Destiny 2 targets hardcore players with random roll Masterwork weapons, vendor changes, much more in huge laundry list of improvements

Destiny 2 is getting a ton of features designed to cater to the hardcore veteran players disappointed by the shooter sequel.

Today’s Destiny 2 state of the game update included much more than an apology for Bungie’s silence on complaints from Destiny 2 players; there was also a promise to double down on systems and features designed to cater to these players.

“Going forward, Destiny 2’s post-launch game systems, features, and updates are being designed specifically to focus on and support players who want Destiny to be their hobby – the game they return to, and a game where friendships are made.

“We want Destiny to be a game that fits into your life, providing you with reasons to log in and play with your friends, clans, and families. We want Destiny to be a world you want to be a part of.”

To this end, Bungie updated and expanded on a list of upcoming features and improvements to Destiny 2, giving at least vague timeframes where possible and detailing brand new ideas.

Although full patch notes including sandbox and weapon balance changes are incoming, here’s the initial outline of what’s coming to Destiny 2 with Curse of Osiris, with the December 12 update, and in 2018.

Armour Ornaments – December 5

In Destiny 2 Season 1, Ornaments were random Bright Engram drops. As of December 5, when Destiny 2: Curse of Osiris releases, you’ll be able to earn armour Ornaments by completing specific challenges.

Bungie said the new Ornaments will change the way specific armour sets look, without wiping applied shaders and mods. Like the existing Exotic weapon ornaments, armour ornaments are permanently unlocked account-wide once achieved, so you never need to worry about accidentally deleting them or using them up.

Armour Ornaments are unlocked through vendors, so that’s where you should check the requirements for each one and activate any you have already met the requirements for. Once unlocked, you can apply the Ornament by inspecting the appropriate armour set in your inventory.

These are the armour sets getting Ornaments for Destiny 2 Season 2:

• Vanguard Faction Armor
• Crucible Faction Armor
• Trials of the Nine Armor
• Iron Banner Armor
• Dead Orbit Armor
• Future War Cult Armor
• New Monarchy Armor
• Eater of Worlds Raid Lair Armor

Economy changes – December 5

When Curse of Osiris drops on December 5, you’ll see a number of changes to Destiny 2’s economy:

• Rare mods will dismantle into Gunsmith Materials with a chance for Legendary Mod Components
• Banshee will sell a rotating selection of specific Legendary mods, for Legendary Shards and Mod Components
• Rahool will sell Legendary engrams for Legendary Shards
• Daily Challenges will reward more tokens
• Cayde’s treasure chests will offer more tokens, but still be random
• Strikes will award more tokens
• Common Destination token drop rates will increase 100%
• Common Destination token value will increase by 50%
• Rare Destination tokens will increase in value by 250%
• Reputation requirements per engram will increase by 37% at Destination vendors and 50% at theGunsmith
• You won’t ened to clear a full raid in order to redeem Leviathan Raid tokens.

Masterworks – December 12

Bungie described this as a “new weapon tier” for Destiny 2, called Masterwork, which is an upgrade to Legendary gear. They roll out in a patch on December 12.

Masterwork weapons track the number of kills made with them, with a choice between total or Crucible only tallies. They also generate Orbs of Light you the player and their allies on multi-kills, and have random, re-rollable weapon stat bonuses selected form a “small pool”.

Bungie said Masterwork weapons can drop randomly from any current source of Legendary weapons, and if dismantled, yield a resource which can be used to convert any existing Legendary weapon to a Masterwork. Raid and Trials of the Nine Weapons will have a very high chance to be Masterworks.

Bungie said it has future plans to “extend Masterworks to other gear and expose your kill counts in more places”, such as in the Crucible.

Xur inventory – December 12

When the December 12 patch rolls out to Destiny 2 our friend Xur will get a bit of an update. Xur will begin selling two new items:

• Fated Engrams
  Purchased for Legendary Shards and limited to one per week, fated Engrams will decrypt as an Exotic you don’t already own.
• Three of Coins
  A new, simplified version of a D1 favourite, Three of Coins will boost Exotic drop rates form any source for four hours. They do not expire after a boss battle and do not stack in any way. They are purchased for Legendary Shards and there is no limit on how many you can buy.

Buying direct from vendors – December 12

As of the December 12 Destiny 2 update, players will be able to purchase gear directly from vendors using Legendary shards and reputation tokens. Vendors will always carry one piece of each kind of armour, and will rotate through a selection of weapons. Bungie said this applies to “most” vendors in Destiny 2, not all, so RNG isn’t going away forever.

Players can unlock slots at vendors by ranking up and earning engrams. The word “slots” here probably refers to how many items a particular vendor is offering – but it’s not totally clear so don’t take that as gospel.

Whatever the slots thing means, players will be credited for all the engrams they’ve earned over the past few months of playing Destiny 2.

Economy changes – December 12

Further economy changes will roll out in the December 12 patch:

• Zavala will sell Gift consumables that give bonus rewards to all participants in a Strike. They cost Legendary Shards. Possible rewards range from tokens to Exotics.
• Shaxx will sell Gift consumables that give bonus rewards to all participants in a Crucible match. They cost Legendary Shards. Possible rewards range from tokens to Exotics.
• The chest and resource farming lockout will trigger less frequently and require greater provocation.
• Farming lockout will not reduce Glimmer earnings, and reduce token earnings to 30%, as opposed to 0%.
• Vendors won’t be badged when you don’t have enough tokens to earn an engram.

Future changes

Here’s what Bungie said it’s working on apart from the above:

• Crucible tuning for Supremacy, spawn rules – December
• Heroic Strikes Playlist – December
• Better incentives for Prestige activities – targeting January
• Ranked PvP – “top of our priority list for next year”
• Private Crucible matches – targeting early 2018
• Quitter Penalty for Crucible – 2018
• Further updates to mod system – 2018
• Exotic drop duplication protection – 2018
• Equipping multiple emotes – 2018
• A visual indicator for farming lockouts – no date
• Better incentives for Strikes, Adventures, Lost Sectors – no date
• Exotic weapon tuning – no date

Destiny 2 targets hardcore players with random roll Masterwork weapons, vendor changes, much more in huge laundry list of improvements posted first on http://ift.tt/2k0LiGW