The end of Season of the Hunt is rapidly approaching, and to prepare players for the upcoming Season, Bungie has outlined a few changes in the latest This Week at Bungie. The TWAB goes into detail about new Seasonal Challenges, Bright Dust acquisition, as well as information on some highly anticipated buffs to Rocket Launchers.
Seasonal Challenges
Seasonal Challenges are a new type of weekly reward that will replace, and exceed, the weekly bounties. Each week (for ten weeks) a series of challenges will unlock for players to complete, rewarding them with XP, Bright Dust, Seasonal currency, and other bits and pieces.
The addition of Seasonal Challenges are designed to provide more engaging content than logging in to smash out a bunch of bounties. Challenges include things like defeating Primeval Envoys in Gambit, completing Trials matches, gaining Infamy or Valor, and more. The harder the challenge, the greater the reward.
These challenges will disappear after each Season, so it will be important to knock them out whenever possible. Bungie also notes that less than half of the challenges will require the Season Pass, so there should be plenty for players to do even if they don’t fork out for the premium content.
Bright Dust
The conversations surrounding Bright Dust have always been rather heated and it looks like Bungie is finally making some good strides here. Players that complete nearly all of the Seasonal Challenges will receive a lump payment of 4,000 Bright Dust.
Bungie provided the following breakdown to give players an idea of how much Bright Dust they can earn and from what sources:
Seasonal Challenges Bright Dust (All Players)
- Free Seasonal Activities – 6,000
- Seasonal Extra – 4,000
- Total – 10,000 Bright Dust
Season Pass Bright Dust
- Free Path – 7,500 (All Players)
- Paid Path – 3,000 (Players who own Season Pass)
- Total – 10,500 Bright Dust
Weekly Ritual Vendor Challenge Bright Dust (All Players)
- 120 Bright Dust per ritual vendor, per character, per week
- 14,040 total if completing all required weekly Challenges over the course of Season 13
Some users over on the DestinyTheGame subreddit have pointed out that this may be a slight increase to how much Bright Dust players can currently earn.
Gameplay changes
New additions and currency changes aside, players can also look forward to a host of weapon tweaks coming with the latest Season. One thing players have always had a problem with is how recoil is different on controller than it is on keyboard and mouse. Bungie’s solution here is to make keyboard and mouse feel more like controller. And the monkey paw curls.
The following weapons will have their recoil adjusted on keyboard to bring them more in-line with controller. This is in preparation for crossplay:
- Auto Rifle
- Scout Rifle
- Pulse Rifle
- Submachine Gun
- Hand Cannon
- Machine Gun
Of these weapons, Pulse Rifles, SMGs, and Machine Guns are receiving some slight buffs. The community has noted that SMGs are simply outclassed in most respects by Auto Rifles and Sidearms, as well as Shotguns in the close range (looking at you, sliding Titans). To fix this, Bungie is reducing the camera movement when firing these weapon archetypes with SMGs receiving the greatest improvement: a 24% reduction.
Depending on how these feel, we could be facing a situation where some SMGs begin to be competitive. The balance will be, of course, avoiding situations like The Recluse, which dominated Crucible for far too long.
A few other weapons will be receiving some tuning in Season 13. Rocket Launchers, Fusion Rifles, and Breech Grenade Launchers are all receiving some much needed buffs.
Rocket Launchers are receiving a 30% damage increase with Exotics being adjusted individually. This means we could see something like Eyes of Tomorrow and The Wardcliff Coil becoming must-have items for raids, provided their buffs are substantial enough to warrant using them over something like Anarchy.
According to Bungie, Fusion Rifle usage is quite low. To address this, the point at which Fusion Rifle damage begins to fall off has been pushed out. Furthermore, the camera movement has been toned down.
As for Breech Grenade Launchers, things outside of Mountaintop aren’t being used. Ignoring the fact that there aren’t a lot of them to begin with, Bungie is making it so that their projectiles will detonate on impact, even if the trigger is being held. This should help to make them more viable as an option. However, the main reason Mountaintop was so prevalent is that its projectile flew fast and in a straight line. We might see a return of players looking for Spike Grenade launchers, unless some of next Season’s perks are particularly appealing.
As always, Destiny 2 players have to take their medicine. There are a few nerfs coming down the line to Sniper Rifles and Swords. Right now, it’s extremely difficult to take on someone with a Sniper, even if you land the first shot. The next patch will have Snipers flinch more while ADSing and getting shot. For Swords, everyone already knew they were too dominant, but apparently only 65% of players are using them for encounters. Sword damage is being hit by a blanket 15% damage reduction. It might be time to start looking at Rocket Launchers again.
There are also a few bug fixes coming, including a fix to ensure Ace of Spades, Tarrabah, and Hawkmoon don't lose their buffs when you pull out your Ghost. Borealis and Hard Light will have a short animation when switching between elements, and Sturm will fill up your Special weapons. Merciless has also had its charge rate fixed.
Beyond these critical changes, Bungie is also vaulting Crimson Days. Players will no longer have the yearly Crucible event to look forward to. Once again, PVP players have content taken away without something to replace it. Bungie does state, though, that this will allow them to “maintain focus for alternate Seasonal offerings, ranging from quests to activities and more”. I’m sure we all remember the promise from Destiny 1 that Eververse will allow the Live Team to deliver more content.
This week’s TWAB is chock-full of information, so make sure you go and read the entire thing. Remember to cash-in your Crucible Tokens and complete your Fragment quests before Season of the Hunt ends. While you’re out doing that, take a look over the Shacknews Destiny 2 guide for even more delicious content.
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replySam Chandler posted a new article, Let's talk about This Week at Bungie - January 28, 2021
