Destiny 2 Game Director Joe Blackburn penned a lengthy open letter to fans on the state of the Bungie juggernaut, as well as what’s to come ahead of the new Lightfall expansion.
It’s no secret that Bungie’s Destiny 2 has serious staying power, and ahead of the rest of 2023, the title’s director issued a longwinded statement on the state of everything Destiny while providing an eager roadmap on what’s next for guardians. As the title moves out of Season of the Seraph on Feb 24 and toward Lightfall, Director Joe Blackburn outlined pretty much everything guardians need to know for the immediate future.
Among the most notable bug problems, Blackburn outlines a crucial flaw that Destiny 2 continues to be plagued by, predictability:
” While some consistency is necessary for us to be able to regularly update the game and prevent players from having to relearn Destiny every three months, as well as to maintain our team health and sustainability, it is clear that too much predictability has created a lack of surprise and delight by the time some of our major game updates get into your hands,” while also lamenting on how the most seasoned Guardians continue to run out of content every season. With that said, here are the goals for Destiny 2.
Four Big Goals for Destiny 2 Leading up to The Final Shape
- Expand players’ imaginations – With Season of the Seraph ending, Season of Defiance follows and Season of the Deep is coming further down the line afterwards, and with the new seasons the open letter promises necessary change is coming. Blackburn says “We can’t break all the design bones we want to right away” meaning change will be slow but efficient. Lightfall has a very different aesthetic than Witch Queen, and Destiny 2 wants to lean into change. Also, the developers are making MAJOR changes to the weapon crafting system filled with quality-of-life improvements, so that’s a plus.
- Bring challenge back to Destiny – As each season of Destiny 2 comes and goes, abilities and equipment attune to each other more effectively, which the director states can lower the “baseline challenge” level. To help fix the lower challenge level abilities will undergo tuning, and the director promises the team doesn’t “want to nerf” favourite abilities. Instead they will decrease resistance offered by armour modifications in an attempt to increase difficulty, while also increasing enemy damage output for starters.
- Enrich our content – The developers plan to enrich content that is already readily available for Guardians, whether they are returning to Destiny 2 or are brand new to The Tower. The addition of the ‘Exotic Mission Rotator’ which will allow Guardians to obtain new exotics each week from their respective quests. Blackburn also promises much needed improvements to The Crucible, and to refresh the Strike system.
- Connect our Guardians – A new fireteam finder tool can be utilized from anywhere in the game for an easier way to link up with fellow Guardians that are searching for a similar-minded group, as well as including text chat. Blackburn iterates guardians will still be able to turn chat off completely for those that like to explore alone without interruptions. A new commendations system will also allow players to recognize community member achievements in Destiny 2.
While the future does indeed look bright for Destiny 2, fans can read the entire open letter over on the Bungie website. Destiny 2: Lightfall launches in only two weeks on February 28, so guardians have something huge to look forward to.
