Bungie Outlines Changes Coming To Destiny 2 Seasons, Progression, And Gameplay

For some reason or other, video game development studios have decided that 2023 would be a good time to rework their development processes. Some studios have decided to cut back on updates while others are looking to step their game out with more frequent reeases. For Bungie, its apparently going to be the latter as the studio announces upcoming changes to how they roll out new Destiny 2 content.

The first round of changes will take effect alongside the start of the multiplayer shooter’s first Lightfall expansion season, dubbed Season of Defiance, to reduce the complexity of the game’s progression system. When the new season begins, players can expect the removal of less-used currencies, better season rewards, fewer vendor upgrade, and increased potency for those that won’t be cut out of the list.

“We’re doing away with Umbrals and Umbral Energies, so after you’ve unlocked seasonal focusing, if you want to focus an engram into a particular seasonal weapon or armor, all you’ll need is glimmer and a seasonal engram,” Bungie explains in a new dev blog. “We also won’t be asking you to hold large stacks of seasonal currency to unlock a chest at the end of every seasonal activity. Instead, we will be dropping singular keys throughout your playtime that allow you to extract better rewards from the chest at the end of a seasonal activity. This will create a simpler relationship where you know that if you have even one key, you’re getting even better rewards.”

Season of Defiance will be followed by Season of the Deep which promises more activities, new gameplay systems, and updates to existing systems that the developers aren’t quite happy with. The developers also outlined changes coming to weapon crafting which will see a reduction in the number of craftable weapons, balance tweaks to regular weapons, and a rework of the Deepsight system.

Bungie is also looking into bumping up the game’s overall difficulty by tweaking ability cooldowns, nerfing gear buffs, and making enemies harder to hit while keeping their aggressiveness high. Players can also look forward a big Crucible update, the introduction of a rotating roster of exotic missions, balance passes for several Strike instances, and the addition of more social features including more global chat channels and an LFG feature, all of which are expected to arrive within the year.