When Bungie announced last year that they were reviving Destiny 2's serious PvP weekend event mode, Trials, they said "It's important that this doesn't go out half-baked." Reader dear, it went out half-baked. But! Seventeen months and one revamp later, Trials Of Osiris is good now. Really good. With generous new reward systems, the option to queue solo, and a few anti-cheater measures, the return of Trials this weekend has seen a huge surge in player numbers and been, like, actually fun.
]]>Wizards of the world, unite. With cross-platform multiplayer due to arrive in Destiny 2's next season, Bungie are now ready to give the tech a big ol' test. Next week, they're inviting Guardians on all platforms to try a Strike playlist that'll throw everyone into the same matchmaking pool. That's not mega-exciting but you can earn a special emblem for taking part, and everyone knows nothing motivates the Traveller's magical walking corpses more than getting a shiny thing to show off.
]]>Destiny 2 launched its new season last night, and it's simultaneously reminded me of why I loved Destiny, and why I don't think I want to ever play it again. The Season Of The Splicer has a lot going on: cool new alien threats and allies, a new six-person fireteam mission, a needlessly complex transmogrification system, as well as some old and new places to explore.
It also magically has crossplay now, because the launch went a bit haywire and Bungie managed to turn it on early.
]]>The Destiny 1 raid Vault Of Glass will return in Destiny 2 on May 22nd, Bungie confirmed last night. And they have good news for people interested in trying the ultra-hard raid race Challenge Mode that's in effect for the first day: you won't need to grind a huge amount to reach its Power cap. In fact, you might not need to grind at all - you may already be past it. Given that hard Destiny is some of the best Destiny, I really do recommend giving that a go.
]]>As a dedicated Destiny 2 fashionista, I have been keenly awaiting the arrival of the transmogrification system with Season 14 in May. I have so many looks planned for my spacewizards. But even though I know full well that it often takes Bungie several attempts to get a feature right, I hadn't expected Armor Synthesis to sound so miserable. Bungie have now explained how it will work, and it's a sprawl of different crafting materials and bounties and limits and god, I just want to play dress-up with my wizards.
]]>Grandmaster-difficulty Nightfall Strikes have returned to Destiny 2 and yep, they're still mega-tough missions full of punishing modifiers. It's great. As I've said before, GM Nightfalls turn Destiny into a tactical shooter where every fight is a puzzle to solve and every corner a potential deathtrap. They're difficult in a way that makes them better, not just harder. Last night I completed the season's first GM Nightfall, Devil's Lair, and strongly recommended having a go yourself - if you reach the demanding level requirement.
]]>A newly-discovered Destiny 2 glitch lets players cram so many people into a team than officially allowed, and boy howdy it's been daft. Smooshing two fireteams together for a 12-person raid? Sure! Hell, I've even seen 12 people crammed into the three-player Presage mission. The glitch is tricky to pull off, and presumably will soon be patched out, but I had a grand old time joining a 12-player Deep Stone Crypt over the weekend. It was... maybe the sloppiest and silliest raid I've done.
]]>My favourite video game weapons have a rhythm, not just a bang-bang-bang beat. The click-clack-kapow of a pump-action shotgun. The choonkpf-wait-pling-wait-boom-plimpf-ploomf-click of a Fighting Lion. Anything with a strange timing or bit of finesse, I'm here for it. So I'm delighted by the new Exotic bow which arrived in Destiny 2 last night with the start of Season 13. Ticuu's Divination has a one-two punch of homing arrows followed by explosions, which is a winning combo for me.
]]>With only one week left in Destiny 2's Season Of The Hunt, Bungie today announced what's next: Season Of The Chosen. The baddie will be Emperor Caiatl, the daughter of our old mate Calus, after she drops by to politely request our submission. I heard y'all are horny for giant ladies? Caiatl has tusks and all. Come meet her in the new trailer.
]]>I don't want a lot for Christmas, but I certainly am glad to receive the gift of a new Destiny dance performance from Husky Raid. This group of players have thrilled and delighted with hot moves and clever staging in their "Saw something weird..." machinima videos for five years, and their latest weird encounter is fittingly festive. Come, pour yourself a steaming mug of egg nog, and enjoy.
]]>The best time to play a Destiny raid is as soon as it launches. Before the puzzles are solved, the bosses cheesed, the builds optimised, and the surprises spoiled, get in and discover it for yourself. Raids are extra brutal at launch because the first 24 hours are under a special 'Contest Mode' making enemies so much tougher while players race for the world's first completion. So when Destiny 2: Beyond Light opened the Deep Stone Crypt last Saturday, I dove straight in with my fireteam for puzzling and a pummelling. It was: great.
]]>Along with a half-dozen planets and countless weapons and armour, Destiny 2: Beyond Light made us say goodbye to the game's existing raids - so it's about time it added a new one of its own. Thee Deep Stone Crypt opens its doors today, letting you put all that hard-earned Europan gear to the test in the expansion's first real endgame challenge. Or, alternatively, get ready to watch Destiny's smartest Guardians duke it out in the race to be the first to clear Bungie's latest sci-fi puzzle-box.
]]>Right now, as I'm sure you're aware, none of us are allowed to touch anything with our hands, in case we spread viral loads from yesterday's grubby front door to today's gaping mouth hole. Many of us are adapting to this by instead using our feet to take on many everyday hand tasks; I am typing this with my long and dextrous toes. Feet: they're the new hands!
I assume this is the reason that publishers, scenting feet on the air, are increasingly partnering with shoe companies to make trainer tie-ins for their games. Either that or there has been some sort of consumer survey indicating that we all really want to showcase our favourite games with shoes, the one item of clothing that The Shawshank Redemption has taught me people do not look at. I do not understand this new merch trend, is what I'm saying. But the thing is, I would totally buy video game shoes if they weren't all embarrassing to wear.
]]>Destiny 2: Beyond Light finally lets our Guardians touch the darkness. But perhaps it shouldn't have, because it's gone and corrupted the game's space wizards with the power to completely break any encounter Bungie throws at them. Ahead of the expansion's first raid opening later this month, Warlocks have figured out how to use their stasis powers to instantly evaporate Destiny's deadliest baddies.
]]>So, you've just beaten Destiny 2: Beyond light, powered up your Guardian with the slickest gear, and feel ready to take on the world in high-stakes wizard PVP. Well, I hate to break it to you, but you'll just have to wait a few more weeks. Due to an unidentified issue, Bungie have benched Destiny 2's Trials of Osiris for the next two weeks, bringing the competitive PVP event 'til November 27th.
]]>In the run-up to yesterday's launch of Destiny 2: Beyond Light, many players were excited for the return of familiar people and places. Will Randal the Vandal be up to his old tricks? Will the Exo Stranger say what she said six years ago? But Destiny 1 wasn't on PC so I didn't play it, and I feel like I've turned up to someone else's school reunion. Everyone's stoked to crack open a couple engrams with the lads in the Loot Cave and reminisce, while I'm stuck in an awkward conversation with some big fella who chatters and clicks like a happy budgie.
]]>After a short goodbye event live in-game last night, Bungie have shut down Destiny 2's servers to roll out the new expansion, Beyond Light. The event was only small, just a little flourish as Darkness closed around the solar system and locked off several areas for the foreseeable future. I think. But it seemed nice. From what I've seen. I wouldn't know myself because I, like many, got sick of queueing for the servers then being disconnected when I got in, and just went to bed. Alright, let's catch up with a VOD.
]]>Destiny 2: Beyond Light is almost here - and when it does, it's throwing a whole lotta junk out of players' inventories. Schematics, treasure maps, and even Expired Ramen Coupons are all on the chopping block, but it's the last of those three that's got some guardians all riled up. While I'm not even sure if Destiny's gun-wizards can eat, there's an apparent sentimental value to the game's noodly food-tickets, with many players now petitioning Bungie to let them hold onto their tasty little keepsakes.
]]>Fashionistas of The Last City, you may breath a sigh of relief and begin clearing out your wardrobe: Bungie have confirmed that Destiny 2's upcoming transmogrification won't require us to hold the original item. The workings of the transmog system are still largely unknown but game director Luke Smith did say last night that yes, if we want to duplicate a garment's look and apply it to another, it is enough to have the original in our Collections. I've been saving every swish item for months, my Vault now overflowed into my inbox, and am so very glad to hear this.
]]>The man who killed our pal Cayde-6 will return to Destiny 2 with Season Of The Hunt, Bungie revealed today. Well, the Guardian reanimated from the corpse of the man who killed Cayde will. It's complicated. Spacemagic. With the Beyond Light expansion now two weeks away, Bungie today released a new video documentary gabbing about its development and laying out more of their plans for MMOFPS's next year of content. Look, I'm setting myself up for ridicule after years of Destiny casually setting plot big threads aside to chase distractions but: it sounds like it's all leading somewhere.
]]>We should have been playing Destiny 2: Beyond Light by now, but while the expansion's delayed to November we can at least gawp at some of its gear and imagine how cool it might be to use. The answer is: quite cool. Bungie today detailed the new Exotic-quality weapons and armour coming in Beyond Light, and some sound powerful, some sound like they'll open up new tactics, and some just sound great fun. A sniper rifle summoning lightning? Warlock punches spreading contagious poison? My Hunter's dodge becoming a blink? I'm game.
]]>This was to be the week Bungie launched Destiny 2: Beyond Light but, like everything else this year, the expansion ended up delayed. This week has at least brought news about installing Beyond Light come November, both good and bad. Good news: thanks to some revamped technoguts, the game should take up less drive space and Bungie should be able to patch any urgent problems faster. Bad news: you'll need to download the whole game again when Beyond Light arrives. We'll get a few hours' head-start to preload, at least.
]]>Bungie today revealed more of the new elemental powers we will get to wield in Destiny 2: Beyond Light, Stasis (it's ice). Thanks to us getting chummy with the forces of Darkness, every class will get a new Stasis subclass in the expansion, with brand new abilities. Yup, some chill. Sure, some freeze. And oh heck yes, some shatter.
]]>During Destiny 2's next content year, Bungie plan to add a transmogrification system, finally letting us apply the looks of stylish armour to the stats of practical armour. As an avowed Destiny fashionista, I am excited. But because Bungie haven't revealed how this will work in the MMOFPS, I've started stockpiling fashion just in case we need to feed the system original garments. I am already out of room. My vault is full of hats. My pockets are full of trousers. My postbox is overflowing with gloves. Bungie, please, either give the slightest hint of how transmog will work or give us more vault space.
]]>If there's one thing I miss about Destiny 2, it's the armour. I'm a firm supporter of the whole "you can't save the world if you don't look good" thing. What I do not miss about this game, however, is how much you have to grind to look that good in the first place. Destiny 2's Solstice Of Heroes event kicks off on August 11th, and the new armour sets are lush, but good god do they seem like a lot of work to get.
]]>While I'm still not convinced that getting pally with the forces of Darkness in Destiny 2 won't cause a second collapse of human civilisation, it does look great fun. A new trailer for the Beyond Light expansion shows some of the 'Stasis' abilities we'll somehow get from those presumed wrong'uns, and I was expecting to freeze enemies but I was not expecting to erect ice walls or throw ice platforms we can climb up. I think Stasis might even let us get a magic wand? Alright, Darkness, make your offer.
]]>The Darkness might be an intimidating mass of deadly triangles, but Destiny 2 has more grounded concerns to worry about right now. As Bungie continue to wrestle with life under the Covid-19 pandemic, they've postponed the release of the game's next big expansion to give themselves more breathing room. Destiny 2: Beyond Light will now release just under two months after its planned September release, launching instead on November 10th.
]]>Amid the megablast of news about Destiny's future yesterday, Bungie started the latest season, the Season Of Arrivals. After nine rocky months of decreasingly good seasons in Destiny 2, Season 11 feels like Bungie are starting to turn a corner. I don't know how I'll feel about Arrivals in two months, but right now I'm pretty excited about a lot of its newness. Not just because I get to spend a lot more time with my shady spaceuncle, Drifter.
]]>A busy livestream has brought a whole lot of Destiny 2 news today. Bungie announced the next expansion, named Beyond Light, for launch in September. Today they also start the next season, named Season Of Arrivals, and launch a new dungeon. Looking into the far future, they've a further announced two expansions for 2021 and 2022. And to keep the game manageable, they plan to starting cycling out some older content into a 'Destiny Content Vault' - but also use that Vault to bring back older bits from the first game, with one area and a raid already confirmed. Whew.
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