your last chance to earn Season 2 ornaments, so make sure to jump in and complete those objectives.
Safari Stripes
Speaking of Iron Banner, Destiny Player Support has been working behind the scenes to investigate reports of error codes encountered last week. If you’ve recently seen a pesky ZEBRA or two, read below for some important information.
ZEBRA
With the launch of 6v6 Iron Banner, we saw a large increase in ZEBRA error codes which were determined to be caused by players timing out while loading into the maps. We took steps to reduce the rate of this error code by increasing the time in which players could attempt to load into a Crucible match. If you continued to frequently encounter ZEBRA error codes during 6v6 Iron Banner, you may be experiencing issues with your connection quality or your PC hardware may be below the minimum specifications.
To improve performance and reduce the frequency of ZEBRA error codes, you may want to try the following:
On PC, close other open programs, ensure all drivers are up to date, or run the Scan and Repair tool
We expect to see this issue continue in future 6v6 Iron Banner events; however, after Update 1.2.0 this instance of the ZEBRA error code will provide players with the BEET or KALE error codes. If you encounter these issues, please post a report to the #Help forum.
Warring Over Stones
With the introduction of Exotic Weapon Masterworks and Crucible Ranks, we expect to see many players challenging themselves to master activities that they may not have engaged with before. The videos you find here may be a source of inspiration or even strategy for approaching engagements in a different manner.
Winner: The Power of Math
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Runner Up: Cream of the crop
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If you’d like a chance to earn the Lens of Fate emblem, make sure to submit your video to the Creations page on Bungie.net and include #MOTW in your title.
Top Tier
Last week, The Arms Dealer was the featured Nightfall for the first time since Nightfall Strike Scoring was introduced. On May 8, we’ll be addressing the Lost Sector strategy used to boost scores to the moon and back – but we’re happy to celebrate those who are reaching for the stars. Shout out to Johny_Hopkins for appearing on two of the top scoring fireteams!
It’s good to be back in the office. We’re less than two weeks out from Warmind and the beginning of Season 3. Restoring the hobby in Destiny 2 has been a major goal throughout the development process, and what you’ve read above are a few steps in that direction. Soon, it’ll be in your hands – and we’ll be at the ready to process your feedback.
See you in the Crucible? I need to get some practice in before Crucible Ranks go live. I’m not sure my team can reach Mythic status if I’m not pulling my weight. Oh, and before we go – if you’re excited for Warmind, Associate Artist Joseph Biwald cooked up a few Twitter banners for you. Enjoy!
Embark on the 19th century's most unreliable spaceship in this 2 player couch co-op adventure. 39 Days to Mars is a unique game designed to be played with a friend, where both players have important roles in the expedition. Solo players are aided by the computer-controlled ship's cat.
