This Week at Bungie – 02/23/2017

Josh Hamrick: And I’m back again. In the spirit of open and honest communication, I wanted to show up and talk about a couple of changes we’re beginning to test now.  

 

Before I do, I have to state that these changes could see some iteration before they make it to you. The important thing to know is that this iteration could change the details or even - though it’s unlikely - entirely kill them. More than likely they’ll ship, and probably as is, but we’d like to clear that up, just in case.  

 

Now, the goods…

 

1.     Sidearms: In a not-entirely-shocking development, the Sidearm meta has grown strong. With its innate ability to not only keep ammo through death, but to also actually store it away, Scrooge McDuck style, it’s the ultimate gift for anyone who’s always running out. For now. We are currently working on a change that would allow Sidearms to continue to spawn with a small set amount of ammo post-death, but keep them from stacking anything extra. They’ll be handy if you run into resistance on your way to the ammo crate, but to keep your Sidearm usage high, you’ll still need to stock up often.

 

2.     Memory of Skorri: This Artifact has led to some of the greatest dance parties I’ve ever attended in Destiny. That being said, aside from encouraging these sort of team building events, the artifact itself tends to inspire a more lackadaisical approach to gameplay. Instead of continuing to encourage you to hurry up and wait on a Super, we are looking at modifying Skorri to motivate some activity. The change currently in testing requires a kill to jumpstart Skorri’s unique ability for the next minute. Once it times out, you’ll need another kill to jumpstart it again. We believe you won't have any problems killing one enemy every 60 seconds for maximum uptime in PVE, but Trials may offer a greater challenge.

 

3.    Truth: While I think Truth’s strength is its unique ability to find its target, clearly having more rockets is always better and losing a loaded rocket is - understandably - a heavy loss to many players. To make this a little bit easier to deal with, we are looking into adding one additional rocket into your backpack AND bumping Truth to the max Rocket Launcher reload speed.  

 

4.     No Land Beyond: Much like the recent rise of Sidearms, NLB is showing up more and more. Ultimately, we would never want to destroy NLB’s Exoticness, meaning we would never move it from the Primary slot or change it from being a Sniper. On the contrary, we've found a potential workaround for making NLB flinch like the Sniper Rifle it is. This one will require a good amount of testing, but we think it’s a good change. Keep your shooting clean and you’ll still pop heads like nothing ever changed… But falling behind in a head-to-head primary fight will likely be a death sentence.

 

5.     Blink: As you know, we’ve nerfed Blink a few times over the years. While we're happy with the latest changes, we believe that the stack of nerfs has grown too high. To counter this, we are looking into removing the old Recovery nerf entirely. Additionally, we’re looking at pulling back the time that you’re HUDless by just a bit.

6.     Finally, Nutty McNutface is a lazy name for a squirrel and you all know it.

Sniper Rifles

Hand Cannons

Hunter Armor

Titan Armor

Warlock Armor

Bungie Bounty: JogandoPlay

Region: Brazil

When: 6 PM Pacific 2/25/2017

Console: PS4

Playlist: Clash

Console Update Preview Programs

This week, it came to our attention that some players are currently unable to join Multiplayer sessions or connect to Destiny activities due to issues introduced by a Console Update Preview. If following the steps under the Network Troubleshooting Guide does not resolve your issue, we advise contacting PlayStation Support or Xbox Support for further troubleshooting methods.

Local Network Fireteam Issues

We are actively testing a proposed solution to an issue where players on a local network are unable to form a Fireteam. The proposed fix is somewhat complex in nature, as the changes would revise systems in place that all Destiny players use to form Fireteams with each other, or join matches. While this could solve the issue for some, it may introduce additional issues that would impact a larger population of the Destiny player base. As such, we are testing the proposed solution thoroughly to prevent further issues from being introduced.

In the case that this issue is not resolved by the proposed fix, or additional issues are found through testing, we will continue to pursue alternative solutions in hopes of addressing the Local Network Fireteam Issues. Additional updates on the investigation will be provided when possible.

Accessing Destiny Content

Over the last few weeks, Destiny Player Support has received many reports concerning access to Destiny content. In many cases, players were reporting that pre-ordered content was not available to them, or that they were unable to access activities that required the purchase of specific Destiny releases.

If you encounter this issue, please follow the troubleshooting steps below:

• Clear your console’s cache
  
• Inspect Destiny under your PlayStation 4 Library or Xbox One in My Games & Apps section
  
• Ensure all items listed under Destiny have been downloaded.
  
• If any content is present but not installed, select the appropriate release and proceed to download.
• If you have purchased a Physical edition of Destiny, ensure all DLC codes have been redeemed under your PlayStation or Xbox Account.

If all content is present when inspecting Destiny, you may need to re-install this content.

In the case that you continue to experience issues accessing content after following these steps, you may be required to contact PlayStation Support or Xbox Support for additional troubleshooting steps.