This week at Bungie, much of the team returned from the holiday break, powered by holiday feasting and the imbibification of what appears to be more than a few glasses of festive brew. We’re not quite back at full strength, though, with stragglers like DeeJ still out and about spending precious moments with friends and family, but we are ready to chat about the most recent rounds of updates we’re planning for Destiny to kick off the New Year in January. Let's get to it. Unlike our inaugural Vault of Glass Raid offering, hard mode for Crota’s End didn’t launch day and date alongside its younger, more affable sibling. I’ll bet you noticed, even though you’ve been busily swinging that sword into poor Crota’s big shiny green mug between dainty bites of soft, warm cheese. You’ve had plenty of time to divine your way through the dark, skirting over and around holes while sending dozens of Thrall screaming into the black. You’ve built bridges, silenced Shriekers, and plundered the lunar depths for the latest and greatest gear. Matter of fact, by the time you read this sentence you’ll have collectively put an end to Crota…wait for it…more than a whopping one million times. Impressive. Most impressive. And now you want to know what’s next. Hard Mode for Crota’s End is going through the final few stages of deployment. It’s almost ready. As soon as we have a concrete date to share, we’ll set it in stone so you can assemble your crew for that first run, or so you can find the time to tune into the streams and vicariously witness the madness and make note of the new and necessary strategy updates. We’re not going to spoil any hard mode surprises here. You’ll need to learn a new trick or two, but given your past performances, we’re pretty sure plenty of you will find a way to come out on top and earn some shiny new trophies to take with you on your next adventure. In the meantime, we’ve prepped a separate patch, which will be ready for deployment as early as next Tuesday, January 13th. Below is a preview of changes being made to Crota’s End and a little bit of a love tap for the Vault of Glass. Crota’s End – Updates The existing Pit treasure chest reward moved to killing Ir Yut, the Deathsinger. She has a chance to drop Exotic weapons and armor, class pieces, and Radiant materials. The Pit treasure chest will now contain Radiant Materials. Pit Encounter Removed the physics impulse caused by exploding lanterns. Bridge Encounter Players will now be required to cross the bridge in order to complete the bridge encounter. Players will now be required to wait for the bridge to be completed prior to crossing with the sword. Deathsinger Encounter Fixed a rare case where the Shriekers would not spawn, preventing players from reaching the Deathsinger. Crota Encounter Two Swordbearers will no longer spawn at the same time at the outset of the encounter. Crota will now recover from his kneeling state after a player quits. Fixed a bug that allowed players to remove the “Presence of Crota” using a Radiance Warlock’s Fireborn ability. Fixed a bug that made the Oversoul appear destroyed to some players in a Fireteam when it was actually still active. Vault of Glass – Updates Exotic weapon drops in the Vault of Glass are now Level 32. Getting Swole in the Crucible The Raid crew wasn’t the only team readying tweaks heading into and out of the holiday season. Our Crucible designers have a few things in the works to add some spice to the early goings of 2015. Asylum, The Anomaly, and The Burning Shrine maps will be added to existing Clash and Control playlist rotation. Iron Banner will return, with updated rewards, running from January 13th through January 19th. Full and final details for Raid, Crucible, and Iron Banner updates will be provided as patch notes next week. Stay tuned. The True Meaning of Christmas So committed are we at Bungie to the celebration of non-denominational yuletide that we held off on delivering gifts this year until we were well clear of the traditionally established holidays. What can we say? We’re non-conformists at heart. It’s either that, or some other obvious, sensible, and unspoken reason that you just got your hands on our small token of holiday gratitude. For a good portion of you, the gift you received will truly be Legendary – a weaponized memento to guide you through some of Destiny’s most challenging moments. For others, our gift has already been summarily dismissed, dismantled, and delivered straight into the dust bin of history. Whatever category you fall into, we hope you appreciate the gesture. They say it’s the thought that counts. Either way, whether you feel empowered or slighted, whether you believe you received a thoughtful gift or were unceremoniously slapped across the face with a sooty lump of coal, we hope you had a wonderful holiday break, and enjoyed playing Destiny with friends and family as much as we did. Guns, Guns, Guns! Our chief resident researcher at Bungie, Dr. Bunson Honeydew, is one of the select few people at the studio who has access to the billions of rows of data that comprise the historical legacy you’ve imprinted onto Destiny. This week, he shared with us the popularity of Primary, Special, and Heavy Weapons that Guardians, Level 20 and above, equipped most over the last fourteen days. Here's a note from the man himself to help put the full selection of Destiny's arsenal into perspective. "Weapon use in Destiny is pretty diverse and follows a very fat 'long tail' distribution. The guns on these lists are indeed awesome but a lot of players are finding that other, more obscure weapons better fit their tactical needs or their personal play styles. Besides, punching all of the aliens in the face is obviously the correct way to play Destiny anyway."
