This Week At Bungie – 4/4/2019

A Spark Can Give Life... or Take It

Dan: After the release of Forsaken, the sandbox team wanted to revisit some older subclass paths and freshen them up a bit. This entailed tuning for balance as well as quality-of-life fixes. We’ve also added new functionality to a couple of subclasses. In update 2.2.1, we're focusing on Arc subclasses for Titans, Hunters, and Warlocks to kick off Arc Week. That said, we also made a couple needed changes to non-Arc abilities. Let’s get into it. 

Striker Code of the Juggernaut (Bottom Path)

Notes: This path is all about punching enemies to get better at shooting them and shooting enemies to get better at punching them. We want to further incentivize engaging in this loop and make doing so move visible and flashy. Shooting an enemy should make you feel like you are primed to strike with melee. Punching an enemy and releasing your rage will make you feel like a more focused shot.

Frontal Assault:

• Now increases all weapon damage for the duration of the buff
• 25% against combatants
• 20% against players
• Duration increased from 10 to 16 seconds
• Buff timer is now displayed on the HUD

Knockout:

• Melee damage bonus increased from 25% to 60%
• Now also triggers once you have dealt 60% damage to a target
• Any damage done after 60% will refresh the timer
• Still also triggers off shield pop
• No longer consumed after 1 melee attack
• Duration increased from 3 to 5 seconds

Arcstrider Way of the Warrior (Top Path)

Notes: This path thrives on striking with precision and timing and is heavily melee focused. To enhance this loop, we are giving it a bit more nuance with a higher potential payout. We want to allow for more room to execute and engage with both the path to success and the benefits once you do succeed.

Combination Blow

• Bonus melee damage can now be stacked 3 times (requires a melee ability kill for each stack)
• Buff increases melee damage by 60% per stack in PvE 
• Buff increases melee damage by 22.7% per stack in PvP
• For comparison, this ability used to be 1 stack and increased melee damage by 50%
• Kills with this ability now heal 40 health in addition to starting health regen 

Deadly Reach:

• Increased buff duration from 6 to 8 seconds 
• Buff is no longer consumed by a melee hit

Arcstrider Way of the Wind (Bottom Path)

Notes: This path is about quick movement and thriving under pressure. We want to increase your ability to survive while at low health and enhance your elusiveness so you can be more confident when in danger. This way, you don't just get a bonus when you’re injured, you have more control over what state you are in, and you can make more risk/reward choices.

Disorienting Blow:

• Increased the disorient distance by 50%
• Increased duration of disorient on players from 1.5 to 2 seconds

Focused Breathing:

• Increased dodge recharge bonus while sprinting by 100%

Combat Meditation:

• Increased bonus grenade and melee regeneration while bloodied by 25%

Lightning Reflexes:

• Increased damage resistance while dodging from 25% to 40% in PvP
• Increased damage resistance while dodging from 63% to 70% In PvE

Stormcaller Stormtrance Super (Top and Bottom Path)

• Damage scales up to 150% over 5 seconds of continuous use of the attack
• Updated FX and audio to support this functionality

Stormcaller Attunement of Conduction (Top Path)

Notes: This path focuses prominently on chain lightning, but we also want to better sell the fantasy of being a god of erratic and dangerous energy. We want you to be delighted and surprised by the chaos you cause. On top of that, we should make the choice of using your abilities something to better strategize around, and reward you for doing so.

Chain Lightning Melee

• Can now chain up to 5 times, up from 1, and each individual target can be hit twice
• Chain damage decreased from 50 to 31 damage per chain hit

Arc Web

• Can now chain to many (many) more targets, and back and forth between targets
• The amount of chaining varies based on use, and I will leave it to you all to discover!
• Increase chain range from 10 meters to 12 meters
• Chaining Arc damage now reduces the cooldown of your grenade
• Works with Arc Web chains and chains from Chain Lightning Melee
• Earn 3% energy per instance of chain damage in PvE
• Earn 10% energy per instance of chain damage in PvP

Stormcaller Attunement of the Elements (Bottom Path)

Notes: Currently this path focuses on creating drone buddies for allies and staying close to them to dish out more Rifts and the buddies therein. Generally, Arc drone is short-lived, and you need to stay close to your Rift to keep it around. Now you will be able to take your pal further and, if you stick with friends, will be able to have it around much more often, making this path more potent as support.

Electrostatic Surge:

• Increased bonus regeneration rate of Rift by 600% per nearby friendly Guardian
• This sounds insane, and it’s a big boost you will definitely feel, but it was previously very low.
• Extends Rift duration from 15 to 20 seconds
• Added a UI notification for when the buff is active

Arc Soul:

• Extended duration by 50%.

Now let’s talk about some non-Arc Changes, as well…

Voidwalker Nova Warp Super

Notes: Clearly we swung a bit hard when we hit this previously. This should serve as a nice middle ground to settle into.

• Reduced initial charged detonation energy cost by 20%
• Reduced energy cost of holding the charged detonation by 7%
• Reduced time required to fully charge the charged detonation from 0.9 seconds to 0.7 seconds
• Reduced Dark Blink cost by 20%
• Increased base Super duration from 18 seconds to 22 seconds

Dawnblade Everlasting Fire Perk

Notes: Similar to the Striker, we wanted to make sure this perk didn’t allow for infinite Supers in certain activities. We’ve increased the amount you get back upfront but put diminishing returns on it so you can’t go forever. This will still be a Super you can extend much longer with skill.

• Tuned the amount of Super gained from Everlasting Fire
• Initial return increased from 10% to 13% Super energy
• Return then decays linearly over the course of 30 kills from 13% to 0.75% returned per kill

You may be asking “What about Spectral blades???”

We know it’s out of bounds and are working right now on a few tweaks to bring it back in line. We’ll let you know the details once we’ve finished play testing and tuning to lock in on what the changes will be.

That’s all for me this time. As always, we look forward to you getting your hands on these changes and letting us know what you think. Happy electrocuting everyone!

Patch Note Preview

Catalysts

Warlock Bloom Ability

Xûr

Infusion

Gambit Prime Weapons

Gambit Prime

Quests and Bounties

Strong Resolves

Destiny 2 Update 2.2.1

Next Tuesday, on April 9, Destiny 2 will undergo maintenance and Update 2.2.1 is scheduled to go live. No downtime is expected during this maintenance; however, players who have not yet updated to version 2.2.1 by 1 PM PDT will be returned to the title screen.

Please see below for the timeline of this deployment window:

9 AM PDT (1600 UTC):

• Destiny 2 service maintenance is scheduled to begin with no expected downtime.
• Update 2.2.1 will begin rolling out across all platforms and regions.
• Destiny Companion features will be unavailable on web, mobile, and third-party apps.

1 PM PDT (2000 UTC):

• Destiny 2 service maintenance is scheduled to conclude.
• Players who have not yet installed Update 2.2.1 will be removed from activities and returned to the title screen.

1:15 PM PDT (2015 UTC):

• Destiny Companion features will be re-enabled on web, mobile, and third-party apps.
• Console players who encounter issues updating to 2.2.1 should reset their console and try downloading the update.

For more information on Destiny maintenance, players should visit our Destiny Server and Update Status support page. For live updates on the 2.2.1 deployment, players should follow @BungieHelp on Twitter, or monitor our support feed on help.bungie.net.

Destiny 2 Update 2.2.1 Resolved Issues Preview

With the upcoming launch of Destiny 2 Update 2.2.1, we’d like to take the opportunity to follow up on a sampling of player-impacting issues that have emerged in Destiny 2 over the past several months. The following known issues are expected to be resolved after the launch of Destiny 2 Update 2.2.1 on Tuesday, April 9.

• Like a Diamond Triumph: Players who became eligible for the “Like a Diamond” Triumph during the window when it was not available will have this Triumph unlocked retroactively following the 2.2.1 update. Impacted players will receive a notice in game when this fix begins rolling out to their accounts. 
• Acting Bad, Looking Good Pursuit: The “Acting Bad, Looking Good” pursuit is not completing for players using a full set of Ancient Apocalypse armor.
• Obsidian Crystal: The Obsidian Crystal doesn't always drop for players on the Unidentified Frame quest step for Izanagi’s Burden.
• Wish-Ender: Players cannot see behind walls with Wish-Ender while invisible.
• The Vow Infusion: The Vow cannot be infused above 650 Power.
• BrayTech RWP Mk. II Infusion: BrayTech RWP Mk. II cannot be infused above 600 Power.
• Stronghold Power Ammo: Stronghold consumes Power ammo when blocking with Black Talon.
• The Weight of Guilt: The Weight of Guilt emblem does not display its purchase price after it has been unlocked for purchase from Lord Saladin.

For the complete list of resolved issues and patch notes, please keep an eye on our Updates page once 2.2.1 is live. 

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