Bungie have opened up a little more about what we can expect from the first expansion from Destiny – The Dark Below.
The post over at Bungie.net goes in to detail on the changes to gear and how we can rank it all up.
“The Dark Below releases on December 9th, 2014. This new content will expand the world of Destiny for some players. It will also change the experience of playing Destiny for all. To support the updates that will go live with the expansion, we have made changes to a number of systems that drive the game.
New Legendary Gear
•Existing Legendary gear on display in the Tower will be replaced
•New Legendary gear will feature higher Attack and Defense values
•Legendary items will still require Ascendant Materials for upgrades
•This new, more powerful gear will be available to all players of Destiny
•Legendary gear will not be as powerful as new Raid gear or Exotics”
Pretty much all good so far!
“New Rank Commendations
•In addition to Crucible or Vanguard Marks, purchasing new Legendary items will require a Crucible or Vanguard Commendation
•Commendations are received in Reputation Reward Packages delivered by the Postmaster upon reaching a new Reputation Level”
Ummm, what? Why? Surely this is just putting up another blockade to slow people down on leveling up weapons? Clearly Bungie cottoned on to the fact that people would just spend Crucible marks and dismantle them for some quick shards.
“Exotic Talent Changes
•As part of the December 1st Destiny Update, Exotic Armor and Weapons no longer require Ascendant Materials for upgrades
•The final power node of all Exotic Gear will require an Exotic Shard
•This new material is obtained by one of the following means:
•Dismantling unwanted Exotics
•Purchased from Xûr for 7 Strange Coins”
I don’t mind this change, although I think it would probably have been better to include a way to get the Exotic Shard from completing strikes missions or something along those lines?
“New Exotic Upgrading
Exotic Gear in The Dark Below will have higher Attack and Defense values than current Exotic Gear. For players and their current caches of Exotics, a path will exist to bring them forward into The Dark Below.
•Starting December 9th, Xûr will offer players the opportunity to upgrade Exotics to the higher Attack and Defense values
•Upgrading an Exotic in this way will require an Exotic Shard
◦The upgrade will reset the progression invested into the item
◦Each week, Xûr will possess a selection of upgrades for existing Exotics in his inventory”
Being able to upgrade exotics that you already own to a higher level – great. Resetting all the progress when you do after you’ve already spent hours and hours upgrading it. NOT OK! Again another blockade to slow down peoples progress…
I was just about to fully upgrade my exotic helmet this week. But now, whats the point if next week all that progress will be reset? Glad I know this now, because the would’ve been 7 strange coins down the pan.
“Crucible (PvP) Changes
•Expansion I will include two new exclusive competitive playlists
•New Crucible arenas (Pantheon, Skyshock, and The Cauldron) will be featured in map rotation
•Playlists available in the Director will change week over week
•Experiences will alternate between 12 and 6 player engagements
•Map rotation will alternate between focusing solely on new expansion arenas and including original launch maps in the mix”
Interested to see what the new playlists will be, they are desperately needed, as are some new maps.
“Heroics and Nightfall (PvE) Changes
•With the Light level increase to 32, Heroics and Nightfalls will be increased by 2 Light levels to keep up with new content, level increases, and gear items”
This was to be expected. Whilst it will probably mean I won’t be able to do them for a little while being a lowly level 28, it’s still good to keep it challenging.
“New Raid: Crota’s End
•The new Raid, Crota’s End, will unlock on December 9th
•Players at Light level 30 can lead a Fireteam immediately upon release
•The reward system in Crota’s End will address some issues reported in the Vault of Glass:
◦Raid loot in Crota’s End will drop at a higher rate
◦New Raid gear will contain a wider variety of potential perks
◦Weapons and Gear from Crota’s End will not require Ascendant materials for upgrades
◦Radiant Shards and Radiant Energy acquired in the Raid will be used to upgrade new Raid gear
◦Unwanted weapons and gear from Crota’s End will dismantle into Radiant materials
◦Primary weapons will only drop in the harder version of Crota’s End, released sometime in January”
Even more ways to upgrade? Man I can’t keep up with all of these different materials that keep getting added…
I feel pretty mixed on these changes right now. Resetting peoples progress to enable them to get to higher levels is just wrong, and will surely irritate a fair few people. In fact, it makes me want to not even bother with upgrading it.
The Dark Below drops on 9th December. Will you be picking it up?
– Will
