This Week in Destiny - 08/24/2023

This week in Destiny, it’s witchy time! We’re hot off the heels of an exciting Showcase right before diving back into what’s next for Guardians. After all, we’ve got a Witness to nab, right?

Also, apologies in advance because Season of the Witch is very much my jam, so please excuse the puns and just know that each one is absolutely necessary. Thank you for your understanding.

Before we dive into what we’re chatting about this week, let’s recap what we shared in last week’s TWID:

• Guardians for Maui—support for Hawaii.
• A little Showcase teaser, as a treat.
• Twitch Drop it like it’s hot on August 22.
• We recapped some of the more epic moments in Destiny history.
• Season 22 Weapons Preview recap.
• Pick up your gear!
• Increased reputation gains all week.
• Regional pricing update.

Now for this week:

• Destiny 2 Showcase “remember when’s.”
• Guardians for Maui update.
• Calling all creators.
• Feeling nostalgic with older Seasons.
• Featured Quests, what are they?
• Three new Season 22 Strand Aspects and what they do.
• World First rundown.
• New Emblems, who dis?
• Player Support Report.
• #Destiny2AOTW and #Destiny2MOTW picks.

But first, a quick message from the team regarding the Showcase:

Thank you to everyone for tuning in to our Destiny 2 Showcase on Tuesday! This was a labor of love for everyone involved at Bungie, and we're excited to finally share so much of what we’ve been working on behind the scenes for The Final Shape, Season of the Witch, and our new Episodes with all of you.

We are aware there were some technical issues with audio and live subtitles in certain regions that may have impacted your viewing experience. We sincerely apologize to everyone affected by those issues, and we're taking steps to improve the experience in the future.

In the meantime, our Showcase videos are available to watch with corrected subtitles for all supported languages here, and we've also localized our Showcase recap article. Thanks as always for your support, and happy Season of the Witch!

"And They Were Broom-Mates." A Brief Showcase Recap.

Finally. Our time has come. Not only are we finally taking the fight to the Witness with The Final Shape, but we finally get to live our best witchy lives with Season of the Witch. From Eris returning front and center in all her epic glory to Cayde-6 bringing his miraculous self back into our lives, we’re excited to share in this journey with you all as we charge towards the conclusion of the most important fight in the hard-fought Light and Darkness saga.

Now that we’ve collectively gotten the excited giggles out of the way with Cayde-6's mysterious return, let’s do a brief recap into what’s on the way with The Final Shape and what started yesterday with Season 22: Season of the Witch. If you haven’t already, check out the Showcase recap here.

The Pale Heart

The Pale Heart is duality at its finest, born from the Light, but also from the memories of the Darkness itself. This is the place that the Witness needed to get to last Season, which means we have to beat it to the punch with The Final Shape. What’s a little destruction among entire universes, am I right?

Fresh Supers and Exciting New Aspects

There will be three new Supers for Guardians to master, as well as three new Aspects. Warlocks will harness their inner Solar superbness with Song of Flame; Hunters will make Nikola Tesla proud with the power of Arc through Storm’s Edge; and Titans will bring the Void mayhem by hurling some big axes at enemies with Twilight Arsenal. Range. [chef’s kiss]

You can learn more about the new Supers here.

New Enemies

As if the name didn’t give it away, the Subjugators are no joke, and they work at the Witness’s behest. There are two types, and both are experts on the battlefield. The first is a master of Stasis. They have the ability to slow, freeze, and shatter an opponent for certain death, but they also have the tactical chops to force any Guardians to weasel out of cover when in a fight. The other will use Strand against you. Their proximity mines suspend enemies and launch severing projectiles that dissolve their target into oblivion. They’re tricky, but we’ve faced tricky before. It’s what Guardians do.

Episodes and the Road Ahead

We’ve heard your feedback regarding the typical Seasonal model, so let’s try this on for size. Hear me out: Episodes. Instead of four Seasons in the year, we’ll be moving to three content drops instead. These will be bigger, more action-packed, and offer a fulfilling experience that players will want to take their time in. With the first three Episodes (Echoes, Revenant, and Heresy), players will contend with the aftermath of The Final Shape, with each Episode acting as a standalone narrative experience. More story beats? Check. More quests? Check. 200 Season Pass ranks? Check. New rewards? Check and check.

We’re excited to show you what’s next, so make sure you scope out the roadmap here to see everything that was announced yesterday, including details about the currently live Season of the Witch.

Get in on the Fun Early

If you're interested in what The Final Shape has to offer and are curious about which edition of the next expansion is right for you, check out our FAQ about pre-ordering right here.

For those looking to get The Final Shape + Annual Pass Edition, here's what you get:

• All The Final Shape base content.
• All three Episodes planned for 2024: Echoes, Revenant, and Heresy.
• The Final Shape Dungeon Key grants access to the two 2024 dungeons.
• The ability to instant unlock these goodies:
• Tessellation Exotic Fusion Rifle
• Exotic Emote
• Exotic Ghost
• Expansion Emblem
• A premium Exotic bundle with the Exotic Catalyst and Exotic Ornament for Tessellation as well as an Exotic Sparrow.
• A Secret Stash bundle with in-game resources to be delivered at the start of each Episode.

The Destiny 2: The Final Shape Collector’s Edition includes all the contents of the Destiny 2: The Final Shape + Annual Pass Edition as well as the following exclusive items:

• A replica model of the original Tower from Destiny, featuring LED lights and sounds.
• Vanguard mentor figurines.
• Vanguard mission dossier and patch.
• Autograph book.
• Code for a Collector's Edition exclusive emblem.
• Digital version of Destiny 2: The Final Shape Original Soundtrack.
• And some hidden clues you'll have to find yourselves.

You can learn even more right here.

Guardians for Maui - Campaign Update

In just a week, the Bungie community has rallied to support the people of Maui in the wake of the deadliest wildfires in over a century. To date, the community has purchased over 12,000 Mālama Maui shirts and 3,000 individual Kūlike Kākou emblems. All profits from the shirt and emblems will go to our long-time partner Direct Relief, supporting their emergency response and recovery operations in the region.

We are offering Guardians even more ways to support Maui moving forward. All profits from the Bungie Inclusion, Diversity, & Equity Association pins on the Bungie Store between August 17 and September 10 will be donated to the campaign as well. These include:

1. Everyone Can Play Collectible Pin
2. Stand With Asians Collectible Pin
3. Be Heard Collectible Pin
4. International Women’s Day Collectible Pin
5. Bungie’s Pride Collectible Pin 2.0
6. Head to https://maui.bnglove.org and join your fellow Guardians in showing your support.

Calling All Creators: Shoot That Shot

If you’re a content creator and you’ve asked yourself, “Self, how do I work with Bungie?” then you’re in the right place. Earlier this year, we welcomed Chef Andy to the team to lead efforts for the content creators and community leaders who work—and want to work—with us going forward. His team has the expertise and the compassion to help lead creators into fun new adventures with Bungie and the worlds we create.

No matter your style or genre, Bungie wants to inspire and partner with you to make content for your audience and empower your communities. If joining us for new and familiar journeys in the future sounds right up your alley, then what are you waiting for? Shoot that shot and fill out our content creator form right here. Let’s chat, shall we?

Those Rewards Are So Last Season, But We Still Love 'Em

Later in Season of the Witch, we’re planning on bringing back a selection of cosmetic items from previous Season Passes to the Eververse, for players who missed out on acquiring them. We’ll be starting with a handful of items from Season of the Worthy.

This nostalgic throwback, which we’re calling Seasonal Flashbacks, will only be available during weeks 4, 5, and 6. In the future, other Seasonal items may return, so if there are any coveted items you’d like to see again, shout them out to the @Destiny2Team account as feedback. More info on future offerings at a later date.

Featured Quests: Like MySpace's Top 8 WIthout the Existential Dread

You’ll notice a new feature when looking at your in-game directory called Featured Quests. This is a quest log that gives you a little extra guidance on which questlines Destiny 2 thinks you should prioritize. The goal here is to make it a little easier to maneuver between content, no matter when it was released.

Here’s a quick rundown on the Featured Quests section:

• Players just starting out on their journey may only see a single quest at first until more content is unlocked.
• Players who may have taken some time away from Destiny 2 may only see a few active quests, depending on how long they were away.
• Returning players may have multiple ongoing quests, due to more recent activity.
• Now, you can launch quests directly from the Featured Quests screen. The Director is cool and all, but not needed to jump right into your next adventure.

At the start, the most recent campaign and Seasonal quests will be prioritized in their respective categories. Players can also track quests, and then those will be prioritized to make them easier for Guardians to find. EZ PZ, witchy squeezy.

Go, Go, Power-er, Strand Aspects!

In addition to everything we’ve mentioned that’s coming up with new Supers, combat styles, and foes, we’ve also got three new Strand Aspects (one for each class) to play with. First up, you might be wondering: How do I get the new Aspects? That’s a great question, dear reader. If you've completed the Parting the Veil quest in Neomuna, go say hi to Nimbus. They'll give you a new quest to return to the Veil Containment for another message. Do this, and you'll obtain a new Strand Aspect.

Titan: Banner of War

After you defeat an enemy with a melee attack (yes, that includes Glaives, Swords, finishers, or your Super’s melee) a Battle Standard is woven on the Berserker's back. The resulting animation pulses slowly to start, but gains tempo and extends the life of the Battle Standard as the player defeats (or assists in defeating) additional enemies. Allies can also charge the Battle Standard by getting kills while standing near the Berserker.

Each beat sends out a healing pulse to allies in a 10-meter radius. While the Battle Standard is active, the Titan and nearby allies deal increased melee damage, too. Not to sound biased or anything as a Titan-main, but it’s kind of badass.

Hunter: Whirling Maelstrom

With this new Aspect, destroying Tangles turns them into a whirling mass of Strands that seek out and damage nearby enemies (in addition to the normal Tangle explosion damage). Enemies within the Maelstrom take significant damage over time. The Maelstrom emits unraveling projectiles after defeating an enemy. After 15 seconds, the Maelstrom evaporates.

Warlock: Weavewalk

Let’s break reality a bit with a fancy new air move that allows Warlocks to temporarily step into the weave. For the person playing the Warlock, this will appear as a darkened screen effect with a forest of Strand threads, while others will observe the Warlock using this Aspect as a mysterious green ghost. If you like the third-person perspective with Nova Warp, then you’ll enjoy this animation, too. It’s slick. Warlocks utilizing this Aspect are also highly resistant to damage during this time, although they can’t interact with the world. The time in a Weavewalk state varies depending on how many full melee charges the Warlock has when they activate Weavewalk. After all, life is about balance; what you get, you also have to be willing to give.

While in the weave, Warlocks passively generate up to a maximum of five perched Threadlings (literally perched on and around the Warlock!) if the player does not end Weavewalk early by using another air move.

Grab Some Crotato Chips, We're Talkin' World First

You know the drill: Raid goodness just dropped, which means it's time to dive in and see what Crota's End has to offer now versus in the original Destiny. For those eager to take on Crota's End, whether it’s your first time or you're looking to enjoy some nostalgic fun, there are a few things you should know before diving into this fine raid weekend:

• Contest Mode will be enabled for 48 hours.
  • You will need to be at 1790 Power to be at the cap for all of the encounters to take the raid on.
• Clearing the raid with Contest Mode active is the first step to access the Challenge Mode in the Director and the special Superior Swordplay Triumph with the challenges for each encounter.
• To complete the Superior Swordplay triumph, a fireteam must complete a curated list of challenges in this Challenge Mode and claim the triumph to snag that World First title and that sweet, sweet belt.
• To enforce the Triumph requirements in Challenge Mode, your fireteam will wipe if you fail the success conditions during any encounter.

For Crota’s End, we’ve made some tuning changes to Contest Mode, as summarized below. Our goal is to maintain a high bar of challenge for the launch event achievements, relative to the ever-expanding capabilities of players.

• Increased the cap of player outgoing damage vs. combatants. Keep in mind that the incoming damage cap did not change.
• Some enemies will gain elemental shields.
• All enemies will be more aggressive than in the previous Contest Mode.

New Emblems, Who Dis?

Don’t even play, we know that new emblem hype is real, so we figured since this was a big week of updates, why not share three new additions with #Destiny2MotW, #Destiny2AotW, and the new Destiny 2 fashion emblem.

The #Destiny2AotW emblem is also brand spankin’ new and has color blocking that would make your friend from art school proud. You can earn this one by tagging player-made art (be it digital, paint, a cool sketch, cosplay, fiber arts—the sky is the limit!) with the above tag on all socials and our Creations page for a chance to add this to the ‘ol collection:

The snazzy new #Destiny2MotW emblem is like happiness in pixels with its bright colors and newness. You can earn this one by tagging player-made videos with the above tag on all socials and our Creations page for a chance to snag it for yourself:

And finally, we’ve got the latest fashion emblem. Those with that eye for style have a chance to win this new digital piece of awesomeness, and who doesn’t want a cute prism kitty to call their own? We’ll have more fun like this coming up, so stay tuned!

Player Support Report

Forget the Traveler, Eris is our god now.

It’s launch week, which means a new host of experiences to jump right into. To kick off Season of the Witch on the Player Support side, here is the latest in what you need to know about known issues and special reminders.

Known Issues List  |  Help Forums  |  Bungie Help Twitter 

STEAM ENDING WINDOWS 7 AND 8 SUPPORT

Starting January 1, 2024, Steam will officially stop supporting the Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 operating systems. After that date, the Steam Client will no longer run on those versions of Windows. To continue running Steam and any games or other products purchased through Steam —including Destiny 2—players will need to update to a more recent version of Windows. For more information, please view Steam’s article.

LOADOUTS DISABLED

Due to an issue, we have temporarily disabled the Loadouts function. This will appear in-game as Loadouts being locked behind Guardian Ranks. Any existing Loadouts will be saved and available to all players who have already unlocked them once a fix can be deployed.

FINISHER CHANGES

With the launch of 7.2.0, the option to favorite cosmetics was added to the game. As a result of this implementation, the option to favorite Finishers in player inventories was deprecated. Players who would like to only use specific Finishers in gameplay can Store their Finishers in their Flair Collections. To obtain them again or to obtain other Finishers, players can reacquire them in their Collections under Flair > Finishers.

KNOWN ISSUES

While we continue investigating various known issues, here is a list of the latest issues that were reported to us in our #Help forum:

• The description for Weavewalk fails to mention that players must have at least one full melee charge available in order to use the Aspect. Attempting to use Weavewalk without a full melee charge will not do anything.
• The Unveiled quest can’t be completed if a player listens to the new lore in Veil Containment before acquiring the quest from Nimbus.
• The Veteran’s Flair transmat effect is missing from player accounts.
• The Origin Perk Specialization II artifact perk is not overcharging Season 22 weapons when the modifiers are active.
• The Deck of Whispers Ascension VIII card scorches players abnormally fast.
• Various Exotics in the Monument of Lost Light can’t be acquired, even if the player owns the correct DLC.
• Infinite Quiver advertising art in the Eververse store is displayed using an incorrect shader.
• The Volatile Throne bundle advertising art in the Eververse store is displayed using an incorrect weapon shader.
• Unstoppable Taken Phalanx are immune to receiving damage from headshots.
• Some players may have an Open Event Card popup stuck on their screen.
• The Grandmaster Nightfall opening date says June 13. This is incorrect; the correct date is September 12.
• The Phosphorescent shader currently visible in Collections is not an actual item, and instead was added to the game unintentionally. This will be removed in a future update. Click here for more information.
• Some players have reported not seeing the cutscene of Eris’s transformation.
• The Defiant Ghost projection displays a projection from Season of the Witch.
• Some players are reporting that the Clan Banner is not appearing for them even though they are already in a clan. Players can speak to Hawthrone in the Tower to reacquire their missing Clan Banner.
• The Lectern of Divination is missing icons in the H.E.L.M.
• The Hive portal in the H.E.L.M. is missing portions of its transportation technology. Players having issues going through the portal can slide to always go through the portal.
• The Paracasual Path emblem does not appear in Collections.
• There are various issues with the Crucible’s new Relic mode, such as “Relic energy charged” appearing multiple times in the feed and arrow waypoints persisting over depots after it despawns.
• The Festival Dance emote has unintentionally changed to the Samba Dance.
• Some players cannot purchase Ascendant Alloy or Enhancement Prisms from Rahool Special Orders if over the old holding limit.

For a full list of emergent issues in Destiny 2, players can review our Known Issues article. Players who observe other issues should report them to our #Help forum.

Bring a Super Saiyan Eris to a Knife Fight

Bruno: Just because we gave Monte Carlo a new stabby catalyst doesn't mean you can start throwing weapons with pointy ends at your enemies like a Hunter—particularly Izanagi's Burden, although I have to admit it takes some guts to throw such a huge blade.

Movie of the Week: Don't play with knives.

Ivan: This #Destiny2MOTW was created with passion, imagination, and a lot of love for both Destiny and anime. A sibling rivalry is a plot device we’ve seen in many anime movies before, but that doesn’t make it worse. Keep the good stuff coming, Guardians, and let your imagination take you anywhere it goes!

Movie of the Week: Destiny 2 Anime Story

Kirby: The Real Final Shape

Hippy: [Gasps in Guardian] It was Kirby all along!

Art of the Week: The Real Final Shape by pop-six-squish via Tumblr

Sam: Sometimes you just have to take a quick break while on patrol in the Throne World. Also, the fact that the Warlock is floating just a little bit, such a neat touch.

Art of the Week: On patrol in the Throne World by @TheTylegomaniac via Twitter

And that’s a wrap on another TWID. We hope you’re having an amazing week so far enjoying the new Season and seeing some old friends once more in-game. Whether you’re just happy to see Cayde-6 back or eager to kick some Witness butt, we hope you have a great time, and we can’t wait to see your reactions as the future unfolds.

Just your usual reminder to remember to drink that water, practice that self-care, and always lead with your kindest foot forward. Enjoy Season of the Witch and The Final Shape! We’ll see you next time, friends.

“I should go,”

<3 Hippy