This week at Bungie, we’ve been heads down making sure Season 17 is poised to rock ‘n roll and recovering from that whopper of a TWAB last week. I’m not going to lie, I really struggled writing this, only because the previous one by DMG dropped lots of solid info about sandbox changes, weapon tweaks, and more. This TWAB will be less extensive, but we hope you enjoy what we’ve got lined up to talk about this week. That, and we still have a few surprises up that proverbial sleeve, but we want to keep some aspects of what is next under wraps. We don’t want to ruin the surprise, after all.
This week, we’re talking about the return of our yearly tradition which is the Guardian Games. Each year, Warlocks, Hunters, and Titans go head-to-head to prove who is the boss (even though it’s clearly Titans). Hunters took the gold last year, so Warlocks and fellow Titans, it’s time to suit up. This year, we’re changing things up a bit.
We’ll also be talking more about Season 17 reward changes, pool rotations, and more. So, without further ado, let’s get into it.
Guardian Games and Beyond
Eyes up, Guardian, it's that time of year again. Next week, Guardian Games 2022 will kick off on May 3 and is free for all players of Destiny 2. This event is a tradition and it’s the perfect excuse to get into that friendly competitive spirit.
While the spirit of the annual class battle remains the same, Guardian Games 2022 does have a few changes that players can look forward to. First things first, what determines the winner? Much like previous Guardian Games, participants will be tasked with depositing those hard-earned medallions at the Podium in the Tower. You know the drill: medallions can be earned by completing certain activities and mini quests called Contender Cards and Platinum Cards. These activities are designed to be flexible, so if you’ve got the time, we’ve got those shiny medallions.
Higher-tier medallions, which grant more points, can be earned in activities like raids, dungeons, competitive PvP (Trials of Osiris and Survival), the Seasonal activity (PsiOps Battlegrounds) on a higher difficulty, and more. Lower-tier medallions, which are important too, drop in content like Gambit, Vanguard Strikes, Quickplay Crucible, and other Throne World activities at the standard difficulty level. Gold medals can be earned by completing Contender Cards in easier activities, whereas Platinum medals drop when Platinum Cards are completed on tougher content. Basically: Play what you want, snatch those Pinnacles, and scoop up some shiny medallions to bank at the Tower.
But wait, there's more.
Something new coming to Guardian Games this year is Strike Scoring, which factors in play time only for Guardian Games playlists. Additionally, we’ve got Strike Medals, which are designed to reward players for pulling off some pretty impressive feats, like taking out a ton of enemies with a fancy little combat jig like Shatter. This should also help with players that feel like they are being matched with others that just zip right through strikes. Why rush through when you can score some additional points by going ham and showing the bad guys what’s up?
There are two Guardian Games playlists: Training and Competitive. And when you play matters. Let's break it down:
- On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, the place to be is the Training playlist. Here you can earn practice scores (the combined score of your entire fireteam).
- On Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, it’s time to get sweaty in the Competitive playlist. This is where you'll earn exciting rewards.
- Players can earn buffs in the Recreational, Training, and Competitive playlists by ranking bronze, silver, gold, or platinum. These last until the next weekly reset.
- You can use these buffs in the regular Vanguard Ops playlist.
Players will also be able to unlock torches to light in the Tower based on their highest score past a certain threshold. For example:
- Lighting the bronze, silver, gold, and platinum torches grants rewards and a glow that can be seen on the right shoulder of a Guardian’s armor.
- So you can feel extra pretty.
Lighting the torch is monumental when it comes to the Guardian Games experience, and we want Guardians in Destiny 2 to feel that significance in-game. For any personal medallion deposits, there’s some more glow action on the way with an accompanying left shoulder glow, as well. Any progress is an accomplishment, and we want you to feel proud of the time you put in.
The overall structure for Guardian Games is designed to focus on skill level, meaning that higher scores are achieved by taking on tougher activities, defeating enemies, staying alive, and completing an activity in a timely manner.
New bounties have also been thrown in for this year’s festivities to help players feel inspired to engage in the Guardian Games Strike and Battlegrounds playlists; a little nudge for players to engage with the event-specific Vanguard Medal system, if you will.
Since there is nifty new content this year, we’ve also updated our Contender and Platinum cards, as well as our medallion rewards, for completing those new challenges. New raid? Check. Legendary and Master Lost Sectors? Check. New Seasonal content? Yup, also check. You can choose to spend your time in the newer content, but it’s not required to participate. More options, more ways to play. Keep it fun, keep it fresh, but also keep the core spirit alive for what Guardian Games is, and that’s a community-wide effort to show off some class love.
Let's get to the rewards, shall we? What are they? For those that have an affinity for Submachine Guns, The Title is a new legendary SUBARCHTYPE that will be available during the event. According to Jason Briggs, a Test Lead at Bungie, The Title “is a Hakke Void SMG for the Energy slot that is an aggressive frame with a unique origin perk, Classy Contender, which grants class ability energy with final blows from this weapon. It has a wide range of perks that it can roll with, and players will have many opportunities to earn fully Masterworked drops with double perks in both the third and fourth columns.”
Class Items can also be earned, as well as another shot at Heir Apparent and its catalyst, so the sandbox is about to get a little more interesting during the Guardian Games celebration.
Oh, and did we mention that the players that score in the top 10 percent at the end of the event will get a spiffy new emblem to show off? Yeah, we've got that too:
The emblem for the player that scores in the top 10 percent will be awarded after we combine their highest scores from each week. When the event ends, the combined score will determine who made it to the top of the player base for Guardian Games. This will unlock a special Triumph and boom, emblem awarded.
With every player having their own unique play style, most have a main class. This is awesome but does mean that not every class has the same number of Guardians competing for that Guardians Games win. Last year’s games included a 10 percent “catch-up” buff that allowed for each class to have a fighting chance, regardless of how many players are in that class pool. This was to encourage players to feel like they have equal footing regarding competition, and it seemed to work out pretty well in the end. But there is always room to make improvements, so this year, each team’s score multiplier will start with whatever value they ended on during last year’s festivities. Titans, having placed 3rd the most days, will have the largest boost. Warlocks, with the second most days in 3rd place, will get a moderate boost. Hunters, having placed 3rd the least number of times, will get the smallest boost. A little added bonus includes a minor 4 percent bump to their multiplier for the class in second place, with a 10 percent bump for those in third place.
We heard you liked the graphs in the last TWAB, so we’re throwing one in here for good measure to break down participation rates of the three classes since the launch of The Witch Queen, seen below. This graph breaks down the time spent for all three classes ramping up towards this year’s Guardian Games since the launch of The Witch Queen, giving us a little insight into where everyone is at these days and what sort of class engagement we’re expecting to see:
As mentioned in a previous TWAB, Guardian Games 2022 kicks off on May 3 and will run until May 24, so get that gear ready and make your fireteam proud.
Guardian Games Cup: A New Way to Win
With Guardian Games on the horizon, we’re excited to see the three classes battle it out once more, but that doesn’t mean that the games have to be limited to just in-game. Oh nay-nay, we’re very excited to announce that Guardian Games Cup is happening at the same time, and it is a brand new out-of-game event that ups the ante a bit, and for a good cause.
So, what is Guardian Games Cup? Well, we’re pretty community-focused here at Bungie, if you couldn’t tell, so we thought it would be fun to task some hardcore Guardians with the hefty responsibility of being a shining beacon for their class. Which class will claim that podium’s top spot? We’ll have to wait and see, but Guardian Games Cup takes that anticipation and brings it into the real world with the help of some competition-loving creators.
From May 3 to May 24, some of your favorite streamers will team up from around the world, a whopping 42 teams across 14 territories in total, duking it out to show why Titans are the best. Oh. Wait, I can’t say that. Why, [insert your favorite class here] deserve that shiny gold medallion. The top team will even win a custom digital piece by Gammatrap. But why stop there? Guardian Games Cup will be yet another amazing charity initiative with the Bungie Foundation, and because of that, there will be some prizes both in and out of Destiny 2 for participants to enjoy when donations are made to Direct Relief. One of those prizes even includes a rad piece of artwork from the incredibly talented PherianArt.
We’ll have more to share soon, including which teams you can cheer on as they go for the gold. It’ll be a good time filled with friendly competition and camaraderie. We hope you join us!
A Little More In-Game Weapon Love
With a new Season comes new rewards. The next Season is going to be a doozy, but we want you to experience the story and its surprises on your own, no spoilers here! That being said, we did want to share some of the rewards that are coming down the pipeline.
With Season 17, the ritual weapons available when ranking up will be the Heavy Machine Gun, Chain of Command. Like previous Seasons, this reputationally-driven reward will come with a unique ornament that depends on the vendor:
- Crucible
- Mandated Artillery Ornament
- Gambit
- Insubordination Ornament
- Vanguard
- Standard Regulation Ornament
For those itching for new Playlist weapons:
- Crucible
- Riptide Fusion Rifle
- Gambit
- Dead Weight Shotgun
- Vanguard
- Strident Whistle Bow
For Nightfall drops (includes both standard and adept versions)
- Horror’s Least Pulse Rifle
- D.F.A. Hand Cannon
And finally, Trials of Osiris:
- Forgiveness Sidearm
- Burden of Guilt Fusion Rifle
- The Messenger Pulse Rifle and Shayura’s Wrath will be leaving the Season 17 pool.
Season 16’s weapons will be shifting over into the standard loot pools with the Crisis Inverted Hand Cannon in Crucible, the Herod-C Auto Rifle in Gambit, and the Vanguard Shotgun Fortissimo-11.
We’ll have more to share about Season 17 closer to launch date, but for now, these are the “pew pews” to look forward to.
Player Support Report
Another week, another update from the rockstars over on our Player Support team. This week, they’re offering up an update on the Broken Barrier Emblem, known issues, and the usual maintenance schedule.
This is their report.
Hotfix 4.0.1.2
Next Tuesday, May 3, Destiny 2 Hotfix 4.0.1.2 will be released. View our Destiny Server and Update Status page for maintenance times, as well as the timeline below:
- 9:00 AM: Destiny 2 maintenance begins.
- 9:45 AM: Destiny 2 is brought offline.
- 10 AM: Destiny 2 Hotfix 4.0.1.2 will begin rolling out across all platforms and regions.
- 11 AM: Destiny 2 maintenance completes.
The Broken Barrier Emblem
The Broken Barrier emblem has been added to accounts for players who participated in the Festival of the Lost armor ornament vote for Team Monsters vs. Team Mechs.
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:
- Attempting to cast a Nova Pulse too soon after entering Nova Warp will cause the cast to fail.
- Casting Nova Pulse with low Nova Warp super energy may cause players to be removed from their super prior to the ability damage being dealt.
- Antaeus Wards Titan Exotic leg armor does not change glow color based on equipped subclass.
- Weapons and UI elements may not successfully load when players enter the Mindscape in PsiOps Battlegrounds.
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.
Fan Films are Best Films
Hippy: Because I’m comfortable with who I am and knowing I am a walking meme trainwreck, I obviously must include some sillier picks this week (though very much still impressive!), because being too serious all of the time is bad for your health. I’m not ashamed, I’m not proud.
The first video is absolute PvP domination in the most epic way possible. The second video is a nifty fan-film that also mixes up drama and comedy, and honestly – it was just an enjoyable experience to watch. Don’t believe me, check out our latest MOTW picks below:
Movie of the Week: Master of Destiny 2: The Movie
Movie of the Week: Justice, a Destiny 2 Fan Film
OK, OK, one serious choice, got it. This Matrix / Destiny 2 crossover was just too good to pass up, so we’re doing a threefer this week:
Movie of the Week: Matrix, but in Destiny (warning for brief flash effects at the 00:15 mark)
Scratch That Itch
Sam: Happy Thursday Guardians! I am such a sucker for a really rad tattoo and this first piece is exactly that. I believe my actual (out loud) exclamation was “Woah!” when I first saw it. With the second piece, it just made me smile thinking about my old clan. When you find a good raid team (not if, when, I promise there are Guardians who will play with you if you are kind) hang on to them, and if you can, have some really rad art made showcasing you all.
Art of the Week: Unveiling Tattoo
Art of the Week: Raidin’ with Friends
Raidin’ with the boys. A special piece for my Destiny 2 clan buds. Enjoy. #Destiny2 #AOTW #Destiny2Art @DestinyComArt @destinyartbot pic.twitter.com/NzTKKlzMPZ
— Tyler Cameron (@Tylertr0n) April 25, 2022
TAG TEAM BONUS ROUND!
And this week, our bonus round was found by our magical Community Manager, Bruno!
Art of the Week Bonus Round: The First Disciple Will Mourn
The First Disciple.
.
.
.
.#Destiny2Art #AOTW pic.twitter.com/AbWHJ9xkCv
— Will Moura (@raawk) April 19, 2022
Don’t forget to tag #AOTW #Destiny2Art and #MOTW for your chance at some of that delectable limelight (does not actually taste like limes, heads up).
Bungie Foundation Strikes Again (in a Good Way!)
The Bungie Foundation continues to shine a bright light on a sometimes-bleak world and we’re not just saying that to sound edgy or existential. There is a lot of good that comes from this initiative, including a heartwarming milestone raised for Ronald McDonald House! We’ve got Bungie Foundation’s Christine Edwards here with the latest update!
Christine Edwards: The Bungie community never ceases to amaze us! You all exceeded our past fundraising records with a whopping $306,820 raised for Ronald McDonald House! That equates to over 10,000 nights for families to stay in a safe and welcoming environment so that they can focus on their child’s healing. With the average family staying at the House for two months, you have ensured that roughly 170 families will have all of their needs cared for throughout the entire course of their child’s treatment. That is absolutely incredible and something we hope you feel so proud of.We’d like to share a message from Ronald McDonald House’s Director, Vanessa Kirk Briley: “Each year we are overwhelmed with gratitude for the generosity of the gaming community. Destiny players embrace the annual Kilts for Kids fundraiser and have raised more than $300,000 already this year to help support the families at the Seattle and Anchorage Ronald McDonald Houses! The Ronald McDonald House family thanks the Destiny family!”
We are hard at work to deliver the prizes that you all earned through your donations. Please expect emails from us no later than May 6, 2022 with redemption details.
We’ve said it before, and we’ll continue to say it – you are hands down the best community out there. Thank you for continuing to demonstrate that your compassion and generosity is making the world a better place.
To check out other rad Bungie Foundation initiatives, be sure to check out the official website right here.
While not a novel like last week’s TWAB adventure, we hope you enjoyed what we showed off. Before we let you go, we have just one more thing for Trials of Osiris lovers out there. The next Trials Labs will be directly impacted by you. On May 3, players will receive an email from Bungie that will allow you to vote for which map you’d like to see in the next rotation. On May 5, the vote will close and the winning map will be revealed in next week’s TWAB. In my best Ru Paul’s Drag Race voice: “You’re a winner, baby.” The voting poll will look like this, you will click on the picture of the map that you want to play next and then that’s one vote towards the next featured battlefield for Trials of Osiris.
Have any impressive clips from matches on any of these maps? Send them in by tagging #TrialsLabsVote between now and when voting starts for a chance to see your clip featured on Bungie.net!
We know that emails are still an issue for some players, and we want you to know that we are looking at alternative ways to do fun things like this in the future. In the meantime, there have been a few troubleshooting techniques that we’ve seen high success rates for, so feel free to mosey on over here to learn more.
Also, just another small reminder, DMG is taking some much-deserved time off over the next few weeks and we want him to be able to enjoy that time peacefully so he can feel rested, rejuvenated, and ready to take on the world. If you need help, the rest of the community team and the official Bungie channels will be there to help … just without the cool yellow beanie. We do have bread, though...
Until next time, stay kind, don’t forget to hydrate as the months get warmer, and go out there and do some good.
Anyway, bye!
"I should go,”
<3 Hippy