Destiny 2 Sandbox Changes Revealed In Huge Developer Update Post + Gameplay Footage (VIDEO)
The team at Bungie continues to deliver on the promise they made to make vast improvements to Destiny 2 this year. While the team still has a lot of progress left to go, the Destiny 2 sandbox is about to see some huge changes. The development team at Bungie provided updates on the their progress and preview video of what fans can expect.
From the most recent developer update, the crew at Bungie discussed the specifics of the upcoming change to their MMO. This includes some live test footage to help spark players’ excitement for the update. Between this footage (seen below) and the outreach from the team, fans have been given high hopes on the fact that the crew will deliver on all the promises they made for the new year despite the MMO’s rocky launch.
The latest update is going to be huge, there’s a lot of info here so if there is a particular part you are looking forward, here’s the order of our outline: Sandbox, Competition, Mobility, and Buffs. Don’t forget to also check out the gameplay demo of said changes in the video above.
Sandbox
While the Destiny 2 sandbox is still currently a work in progress, Senior Crucible Designers had a sit down interview to discuss the most important aspects that Fans would be most interested in. Designer Kevin Yanes and Design Lead Josh Hamrick provided the run down on what players can expect from the patch upcoming patch on March 27th. Read the details below:
Kevin: Hey everyone, Kevin here from the Crucible team. I’m dropping by to share the details on the rest of our changes heading into Update 1.1.4. As Derek mentioned in last week’s TWAB, Iron Banner, Rumble, and Mayhem are making their triumphant returns to Destiny 2 with a few twists. Iron Banner has become 6v6, Mayhem features 90% fewer nova bombs (fixed this issue found during the Dawning), and Rumble has welcomed two additional players into the fray. There is a lot to get excited about in Update 1.1.4 but something the team really wanted to do was go back and refine the core experience.
Looking at the feedback, it was clear that the community felt there were two key areas for improvement with the Crucible: “Time to Kill” and “Team Shotting”. So we set our sights on re-working systems, mechanics, and values to tackle those two areas.
Does this mean you’re changing the Time to Kill?
“When we looked at the core feedback on “Time to Kill” in the Crucible, we saw that it mostly stemmed from a lack of excitement or spikes of intensity you all came to expect from a Destiny experience. This came in the form of feedback that stated the game was too slow, or the core loop was too stale. We agree, and have worked with Sandbox to increase the pace of the Crucible as a whole. Josh is going to speak to all of the Sandbox changes here in a bit, and I won’t steal his thunder. So alongside all of the great changes the Sandbox team has made, we’re setting our sights on making the Crucible a faster, more dynamic, and more action-packed experience on the activity side.”
Respawn and Revive were tuned in all game modes
- Player respawn timers for all Quickplay modes have been reduced to 2s.
- Player respawn timers for Survival have been reduced to 7s
- Revive lockout time in Countdown has been reduced to 7s
- Players no longer lose Revive Tokens on death
Power Ammo respawn timers were adjusted across the board
- Power Ammo respawn timers in Iron Banner have been reduced ~50%
- Power Ammo respawn timers for all Quickplay modes have been reduced ~30%.
- Power Ammo respawn timers in Survival have been reduced ~40%.
- Power Ammo respawn timers in Countdown have been reduced ~25%
Ammo counts have been adjusted in relation to these timers, and in relation to weapon type.
- In almost all cases weapons either retained the same ammo count or received a buff. Swords and rockets were brought down to stay in line with the rest of the weapon offering.
Enemy players now drop their Power Ammo on death.
- This brick is now networked to all players regardless of faction. Secure the power ammo to keep it from your foes or steal off your enemy’s ghost, but be quick because these bricks don’t stay in the world forever.
Competition
“During development of 1.1.4, we realized that while we’d reduced the “Team Shotting” in Quickplay and Iron Banner effectively, we hadn’t quite done the same to Competitive. Knowing this, we looked for a change that reinforced the following goals: reduce team clumping, reward individual plays, and incentivize flanks. With those goals in mind we looked to take a big step in shifting the gameplay in Competitive and Trials: starting in 1.1.4 we’ve opted to remove the Tracker from all Competitive and Trials game modes.
This means more communication is required to secure victories in Competitive and Trials matches. It also means that a crispy flank with Power Ammo is all the more powerful. Subverting expectations and reading opponents is more potent in matches with no Tracker. In playtests we’ve already seen some clutch underdog comebacks and we can’t wait to see what you all do in Competitive and Trials starting with 1.1.4. That said, we’re always listening and reacting to feedback so please tell us what you think about this change and all of our 1.1.4 changes once they go live.”
Focus on Mobility “Gotta go fast”
“Our goal for this update is to provide individual players with more hero moments by increasing overall speed and mobility, increasing the number of supers you charge to demolish your enemies, and increasing the frequency and impact of our most montage worthy power weapons, especially in the Crucible. With Update 1.1.4 drawing ever closer, it feels like a good time to swing back by and provide some updates and additional clarity to what this patch will bring.
The first thing you should know: we are VERY excited for this update to go live. After weeks of solid play-testing, some with external participants, we feel like this is really shaping up to be an update you will be happy with. Huge shout out to everyone involved that helped the list of possible changes grow instead of shrink. Also, to those who play-tested and gave us quality actionable feedback.”
- All three glides plus Catapult and Strafe Lift have been retuned and buffed to make them faster and more unique.
- The mobility stat range has been expanded and completely retuned as well. In short, everyone gets faster and the high end is higher.
- The players’ ground speed cap has been increased, allowing for faster total movement speed, regardless of how you may get there.
- Arcstrider, Sentinel, and Striker all move faster, and at the same speed as one another, while in their Supers.
- Arcstrider, as a whole, is performing well in PvP but mostly due to its neutral game perks. We’ve made the following changes in an effort to get the Super to be a more competitive option:
- Faster Attack Animations.
- Faster Dodge Animations.
- Increased range of all attacks.
The previous Shoulder Charge changes are being reverted, allowing Shoulder Charge to be used as a movement mode once again.
Dawnblade has been improved:
- Reduced cost for throwing swords, allowing for one additional throw
- Increased super duration extension gained from “Everlasting Fire”
- Removed all in-air accuracy penalties while “Swift Strike” is active
- Reduced the Icarus Dash cooldown
- Increased the Grenade and Melee energy “Heat Rises” gives you per kill
Invisibility on Dodge / Smoke Updates:
- Invisibility on Dodge no longer breaks Aim Assist or Projectile Tracking in PvP (unchanged in PvE)
- Dodging still breaks both Aim Assist and Projectile Tracking, but only for the duration of the actual dodge
- Increased the duration of Invisibility on Dodge by 1 second
- Increased the duration of Smoke Bomb Invisibility by 1 second
Supers recharge faster for everyone!
- Supers now recharge 1:40 faster, a cooldown reduction of 25%.
Mods that reduce Grenade, Melee and Class Ability cooldowns have been buffed to allow for up to 2x faster cooldowns.
- This is NOT replacing Mods 2.0, which was recently delayed. More information is available below.
Buffs
Pulse Rifles
- Increased PvE damage for all pulses
- Increased rate of fire for adaptive and high-impact pulses
- Increased base damage for adaptive, high-impact, and rapid-fire Pulses
- Increased precision multiplier for lightweight pulses
- Decreased precision multiplier for adaptive pulses
- This keeps precision damage close to where it is now, putting most of the buff into body shots, though it is still an increase in precision damage overall.
Scout Rifles
- Increased PvE damage for all scouts
- Increased base damage for High-Impact Scouts
Hand Cannon
- Increased PvE damage for all Hand Cannons
- Increased precision multiplier for precision hand cannons
- Increased hip fire accuracy on consoles
- Increased ADS accuracy on consoles
Sidearms
- Increased PvE damage for all sidearms
- Increased hip fire accuracy
- Increased ADS accuracy
- Increased inventory size (allowing more reserve ammo to be stored)
- Increased minimum range
- Added an ADS movement bonus
SMG
- Increased PvE damage for all SMG’s
- Set Optics to 1.3x
- Increased inventory size (allowing more reserve ammo to be stored)
Linear Fusion Rifle
- Increased PvE damage for all linear fusions
- Increased precision multiplier
- Increased aim assist
- Reduced flinch multiplier
Shotgun
- Increased PvE damage for all shotguns
- Increased inventory size (allowing more reserve ammo to be stored)
- Increased aim assist for Suros precision shotguns
Sniper Rifle
- Increased PvE damage for all snipers
- Increased precision multiplier
- Increased aim assist
- Increased inventory size (allowing more reserve ammo to be stored)
Grenade Launcher
- Increased blast radius
Assault Rifles
- Decreased range and aim assist stats for precision autos (Uriel’s Gift). Base damage is not changed.
A few weapon perks are also getting some updates:
High Impact Reserves
- Increased PvE damage
Kill Clip
- Increased PvE damage
Rampage
- Increased PvE damage
- Increased duration
Dragonfly
- Increased damage
- Increased radius
- Stronger visual effects
Grave Robber
- Reloads .5 magazine instead of .3
Timed Payload
- Splits damage 55 Explosive / 45 Direct instead of previous split which was more direct damage
Explosive Rounds
- Decreased PvE Explosive Rounds damage
- This decrease has been compensated for with an increase in PvE damage for the base weapons – your weapons with explosive rounds will not do less damage after 1.1.4
What do you think about the changes coming to Destiny 2 sandbox in the upcoming patch? What else would you like to see added or corrected in the game? Sound off with your thoughts in the comment section below, and don’t forget to check out DFTG on Twitter for gaming and entertainment news live 24/7!
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Matt Ruppert715 Posts
Navy Veteran with a penchant for the FPS genre, Chewy has all aspects of the gaming community covered. Don't expect to see him on a console any time soon, however - though he has experience in all platforms, the PC Master Race has a firm hold on him.
