Destiny

The Season of the Splicer weapons are returning this Episode as random rolls. These guns were some all time bangers that unfortunately missed out on crafting and origin perks by just a few months. Going to look at rolls and break down what's good on each weapon.

Origin Trait: Splicer Surge - Reloading this weapon after dealing damage grants a stacking bonus to reload speed and handling until stowed.

Chroma Rush:

• Kinetic 720 RPM AR
• PVE Rolls
  • Subsistence + Rampage/Kinetic Tremors/Target Lock
• PVP Rolls
  • Heating Up/Dynamic Sway + Tap the Trigger/Kill Clip/Rampage/Target Lock
• This weapon is easily one of the best ARs that Destiny has ever had. So glad it's returning.

Ignition Code:

• Kinetic Breach GL
• PVE Rolls
  • Ambitious Assassin + Reverberation/Vorpal
• NGL I only see this as a PVE weapon. You'll likely want it with Disorienting Rounds for utility or Spike Grenades for DMG.

Gridskipper:

• Void Rapid Fire Pulse Rifle
• PVE Rolls:
  • Repulsor Brace + Destabilizing
  • Perpetual Motion + Frenzy (?)
• PVP Rolls:
  • Perpetual Motion/Zen Moment/Lone Wolf/Killing Wind + Headseeker/Elemental Capacitor.
• NEW PERK: Lone Wolf - Slightly increases aim assist, ADS, and AE. Inceases when no allies are near.
• This gun used to be a PVP monster. Though it lost Heating Up in this iteration it still has the god roll of Zen Moment + Headseeker.

Sojourner's Tale:

• Solar Slug Shotgun
• PVE Rolls:
  • Heal Clip + Incandescent
  • Auto Loading Holster + Harmony
• PVP Rolls:
  • Moving Target + Opening Shot
• Heal Clip on a Shotgun might be interesting since it should proc every time you load a shell in?
• MT + OS is the only real PVP roll I'd consider for obvious reasons.

It's the Dungeon Exotic. Not as busted as it once was but we'll see.

TL;DR:

• Episode 2 Artifact Mod Overview
  • Very Stasis Heavy
  • Some experimentation with armor set bonuses.
  • Some GL specific perks.
• Exotic Armor Tuning
  • Lucky Pants, Raiju's Harness, and Icefall Mantle get major reworks.
  • Lots of other tuning and changes.
• Exotic + Super Damage Tuning
  • Spirit of Star Eater + Nova Bomb/Twilight Arsenal nerfed
  • Celestial Nighthawk + Golden Gun minor nerf on bosses only.
• Lots of weapon tuning. Not listing it all. Go read the article if you care.
• Exotic Weapon Tuning
• Choir of One Nerfed
• Several New Weapon mods
• New Episodic Weapon Preview
• SEASONAL/EPISODIC WEAPONS WILL NO LONGER BE CRAFTABLE. They will be focusable like Into the Light Weapons.
• Garden of Salvation weapons are getting revamped and will be craftable. You will have to do the raid to get them.
• New activity Weapon Drop preview
• New IB armor and weapons
• Updated Inverted Spire Strike incoming.

TL;DR:

• Stats are no longer tiered every 10 points
• Stat cap increased to 200
• Points over 100 will add additional effects
• Legendary armor will have a stat archetype
• Some stats are changing to be more useful. Still in development.
  • Ex. "Discipline" is becoming "Grenade".
  • 0-100 has same effect of decreasing cooldown
  • 101-200 increases chance of getting an extra grenade charge when cooldown is up.
• Set bonuses are being added.
  • Ex. 2 pieces of Tex Mechanica armor increase hipfire
  • 4 pieces of Tex Mechanica buffs all TM guns.
• Current Legendary armor is basically getting sunset. Stat values will not change for the most part unless balancing is needed for new stats.
  • Doesn't sound like old armor will be able to roll above what it's current stat is or be able to be brought up to the new system.
• Exotic armor is getting a separate rework to bring it up to par with the new legendary armor but this will not be happening at the same time.

Combatant Modifiers

• Enemies can spawn with new abilities randomly during an activity.
  • Ex. Killing an enemy with a certain buff causes all other enemies to enrage.
  • Ex. Putting a certain enemy to a health threshold causes them to start a detonation countdown. They must be killed or they send out an AOE blast.
• Additional buffs to players coming they don't show in this article.

Raids and Dungeons

• First expansion of the year has a new raid
• Major update will change up the new raid
• Second expansion will have a Dungeon
• Second Major update will have a Pantheon-like activity.
• Raids can now have player selected Feats. The more feats you have enabled, the better the rewards.
• Dungeons will no longer require buying keys

TL;DR:

• New Dev insights on Frontiers next week
• Rewards Updates coming in Episode 2:
  • Nightfall focusing costs less engrams
  • World Drops will be farmable from Lost Sectors
• Power Caps increasing by 10 each episode
• Lots of Titan updates:
  • Titans will be able to taunt enemies with barricades, unbreakable, and sentinel shield. Functionality might be coming to Ward of Dawn.
  • Changes to barricade and unbreakable for balancing this new functionality.
  • Several changes to abilities across the Titan kit to make prismatic more interesting but also apply to the base subclasses.
• Buffs to supers across all classes. Hunter, Warlock, and Titan. Roaming supers to get a duration buff later in Episode 2.
• Some smaller changes to Warlock and Hunter abilities.
• NERF Ace of Spades will be available for pre-order purchase for those who complete the Legend title by 9/24. Bungie also credits the original artist.

Today marks 10 years of Destiny. It's been a long bumpy ride but there's still nothing quite like this game out there. Here's to hoping Bungie can continue to deliver a good experience for players and its employees.

I hope that all the developers who still work on this game and those who worked on this game continue to have success in their careers. My hope is that Bungie (along with the rest of the industry) can stop treating people as expendable assets while still making the games they are passionate about.

Bungie dropped several articles about the future of Destiny today. I have not had a chance yet to read them all. See links below:

Paving the Way for New Frontiers

Developer Insight - Core Game: Activities

Developer Insight - Core Game: Rewards

Developer Insight - The Portal