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Second 'Destiny 2' expansion, 'Warmind,' lands May 8th
Bungie promised two Destiny 2 expansions in the MMO-like shooter's first year, and we now know when that second add-on will arrive. Warmind is slated to arrive on May 8th, with more details arriving in a Twitch stream on April 24th. There's virtually nothing else to share about the DLC, but the title speaks volumes: it's clearly going to focus on the interplanetary AI systems (such as Rasputin and Charlemagne) humanity counted on for defense in its glory days.
The next big 'Destiny 2' update involves a revamped mobile app
Bungie only just released Destiny 2's "Go Fast" update, but it's already set to talk about its next releases -- and this time, the most important moves are outside the game itself. The studio is readying updates to both the Companion mobile app and its website that will make them decidedly more useful when you're away from home. An April 4th update to Companion for Android and iOS will bring back the 3D models available in the original Destiny era. You can not only see what your Guardian looks like with equipped gear, but explore your weapons, vehicles and ghosts. It's helpful for bragging rights with your friends, of course, but it also gives you a better reason to dig through your equipment when you aren't playing.
Bungie pushes back 'Destiny 2' feature upgrades
If you were looking forward to Bungie tackling the laundry list of Destiny 2 issues in short order, you'll have to be be a little more patient. The studio has delayed the implementation of a handful of features that were slated to arrive between now and May. Most notably, a sought-after revamp of the equipment mod system won't make it for May. Don't like the seemingly endless wave of redundant or ineffective add-ons? You'll have to wait a while longer.
‘Destiny 2’ Nightfall raids get an improved scoring system
Just a few days ago, Bungie released its Destiny 2 development road map, full of improvements to counter complaints about diminishing rewards. Now the company has announced a new scoring system for the game's weekly Nightfall raids aimed at rewarding players for more fine-grained achievements instead of a simple time-based pass/fail mechanism.
'Destiny 2' March update brings the thrill back to competitive play
Bungie has spent much of its recent time addressing gripes with Destiny 2's story and cooperative play, but players in the competitive Crucible mode? Not so much -- some have complained that the Crucible just isn't that exciting, and the infamous Prometheus Lens incident arguably wouldn't have happened if Bungie had been paying closer attention to Crucible gameplay. You might not have that complaint for much longer, though. The studio has detailed some of the changes coming with the March 27th update, and a large chunk of them are designed to ratchet up the intensity of player-versus-player fights.
Bungie’s ‘Destiny 2’ roadmap is designed to win back players
Destiny 2 fans haven't given Bungie an easy ride. After rolling out a free trial in November, the team has been besieged with gripes about the game's XP system, the now-infamous Prometheus Lens, and, increasingly, the fact that players are running out of content. As Twitch metrics show, engagement has been on the decline for months. Now, in a bid to reignite fan excitement, Bungie has released a pretty comprehensive development roadmap.
After Math: If I had no loot
It was a week of lost and found fortunes in the tech world. The Feds charged My Big Coin Pay over its $6 million cryptocurrency scam, Netflix is poised to take home as many a four golden statues for Mudbound, Bungie's in hot water again over tweaking its Faction token payouts and Google will be holding onto its $20 million XPrize payout thankyouverymuch. Numbers, because how else would you evenly divvy up the spoils?
'Destiny 2' update will boost rewards for its most loyal players
Bungie is still learning lessons about rewarding Destiny 2 players for their commitment, and that's reflected in its January 30th update. To begin with, it's promising much better loot for raids. You're now guaranteed raid-only equipment when you complete an encounter, and you'll always have a chance of scoring exotic gear you can start using right away. Those who go on Prestige raids get normal drops at the same time. Also, you can buy gear if you'd rather not grind the raid hoping to get that last armor piece you need -- so long as you've completed the raid that week, you can buy hardware from a rotating selection at Benedict. When you throw raid-specific mod perks and a drop-enhancing Ghost into the mix, you might be more inclined to come back to the raid without feeling like you have to repeat it ad nauseam.
'Destiny 2' has another problem with diminishing rewards
Bungie previously promised to both tackle complaints about diminishing rewards in Destiny 2 and to be more transparent going forward, but it's apparent the studio still has some work to do. Players have discovered that the game is throttling the number of tokens it hands out for Faction Rallies (where you pledge allegiance and collect tokens in hopes of scoring a rare weapon at a discount) when you loot Lost Sectors. The company had actually patched this in as of mid-December, but it wasn't clear what had changed until the Rallies resumed weeks later, on January 16th.
Hard-to-get 'Destiny 2' holiday loot creates another uproar
Bungie has already learned some hard lessons about making content accessible in Destiny 2, but it's clear the studio still has some brushing up to do. Many gamers are complaining that the drop system for engrams (basically loot boxes) for the game's holiday-themed event, The Dawning, appears designed to goad players into spending real money on the in-game Silver currency. It's not that the items are incredibly valuable (they're largely cosmetic) -- it's that it's effectively impossible to get all of them by unlocking them strictly through ordinary gameplay.
Bungie's next 'Destiny 2' update backtracks on DLC 'mistakes'
Bungie's Destiny 2 fixes continue to roll in. Having addressed its communities' gripes with the game's XP system, it's now tackling another hot-button topic: the high-level content locked behind the debut Curse of Osiris DLC. In its latest blog post, the Destiny dev team acknowledges its "mistakes" and details the impending hotfix that (partly) backtracks from the existing system. But, the solution may not be to everyone's liking.
Bungie feeds ‘Destiny 2’ trolls a ridiculously overpowered gun
Bungie responded to Destiny 2 player's complaints by cancelling a planned "Curse of Osiris" DLC livestream to detail new changes. The developers added more endgame rewards, a new weapon class and an improved economy to address those concerns. Recently, a massively overpowered, game breaking laser gun called the Prometheus Lens was available to high-level players as a random drop, making it too easy for those who found it to dominate the PVP maps. Bungie had plans to fix the issue, but maybe it's grown tired of all the whining, since Destiny 2's exotic weapons sales-alien, Xur, has the gun on sale for anyone who wants it.
The best gifts for the PC gamer in your life
Of the more than two dozen sections in our massive holiday gift guide, the PC gaming is one of the largest. That's because there are so many directions you can go in here: You can splurge on a laptop (we recommend three here) or pick up any number of accessories like headphones, a mouse, keyboard, mic or webcam. Or, you know, you can pick up some actual games. Find all that in our guide at the link below, and while you're there, check out the 100-plus other items in there.
Bungie details 'Destiny 2' DLC's new weapons and armor
At the end of October, Bungie announced that the first DLC for Destiny 2, Curse of Osiris, would be available starting December 5th. Now, the company has discussed details of how exactly the release will work. Players can start preloading the expansion starting at 8 AM PST on December 5th. Xbox One users will need 44 GB of free space, while PS4 users will require 88 GB. PC users fall somewhere in between at 68 GB. You can follow @BungieHelp on Twitter for updates, including on downtime and the actual release time of Curse of Osiris.
'Destiny 2' gets a Ghost Alexa skill and replica speaker
Whether you're a Destiny 2 newbie sampling its free trial or a hardened vet griping about player progress, one thing we can all agree on is the general awesomeness of the game's Ghost AI. The floating intelligence is a tipster, guide, and mechanic all rolled in to one. Activision is so enamoured with the virtual assistant that it's pairing it up with Amazon's Echo speakers. Yes, a Ghost Alexa skill is now available for players that want to bark voice orders at a real-life version of the virtual assistant. With it, you'll be able to ask Alexa to ask Ghost to equip load-outs, scout levels, and join a clan.
'Destiny 2' updates will give veterans a reason to keep playing
While it's safe to say that Destiny 2 has sold well and is a solid improvement over its predecessor, there are still plenty of concerns. Seasoned players quickly ran out of new things to do, and there are gripes that its experience point system punishes some players. However, it looks like Bungie is tackling the issues head-on. In addition to tweaking experience points and cancelling a planned Curse of Osiris livestream (which would have seemed tone deaf), the studio has detailed exactly how it plans to extend the game in December and beyond. From a cursory look, it's good news if you find yourself twiddling your thumbs.
Dive into 'Destiny 2' for free starting tomorrow
So you missed out on Destiny 2's beta tests and didn't want to buy the game without giving it a try. Are you stuck? Thankfully, no. Bungie will offer a free Destiny 2 trial on PS4, Xbox One and PC starting on November 28th, and it's giving you a sizeable chunk of the game to try before you fork over your money. You can explore Earth's European Dead Zone and Titan (though you won't get all the campaign missions), fight fellow players in the Crucible's Quickplay rotation and progress up to level 7. This leaves out Nessus, Io, the Competitive playlist and most of the story, but there's at least a few hours of gameplay to be had before you run into the trial's limits.
'Dota 2' and 'League of Legends' players might be smarter than you
People who play multiplayer online battle arenas (MOBA) like Dota 2 and League of Legends perform better on problem solving and logic tests than those who play shooters Destiny and Battlefield 3, researchers found. "The specific MOBA genre is remarkable in the sense that it already engages a vast number of players across the globe, but more generally, complex, socially-interactive and intellectually demanding video games are now ubiquitous and generate a constant stream of performance data that can be normalized against millions of other players," a team from the University of York in the UK concludes.
The first 'Destiny 2' expansion arrives December 5th
You won't have to twiddle your thumbs too long before Destiny 2's first expansion arrives. Bungie has announced that Curse of Osiris will be available on December 5th, and has unveiled a trailer to show what it's all about. (Heads-up: the video includes a big spoiler for the game's original campaign.) As hinted earlier, you're traveling to Mercury to reunite with Osiris, a banished member of the Vanguard, to prevent the Vex from opening a time gate that will let them amass an army that could reshape the universe.
'Destiny 2' is 2017’s best-selling game after just one month
If you have friends who own video game consoles, chances are you heard a lot about Destiny 2 in the last month. But anecdotal evidence that the game was everywhere just got backed up by some astonishing sales figures. Just one month after launching on PS4 and Xbox One, Destiny 2 is already the best-selling game of 2017, according to an NPD Group report -- which was released a day before the game comes out on PC.
