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Destiny 2 2024 Developer Update Overview

End of year 2024 developer update. My name is Robby Stevens and I'm the Assistant Game Director of Destiny 2. Over the past few months, I've shared details about the future of Destiny 2 in developer deep dives, livestreams, Destiny Hard as Work, blah blah blah. New destination in codename Apollo is content complete, which means we're focused on polishing the non-linear campaign, Metroidvania gameplay experience, developing fighter details of the world, fleshing out numerous quests, do do do do do. So, they're in the... Okay, let's start making this...

Nice and shiny face. The core game portal, activities, modifiers, next gen gear that will be Destiny's new backbone are coming online, playtesting every week, having multiple planned summits in the coming months with members of the Destiny community to provide invaluable feedback and help us hone our executions. Before you ask anything, I don't know anything about these at the moment and even if I did, I wouldn't be allowed to tell you. Additionally, we're hiring a handful of gameplay specialist positions, I know a couple of people who are very interested in the game. A couple of my peers have applied to these roles, I know some people are applying, I don't know if anybody has heard back or has gotten accepted yet, but I do know some of my peers who play the game quite a lot have been applying to this.

Our specialists sourced from the community will be in the trenches with the dev team playtesting the new core game progression and gameplay systems as well as codename Apollo's campaign and post game. We started breaking bones and trying new things with episodes. Some of those changes have been well received by the community, like the Vespers host dungeon raids.

I agree, that was nice. The team found just the right mix of challenge and length to elevate the dungeon to the bar set by contest raids. I can't wait to watch the next one.

I couldn't agree more. I thought the dungeon race was great, I thought it was pretty well tuned, pretty difficult, not the stomp that I thought it was going to be. I enjoyed it very much.

I thought, yay, very good. Other changes have had a rocky start. Weapon crafting removed the joy of earning a random weapon, that feeling that any drop could matter, so we introduced enhanceable weapons.

The revenant tonics were meant to provide loot agency in lieu of crafting and give you a fresh way to chase gear, but we know we missed the mark with tonic timers and not guaranteeing a weapon from the active tonic, so... We're in the process of developing changes to make tonics last longer and give better payouts on top of a series of bug fixes planned for December 17th. Also we see how these changes are putting pressure on your vault, so we're in the early stages of planning long term changes to relieve vault pressure later in the year of Codename Frontiers. The tonic situation. The fact that they're saying we missed the mark with tonic timers and not guaranteeing a weapon from the active tonic, then what are we doing here?

If the point of the tonic was to drink the tonic so that you could get a weapon and then you don't guarantee a weapon from the active tonic, what was the vision there? I will admit, I don't, I haven't interacted with the tonics at all. Weapon crafting, removing the joy of earning a random weapon, that feeling that ink drop could matter. So we introduced enhanceable weapons.

I overall agree with this sentiment. Weapon crafting removed the joy of earning a random weapon, but the feedback has been given this episode that like we want seasonal weapons back. We want seasonal or crafted weapons back.

Episodic crafting. back. And I think, I mean, number one, when Bungie has been as liberal as they have been with how many weapons are craftable, any sort of like repeal of that, any sort of going backwards from how much has already been given to the community is just, it's never going to work. And unfortunately, I think Bungie just ended up going too far with weapon crafting and basically making it the norm to now, like, if you start to peel some of that back, people are just going to hate it. I don't think they can go backwards anymore.

And I will say. I gave this feedback in the let's argue where people were complaining about like, you know, where's our, where's our weapon crafting for the, for the episodic weapons. But at the same time, all I have heard about these weapons is like, they're not really that great.

And that's been my feedback as well. So I get that it can feel bad to like grind for weapons that don't feel like they have that much of a boost. over the stuff that's already in your kit. That being said, if the loot drops are not that enticing that you don't want to grind for them because you wouldn't use them, why do you need the patterns for weapons that you're not going to craft because they're not that good to free up vault space, but you're not keeping these weapons because they're not good. So there's no vault space to save.

If Bungie made every single weapon craftable, at this point, don't care anymore. Give it to them at this point. Bungie has given the community too many things.

They've given you too many options, too many crafteds to pull back, okay? I am with you on that. I agree with this.

I think weapon crafting did remove the joy of like actually going out to grind weapons, but I am with all of y'all because I don't care anymore. Because I'm tired of just any response. I don't care anymore, okay? Make every single weapon craftable. This is no longer something that I want to argue about.

Bungie, open the box, and we can't close it anymore. That's it. And then here, what the hell was going on here? Not guaranteeing a weapon from the active tonic.

What was the thought process here? Drink tonic, don't get weapon. Anyone in there? This mic on?

What happened here? Although, I almost don't even have a problem with this. I have a greater problem with feeling like I don't even understand how the... Game works anymore because half the things that come out are broken or not working properly. Look at the dawning, nothing worked with the dawning.

The only thing that worked was that they deployed the patch. This season comes out and people are like, yeah the tonics don't work, yeah this doesn't work, but this thing doesn't work. We can't even have conversations about the nuance of weapon crafting if half the things in the game don't work. I don't know how to answer people anymore.

on like, hey, what do I do when like this tonic thing? I'm just like, I don't know. Are we pre or post update on whatever the hell? The game is like by far the most broken it's ever been to the point where I have imposter syndrome because I'm just like, I don't know anymore. I don't know.

I don't know what is getting fixed when. I don't know what's actually broken. I can't just read a thing in game to be like, oh, this is how it works because then someone in chat's gonna be like, oh, actually that's not working properly and this whole system is not working either. And then this is dumb.

I don't know how to describe the game to people anymore. I looked into why, like, well, why was everyone pogging out about Sentinel Shield Super? Like, what's going on? It hasn't really been that good.

Didn't really see any patch notes for it. Anything too crazy. Oh, it's bugged.

It's doing 17,000 times the damage that it should be doing. Like, we can't even have, I feel like I can't even have a conversation about how, like, stale the game is or just like, you know, certain design flaws. Like, the game needs to work first, man.

The game needs to... be functional. Bungie's focus can't even be on game design at this point. It has to be on making sure that what they release actually functions the way that it's supposed to function. In response to the desirability of seasonal weapons, I feel like it should be lack thereof, in the short term for Heresy, we've developed a new tier of seasonal weapons, dubbed the Heretical Arsenal.

More details on these weapons as we approach Heresy. Rest assured it will be clear when they hit your inventory that they're worth inspecting. These changes are stepping stones that help us evaluate our long-term plans to create a deeper weapon chase and code name for tiers, okay?

whatever this ends up meaning. I know, I'm pretty sure they, didn't they talk about like tiers, different tiers of weapons, which is going to be another, like I think a brutal, potentially brutal moment for the community. My concern here with like weapons and stuff is like this is a tier five with like all enhanced stuff on it.

And right now you can like pretty much do this with just like a crafted weapon and a bunch of materials, right? You could just like go in and craft a weapon and then level it up to level 17, have double enhanced perks, god roll, just like that. If to get back to that state, you are actually going to need to do more than just put a bunch of materials into a weapon, I think people might throw a fit.

That is my concern for Apollo, for Frontiers, is people are so used to the ability to just like, boom, I have my five out of five. and now like this might actually come from doing something hard in the game. I'm just putting it out there.

Don't be surprised if people throw a fit that getting double enhanced perk rolls is locked behind doing harder content. That's all I'm saying. Yeah, deeper weapon chasing code name frontiers.

So I think that's, that's what I think they mean with this. Moving on. Episodes introduced a new con- content cadence with Axe. While there are new activities, loot, and quests rolling at a consistent cadence, this change created lulls in our gameplay calendar at the end of an episode.

I mean, that's kind of happened with seasons. So for the final weeks of Revenant, there will be a special pursuit similar to Riven's wishes where you can complete quests to choose from a list of new and desirable rewards. Additionally, we've been evaluating feedback from Revenant's content rollout and we've made changes to heresy that strike a better balance between everything dropping on day 1 of an act versus meaningful reasons to return.

throughout the episode. We're taking an approach where the vast majority of the activity's content will be available on the first day of an act and subsequent weeks will add or evolve the content based on the story. Also, we're adjusting the act rollout schedule so there's less downtime in the gameplay calendar later in the episode.

Heresy will be our last season in the episode format. Team has taken some big swings to create new activities that evolve throughout the episode and create big secrets to uncover on the Dreadnought. I said it was going to be very difficult for me to have sympathy for people complaining about how Bungie rolled out content in Revenant, because that is exactly what people asked for. People were like, drop everything at once, drop everything on day one, so we can just play all of it. And now Bungie's coming out with this paragraph saying we've been evaluating feedback from Revenant's content rollout.

So I find it very difficult to sympathize right now. It's not that I disagree with anything here. You know, I, uh, I wouldn't mind having that like week to week, you know, something happens in the game kind of thing.

But, uh, I, I think I would want to talk to people who are, you know, like we want everything at once. And now we're kind of like, Oh, actually maybe this isn't that great. I do think potentially part of the problem is that it is very possible that Bungie designed Revenant to be a week over week experience and thus the quest was designed in a way that felt fine when we did it week over week, but when you have to do it all at once, but Bungie designed it for a different kind of rollout, that's why you get this experience that's just like, go talk to this person, now go talk to this person, now like, why can't you talk to this person when they're just supposed to be right here and blah blah blah do?

Like, I think if they originally were going into it with like, okay, act one, it's gonna happen all at once, so let's design it so that it happens all at once versus the week over week, because by the time they made this change in how they were gonna do the content rollout, Revenant was probably feature complete. They were probably just at the polishing. Make sure stuff works phase. Is it possible that heresy got the feedback early enough that they could do all of act one at once and actually feel it actually feels cohesive when it rolls out?

It's possible. I don't know how far along they were. I had no insight on that. But that's why it's feel maybe the acts have felt kind of weird.

It's like, okay, now we run over here and then we run over here and then we run over here. But like, I am okay with Bungie wanting to just like. dump a bunch of gameplay stuff on us, that's fine, but if you wanted to keep some of the story close to the chest and then have those once a week story beats and cadences to keep people to log in, I'd be okay with that. I'm fine with either one.

It pretty much does not matter to me which one they want to go with. Pick one. It's also tough to give a ton of feedback on this kind of rollout. They've had to make changes when they've already built content. And then episode three is the last one.

So like all they can do is just cobble together whatever sort of feedback they can as quick as they can to try to shove it into episode three. And then we're never going to have this. We're not going to do this format, right? So it's like, yeah, we can give feedback.

But I know that's been something that's been very difficult about this year for me is like, I know how much Frontiers is looking to. change the formula of things to a certain extent. So it like, it feels pointless to give feedback when so many things are going to change starting in late in summer, 2025, whenever it comes out, right? Probably June.

So like episode three, it's just kind of like, how much can they really change? How much can they really, you know, address feedback in time? And also how much do they even really want to, when this is going to be the last episode that they're going to do with this format? doesn't help that the stories haven't been great my was weirdly paced and like lesser now we're supposed to be aramis's friends yeah i mean i've i've i'm i'm never really the most invested in the story but it it also really hasn't done a lot for me either uh this year like i haven't really i don't know there's been like some some neat things here and there but like as a whole i haven't really like it's just kind of been like all right okay i mean like i i respect what they were trying to do but it just it feels like the impacts of the things that have happened after the witness was killed just haven't really felt that impactful. Maybe it'll feel better when we actually have the next part of the story and we can go like, oh, that was a thing from episode one, and that was a thing from episode three.

Wow, crazy. But right now, it's just kind of like... I think the fact that they are all individual stories makes it so that it's tougher for me to get invested as well, right? This is just an isolated This is an isolated thing, and the other thing was an isolated thing, and this next coming thing is an isolated thing, and it doesn't feel like we're building to something yet, right?

It's just kinda like, here's what happened after the thing that happened. So I think once we start actually building to something again, maybe I'll get a little more invested. I think that's it. Widening the focus. As Revenant approaches its final act, where you'll delve into a Dracula's castle-inspired fortress, I want to take a moment to reflect on some of the feedback we received around the Echoes and Revenant story, as well as the hunger for purpose and meaning in a post-witness world.

Our first two episodes had tight focus, establishing Maya Sendrish and her Echo of Command as a force to be reckoned with. Thickroll re-emerged with the power to create an undead army. for one last showdown with the guardian and his dad. We set out to deliver on narrative promises that set up in the light and darkness saga that we couldn't tie off in final shape.

Kelv Kells, Hive siblings, showcasing the effect killing the witness had on the world and more by prioritizing satisfying conclusions. We want to clear a path for bold new storylines in the saga to come. I don't, okay, didn't really feel like Maya Sundaresh's conclusion was that satisfying. Episode two, we'll see.

But like, I also really haven't engaged super hard with like this. I mean, I guess I'm kind of like I'm rooting for for me, Strax to be like, oh, please don't die or like whatever. But I, you know, I'm not going to give how I feel on the conclusion of act two or episode two when we don't have the conclusion of episode two yet. Right.

Like, but yeah, she literally just like we literally hit her with the no you. And then she melted into some Vex. Right. Like, so we'll see about episode two.

But I'm. not envisioning the most satisfying conclusion to episode two either. In heresy, we're widening the focus of the story to the Hive Pantheon and the ancient Eldritch forces. Forces that shape the universe, the events of heresy close the door on Light and Star's saga and act as a prologue to Codename Apollo, where the Guardian's purpose in the next saga starts to take focus. I can see myself getting more invested in heresy literally just because of these two sentences right here.

I think the Hive stuff has been the thing that's really carried and- the stuff that I've been the most invested in with the game, but it's also been the stuff that's been getting like the most amount of screen time. I feel like Savathun, Zivu, even like Oryx, all that kind of stuff. So, and if it's acting as an actual prologue into the next era of the game and the next story that's going to be happening, that's another reason to maybe get a little more invested, knowing that whatever happens here will have some kind of an impact on the next step.

New Frontiers. On a personal note, this past November marks my 9th year at Bungie. I've seen Bungie and Destiny go through many changes over the years. What remains constant is the player community and Destiny team's commitment and dedication to this one of kind. Okay, that's the end.

Who wrote this? Robby C. Sorry, they put their name at the top. How confident are you about the next chapter in D2? Someone asked today, literally right at the start of the stream, if I had any sort of expectations for Frontiers or whatever.

The answer is I don't have any expectations. Am I hopeful? I'm hopeful in that, like, I know Bungie's trying to make some really big changes to the game, and I hope those changes work out for Bungie, but I am still nervous about the rollout.

I'm nervous about the future. I hope it works out, but we also need some more information on it, and then even with information, we still need to play it, right? Information is rarely enough to go on to determine if something is going to be good. or not, but they got a road ahead of them, and it ain't a short one bro.

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