7 Tower Thoughts: Changes are coming

After a little bit of a break, we’re back again with another edition of 7 Tower Thoughts, or 7TT for short. This is our place to talk about a few things happening in and around the Destiny 2 community. This week I wanted to touch on changes coming to the game, Iron Banner, Lightfall prep, and more.

Iron Banner shader

Iron Banner arrived with a brand new mode for players to enjoy this season. Fortress was like a mixture between classic Control and Trials of Osiris’ sudden death capture point. It was a nice change of pace with the additional enemies to destroy, but it did certainly highlight the power that Titans bring to PVP.

Outside of seeing everyone become a Titan main, the community went buck wild over the shader on Bracus Forge’s reward list. This thing was pretty awesome. It changed any cloth material to chainmail. If you managed to get it, you could make your Guardian look like some kind of medieval knight – Warlock’s especially.

For those that missed the shader, hopefully it’s available next time Iron Banner rolls around, which will be on January 31. Take a look at our Iron Banner schedule guide so you can stay up to date on what’s up next.

Stadia and Cross Save

This is an important PSA for anyone still playing Destiny 2 on Stadia. Bungie’s support for the platform will cease on January 18, 2023. This is because Google has closed down the service. As such, if you want your character to remain, you must enable Cross Save – you’ll also need a new place to play. Bungie has a Stadia-specific Cross Save article you should check out.

If you do not enable Cross Save, you will lose access to your characters, Silver, purchases, and any progress you have made. So if you’ve only played Destiny 2 on Stadia, now is the time to act.

Season of the Seraph story

While Season of the Seraph is sort of like the down time before Lightfall’s arrival, the season has so far managed to be enjoyable. It’s got weapons I want to chase, a dungeon that is quick and filled with loot, and most importantly, a banging story.

It’s incredible to finally have Rasputin as a main character in Destiny 2 with a voice. Since his introduction back in Destiny 1, players have been longing for the day that we can fully repair Rasputin and get him into a body that allows us to communicate with him. He’s a vestige from the Golden Age of humanity and an entity that was there during the Collapse. I’m hoping we get to dive into this background story a bit more over coming weeks.

But we couldn’t have had this reunion if it wasn’t for the actions of Clovis Bray. The story beats may have been a bit predictable (especially given how chaffing Clovis’ personality is), but seeing everything pay off has been excellent. I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Clovis.

Grandmaster Nightfalls

Grandmaster Nightfalls, outside of Day One raids, are some of Destiny 2’s best content. They’re extremely challenging, demand precise teamwork, require solid builds, and offer a bounty of rewards. The one issue is that it’s always been tedious to access them. Players had to reach Pinnacle Power and then mindlessly grind XP to be allowed in. Those days are no more.

As of January 17, players will be able to enter a GM when they reach the Powerful cap. This is the maximum Power you can reach without getting Pinnacles. From here, players can increase their survivability and damage output up to a certain point.

What this means is that more players can access Grandmaster Nightfalls and you will no longer need to gain 10 Pinnacle Power and 20 Artifact Power in order to participate effectively. This massively reduces the barrier to entry.

However, the challenge will still remain. At the highest effective Power, you will still be locked to 25 points below that of the foes. The new restrictions allow players more freedom in how they reach maximum effective power. You can get 10 Pinnacle Power and 5 Power in the Artifact, or 5 and 10, or 7 and 8. You get the picture.

Armor mods for all

Another positive change in Destiny 2 is that all the armor mods have been unlocked for all players. This means new players will be able to participate in crafting builds straight out of the gate. No longer will they be subjected to the whims of RNG and praying that Ada-1 sells the exact Charged with Light mod they need.

This mod change comes right before Lightfall’s introduction of a build system. Players will be able to craft and save builds in-game. Previously, Destiny Item Manager was one of the few ways players could actually create and apply builds. Hopefully we don’t have to go to Orbit to apply them.

You can pet a dog

This is a bit of a light-hearted point. Bungie has actually included a mechanical dog that players can pet in Destiny 2. It’s a bit of a slog to access this mechanical hound but for those that want a Triumph, it’s worth the effort. The team also offered a bit of insight into how they went about creating this feature. You can read about it in the January 12 TWAB.

Lightfall is coming

Finally, it’s important to remember that Lightfall is just around the corner. The expansion is scheduled to release on February 28, which means only one thing: start preparing now. A new expansion means a change in meta, updated abilities, nerfs and buffs, and a myriad of other tweaks. If you haven’t already, you should definitely start preparing for the next expansion.

How do you prepare for Lightfall? Good question. I plan to have a thorough guide up for it soon, but I’ll boil it down to a few cogent points right here. Bounties. Crafted weapons. Exotic catalysts. These are the main three things you want to think about leading into Lightfall. Collect but don’t turn in bounties to ensure you have a boost of XP at the start of the season, craft all the weapons you might want and need, and spend some time completing Exotic catalysts for weapons.

I’ve started the process myself, but I’ve still got a long way to go before I’m ready. There are some weapon patterns I still need to earn and then crafted weapons I need to level up. Once the bounties are done, I can forget about them and just focus on the other bits and pieces.

That’s all for now, Guardians. I hope your weekend is full of slot-correct Pinnacle drops, high-stat armor, and plenty of weapon patterns. See you in Orbit!

Sam Chandler

Head of Guides

Hailing from the land down under, Sam Chandler brings a bit of the southern hemisphere flair to his work. After bouncing round a few universities, securing a bachelor degree, and entering the video game industry, he's found his new family here at Shacknews as Head of Guides. There's nothing he loves more than crafting a guide that will help someone. If you need help with a guide, or notice something not quite right, you can message him on X: @SamuelChandler