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Destiny 2 - January 11, 2018 Update: Bungie Lays Out Roadmap

Bungie has a good idea of where Destiny 2 is headed, as evidenced by a blog update issued on Thursday evening.

Ozzie Mejia

January 11, 2018 5:10 PM

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Destiny 2 players won't have to worry about a lack of content in 2018. They also won't have to worry about knowing when that content is coming. On Thursday evening, Destiny 2 Game Director Christopher Barrett essentially laid out the full 2018 roadmap for Destint 2's development going forward.

Prior to revealing the upcoming road map, Barrett addressed Eververse, noting that it was not meant to be a substitute for end-game content. Players can soon find various rewards like Ghosts, Sparrows, and ships in achivement reward pools, with a clear gameplay path pointing towards earning Bright Engrams. Direct purchase options will also be adjusted as time goes on.

There are some key dates to look out for in the next few weeks, as well. These include:

• Faction Rallies - January 16
• Iron Banner - January 30
• The Crimson Days Event - February 13

Speaking of that January 30 date, that's when the next major Destiny 2 update will hit. These are the features to look out for, as seen on the Bungie website:

• Masterwork Armor
  • We are expanding the Masterwork system to include armor.
  • Masterwork Armor provides increased damage reduction while using your Super.
  • You can reroll the armor stat type on Masterwork Armor, and similar to Masterwork weapons, you can upgrade a piece of armor to Masterwork by spending Masterwork Cores and Legendary Shards.
• Raid Reward Rework
  • We are updating Raid rewards to make them more unique and interesting. They will now feature mods with Raid-specific perks, and we are adjusting the rewards to ensure a Raid item drops from each major encounter. The Raid vendor will also directly sell Leviathan and Eater of Worlds armor and weapons for purchase with Raid tokens and Legendary Shards.
  • We are also adding a new Ghost with Raid-specific perks that has a chance to drop from the Leviathan and Eater of Worlds final encounters. We intend to return to creating more Raid and other activity-unique rewards in the future.

Another update is set to come in February, likely around the start of the Crimson Days Event. That update will feature:

• Strike Scoring + High Score Tracking
  • Strike Scoring is coming to Nightfall and replacing the current time limit mechanic. The scoring is similar to the Destiny 1 system but with adjustments to emphasize competitive execution of Strike objectives and support for player selectable score modifiers. In February, Nightfall High Scores will be exposed in-game via new emblems and will unlock rewards. We also have plans for Clan and Community High Scores in the works.
• Mods 2.0
  • Work is underway on a full rework of armor and weapon mods. This will focus on reducing redundant mods, more unique theming, and greatly increasing their impact on your power. We are aiming for a February release, but the scope of the rework could push parts or all of it out to early spring. We will be evaluating how Mods play into the Bright Engram economy as a result, because we’re sensitive to pay-to-win outcomes.
• Quickplay Improvements
  • We are adjusting game mode rules to increase the pace of gameplay and power ammo acquisition in Quickplay.
• PC Tower Chat
  • We are adding text chat to the Tower for the PC version of the game.
• Exotic Repetition Reduction
  • This will prevent players from receiving the same Exotic twice in a row. You may still receive duplicates, just not consecutively.
• Fireteam Members on Destination Map
  • You will finally be able to see the other members of your fireteam on the destination map. No more having to ask your fireteam where they went when they fast travel to another landing zone.

For Spring 2018, the next Destiny 2 expansion is expected to arrive. With that will come some major changes to the Crucible multiplayer. This will include the addition of Seasonal Crucible Ranks, Private Matches, a 6v6 PvP Playlist, the return of Mayhem, and other fixes. Other features that Bungie is aiming for include balance changes for weapons, abilities, and armor, a new reputation system for Seasonal vendors, tweaks to Iron Banner and Faction Rallies, tweaks to the end game, PC Clan Chat, and more.

Finally, Bungie is looking all the way to Fall 2018 for its last batch of changes, which feature:

• Item Collections and Records
• Weapon Slot and Archetype Improvements
• Additional Crucible Playlists (e.g. Rumble)
• Better Clan Rewards
• Masterwork Exotics
• Pinnacle Weapon and Gear Improvements
• Trials of the Nine improvements
• Shaders and dismantling
• The Future of Guided Games
• Address Solo Vs Fireteam matching

These are all tentative targets and could be subject to delay. But for now, it looks like Bungie has a general idea of where they'd like to take Destiny 2 for the foreseeable future.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?