Bungie has been releasing a ton of information as it prepares for its latest expansion, The Final Shape, which comes out in just two weeks. In the past two days, there have been two major previews of changes coming to Destiny 2’s abilities and armor systems, as well as a TWID (This Week in Destiny) that’s also gone over additional system changes. It can take a long time to read through all this information, which is why we listed and summarized some juicier parts for you in the following sections.
Information for the summaries are taken from these official articles:
The abilities changes are some of the most drastic we’ve seen in Destiny history. Buffs and nerfs abound throughout this entire article, but perhaps the most shocking are the nerfs coming to Solar Warlock’s Well of Radiance, and Void Titan’s Ward of Dawn. Both of these supers are currently used very often in both PVP and PVE, but with both of them becoming less effective, we could see their usage plummet.
Stasis is getting an overhaul making it stronger with myriad changes, but a big one is a new keyword called Frost Armor, which is an overshield type of status that gives significant damage resistance. Fragments, abilities, and even exotic armor pieces have been altered to accommodate this new change.
New Frost Armor keyword:
You are fortified by layers of durable Stasis matter, reducing incoming damage. Frost Armor damage resistance grows stronger as you gain additional stacks.
Reduces damage from PvE combatants by 4.5% per stack and from enemy players by 2% per stack.
Following that, there are plenty of other changes with arc, solar, void, and strand, with impactful alterations to certain grenades and melee abilities. One noteworthy modification is that strand grapples and melees have been tuned to not allow shooting before melees, thus gutting the Synthoceps shotgun trench barrel strategy.
Armor Tuning
Much of this article was explaining how certain exotic armor pieces would be changed for the coming of the prismatic Subclass, and the exotic class items. These changes will make those exotics — the ones normally tied to specific subclasses — work on the prismatic subclass when the correct super is equipped. There are also a ton of changes to specific armor pieces to make them work better with certain abilities, new and old.
Also, exotic armor will be upgradable to allow for an artifice mod slot, but it will cost a cipher and 10k glimmer. There are other changes not based around exotic armor, too, like the removal of energy costs to equip raid armor mods, and a buff to ammo finder mods for a fire team.
This Week in Destiny 05/23/2024
This article is more normal — with the usual sum up of previews mentioned above, artist of the week, and reminders — however, there are also some important tidbits you’ll want to know:
Brave Weapons Changes:
This last week they improved the drop chances for Brave Weapons.
Starting on May 28th, the drop chances for limited edition (shiny) Brave Weapons will DOUBLE.
If you watch official “rival” streamers for two hours during the world’s first raid race, you can earn an emblem. There’s another emblem for watching any Destiny 2 streamer for 2 hours.
Introduction of Pathfinder:
This is a new system to streamline doing activities in Destiny 2.
It’s set up like a grid, and players need to complete activities from left to right to complete it.
Its purpose is to reward guardians for completing sets of various activities.
Completing a path will reward an exotic new to the expansion.
Quality of life changes and user interface updates are coming to the “quests” tab.
Of course, there are a lot of details that we weren’t able to mention in this summary, so be sure to read the full articles when you have time. What do you think of these changes? Are they going to improve the next expansion, or will it be impossible without a Well of Radiance? Let us know with a comment!
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Kelson H.
Kelson is a spud head from out west. He is most happy when holding a milky tea with too much honey and playing a sprawling role playing game or reading a fantasy novel. His video game tastes vary but his main genres are looter shooters, RPGs, and real time strategy games.
