2017 was a rocky year for multiplayer online favorite Destiny 2 and its developer Bungie. However, a new year means a new start and a chance for redemption with their fans.
Today, game director Christopher Barrett posted a long development update outlining their goals for the upcoming year and all of the tweaks they plan to make. The post begins with a lofty promise about how the developers are going to be more forthcoming and work on actionable solutions to the fans issues.
Last year Bungie landed in hot water when it was revealed that they were scaling earned XP without telling their players. Barrett notes that the XP system is still in the works, and that “our goal with any updates to XP are transparency and consistent XP gain regardless of your preferred activity. ”
Barrett also announced the return of Faction Rally, a team based PvP and PvE event, on January 16, as well Iron Banner, a limited time Crucible event, on January 30.
The controversial Eververse store, the central location for microtransactions within the game, is also covered in the update, noting that “Eververse was never intended to be a substitute for end game content and rewards.” Bungie is working towards rebalancing the system so that more weight is given to activity rewards instead of Bright Engrams. Players will be able to earn specific rewards for certain activities, rather than earning a Bright Engram, a loot-crate-type item with randomized content inside.
Some of these updates will be in place for the next seasonal event, Crimson Days, which begins on February 13. Players can earn exclusive content from completing in-game events, as well as earning double Engrams when they level up. Apparently, “each Crimson Engram is very strongly weighted to new rewards when decrypted until all new event items have been obtained.”
There is a host of other announcements in the post, ranging from the arrival of ranks and private matches in the Crucible to small balances and tweaks to weapons and armor. You can check out the full update for more details on upcoming changes and events.