It’s been a messy time for Destiny 2 as players burn out on existing content and revolt against some of the game’s increasingly pricey microtransactions. Five months after Lightfall’s troubled launch, Bungie took the opportunity to update players on the state of the game and what’s to come, including new content, quality-of-life improvements, and details on how it intends to wrap the game’s current story arc in 2024’s The Final Shape.
With Destiny 2 recovering from one of its most controversial expansions ever, the development team didn’t really dig deep into some of the existential questions and debates facing the almost decade-old loot MMO. Instead, Bungie’s August 2023 “State of the Game” post was more of a laundry list of smaller tweaks and improvements that are in the pipeline, with bigger changes reserved for The Final Shape to be revealed in August 23’s Destiny 2 showcase.
That established, here’s everything Bungie says is coming in the next two seasons:
- Fresh ritual vendor weapons are coming, including the Unending Tempest Stasis Submachine Gun in the Crucible, Luna Regolith III Solar Sniper Rifle in Strikes, Qua Xaphan V Void Machine Gun in Gambit, and the Cataphract GL3 Strand Grenade Launcher in Trials of Osiris.
- New PvP maps and modes as well. Crucible will get the Vex Multiplex map and the Relic (Synaptic Spear chaos) mode and Checkmate (hardened gunfights) modifier. Gambit will get the Cathedral of Scars map from the Dreaming City and Shadow Legion and Lucent Hive enemy types.
- Cosmetic favoriting will let you make shortcuts for up to 100 of your favorite shaders and ornaments
- Stasis Aspects and Fragments can be purchased directly from a vendor if you’ve completed Beyond Light.
- Transmat effects will move from being consumables to being permanent unlocks.
- The Wish-Ender quest is moving to the quest log.
- Resources get a Collections tab that explains what each currency does and how to obtain it.
- Three new Strand Aspects are coming: Whirling Maelstrom for Hunters, Banner of War for Titans, and Weavewalk for Warlocks
- A major weapon balance update will bring less variance in damage falloff and stronger hand cannons.
- A “brand-new seasonal progression paradigm” sounds interesting but remains a mystery.
- A new Exotic Mission Rotator brings back Presage, Vox Obscura, and other older missions.
- The long-awaited Fireteam Finder (LFG) feature will arrive in season 23.
- Game stability update 7.2.0 in season 22 will seek to fix current issues and 7.3.0 in season 23 will try to protect against future ones
Elsewhere in the post, Bungie hinted at bigger features coming in 2024. A screenshot of the upcoming Pathfinder bounty system makes it look like a roguelike-style branching tree to get to a Legendary engram. And for the time being, at least, Destiny 2’s Power Cap will remain unchanged, a welcome development for everyone sick of the tedious grind.
Of course, there’s still an argument to be made that the leveling mechanic should be ditched altogether. Maybe it finally will be when the next phase of Destiny 2 begins after The Final Shape. However players feel about the game right now, Bungie is promising a barn-burner of a conclusion, unlike this year’s anticlimactic Lightfall expansion.