Destiny 2 State of the Game 2023

Destiny 2 is an ever-changing looter shooter. Previously, Bungie trickled more RPG elements into the game. Time continues on as year five comes to a close. Today, Joe Blackburn (Game Director for Destiny 2) released a massive blog post. Consequently, it details Bungie’s current and future plans surrounding the game. Here are the major highlights for the Destiny 2 state-of-the-game update.

Season of Defiance

Season of Defiance is the next season of Destiny 2. It launches alongside Lightfall. Furthermore, it heralds a revamp to the seasonal gameplay loop. Umbral engrams and energies are being eliminated. Therefore, Guardians will only need Glimmer and a seasonal engram for seasonal focusing. This aids in reducing multiple currencies in the game.

Rise, Queen's Guard.

Defy The Witness.

Season of Defiance begins February 28, 2023. pic.twitter.com/BTpyfeNH4Q

— Destiny 2 (@DestinyTheGame) February 13, 2023

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Additionally, keys will replace seasonal currencies. Use these to open bonus chests at the end of seasonal activities. These keys can drop from seasonal activities in addition to core playlists. However, they are rare and not guaranteed. Thus, Bungie increased the rewards earned from a regular seasonal activity run. The bonus chest is more rewarding for players as well.

Lastly, seasonal engrams will be stored by their respective vendors instead of a player’s inventory. Subsequently, the vendor reward path is receiving changes along with other quality-of-life updates.

Season of the Deep

The Destiny 2 state of the game post dropped more unexpected news. Season of the Deep follows after Season of Defiance. Furthermore, this season truly breaks the mold. It will not feature a traditional seasonal upgrade tree or model.

Bungie aims to bring variety to seasonal gameplay. The traditional model will return at a later date. However, Bungie wants creativity to breathe new ideas like the implementation of Guardian Ranks and Loadouts.

Lock and Load

The Witch Queen introduced Weapon Crafting. Consequently, Bungie revised the system slowly over the past year. Bigger changes are coming to it in the future. Non-craftable weapons will gain new functions. Players will be able to enhance these weapons. Meaning, their equipped roles will feature enhanced versions of the perks.

It cannot be customized like a crafted weapon. However, they will share similar properties such as mementos, gaining levels, and perk enhancements. Adept weapons from the Lightfall raid will test this addition when Season of the Deep debuts. Lastly, Deepsight will only appear on craftable weapons.

Prepare for Trouble

Next, the Destiny 2 state of the game tackles power creep. Guardians have simply become too powerful compared to the majority of enemies. Previously, Bungie announced their plans to lengthen ability cooldowns and retune Resilience.

The current Battlegrounds playlist for the season uses a new difficulty modifier. It places enemies five levels higher than the player regardless of their power level. As a result, it presents a challenge normally unseen in the regular seasonal activity. Bungie plans to implement this system in other places. Season of Defiance will have its base activity modeled around this difficulty.

Additionally, Vanguard Ops’ difficulty will be slightly tuned. Bungie seeks to increase the playlists’ challenge for players. Lastly, Neomuna will be more dangerous compared to the average destination. Guardians will face a tougher time than normal when exploring Neptune.

From the Ashes

Joe Blackburn elaborates further on new additions in the Destiny 2 state of the game blog. As previously mentioned, the Vanguard Ops playlist is increasing in difficulty. The Lake of Shadows and Arms Dealer strikes are also being refreshed. Bungie wishes to elevate them akin to the more recent strike additions.

Additionally, Exodus Crash and Inverted Spire are on the list to be refreshed. Bungie scheduled those changes to be implemented at a later date. These strikes will be removed from the Nightfall rotation and appear less often within Vanguard Ops in the meantime. Players can still use their respective nodes directly at each destination. Lastly, Battlegrounds enter the playlist. They offer a unique challenge with their enemy density.  Season of Defiance starts this implementation with the Mars Heist Battleground.

Exotic Missions offer quality content. They feature among the best PvE missions. However, each new expansion limits this enjoyment. That changes in season 22. Bungie plans to introduce an Exotic Mission rotator. It operates like the Legacy Dungeon and Raid rotator. Subsequently, Season 22 will begin with the following missions: Vox Obscura, Operation: Seraph’s Shield, and Presage.

Beyond the Stars

Joe Blackburn teased new changes planned for the future. Destiny 2 attracts many players from around the world. However, Bungie wishes to connect these players in more ways. They promise easier ways to form communities in the future. Text chat will soon be integrated more. Although, the choice to opt-out remains.

A fireteam finder behaves similarly to matchmaking for endgame content such as dungeons and raids. However, it takes a large amount of time and planning to implement. This in-game LFG was planned to debut in season 22. Instead, Bungie plans to delay it for the final season of Lightfall. Hence, plenty of time and polish is going toward its creation.

Those are the major highlights from the Destiny 2 state-of-the-game blog. Bungie continues to work on PvP. As a result, Citadel will return to the Crucible in the last season before The Final Shape. This season also brings new refreshes to the core playlists (Gambit please?). Meanwhile, Season of the Deep introduces Meltdown. This new map transports guardians inside the Vex Network. New game modes and system rewards are also planned throughout the year. You can find the full detailed blog post here. What are you most excited about for Destiny 2? Let us know in the comments down below. For all things Destiny 2, remember to bend the knee in the realm of Lords of Gaming.