TWAB: Take That, Sleeper Simulant!

It’s that time again. The good folks at Bungie have relayed their reactions to the community and game play experience. For many of us, it’s…Continue readingTWAB: Take That, Sleeper Simulant!

It’s that time again. The good folks at Bungie have relayed their reactions to the community and game play experience. For many of us, it’s going to bring relief to one particularly frustrating aspect of PvP. That’s not the only change, of course. We have economy updates, and explanation of the Dreaming City corruption cycle, and more. Read on, Guardians!

One of the most frequent opinions we’ve heard is that Forsaken is not just a large expansion, but one in which players feel there is an overwhelming number of tasks, actions, and experiences available. Whether they are chasing power level, looking for god rolls on gear, filling up the lore book, or preparing/finishing the raid, there is simply no shortage of activities. As we like to say, The Grind Is Real!

Some of these activities take a lot of precious time for gamers. Those gamers sometimes feel that they haven’t been properly rewarded. As Bungie says in this week’s “This Week at Bungie”, they have heard the community, and thanks to sandbox tuning, and bringing some welcome changes.

Changes to Gambit

The Malfeasance is one bad ass hand cannon, but in order to get it, players have to engage in the game mode, Gambit. Not only do they have to play the cool mode that mixes Player vs Environment and Player vs Player, but they can only get that particular gun if a random boss enemy shows up and their team wins that round. Fortunately, the space meatball, aka Ascendant Primeval Servitor, will be spawning more often after the next game update.

Continuing with Gambit, Bungie is reinstating quitter penalties for those who bail on their team during matches. There will be an adjustment to the number of times a player can quit mid-match before they are placed on a restricted list. (The balance here is in penalizing those who rage quit while not penalizing players whose Internet connection decides to take a quick nap.)

One of the most welcome changes (to us) is the change to ammo drops in Gambit. The Sleeper Simulant ammo drop will only have two shots (down from the four it gets now). The Simulant has quickly developed a reputation as being wildly overpowered, and with this change, an invading player will have a harder time wiping out the opposing team. (The size of the Sleeper’s kill box is also under review.) Also, Sword ammo drops will now have 12 charges instead of 6. Scout rifle damage has been increased against non-player enemies both in Gambit and in other destinations.

Changes to Menu Navigation

Forsaken brought some interesting changes and expansion to the Navigator, character, and in-world menus. These changes continue. Here are a few interesting additions/modifications.

Players will be able to track 3 pursuits. Hovering over a cleared Lost Sector reveals the sector name (useful when you have a bounty that includes clearing all the sectors on a destination.) Transmat effects have been moved to the flair section.

Brandon’s Hoarding Takes a Big Hit

Our co-host Brandon Kelly has been pretty vocal about his almost unnatural ability to collect the Edge Transit grenade launcher. He isn’t the only one. The drop rate is a known issue in the community. Destiny is fixing this by adding Through Fire and Flood, Zenobia D, and Crooked Fang-4fr to the world Legendary pool. The kid is going to have to work 5x as hard to continue adding to his collection of the grenade launcher (that he never uses.)

Changes to Drop Rates and Damage

Swords and fusion rifles are going to get a damage buff. The Titan’s shield is getting a little more opaque for better visibility. Players will spend less time dismantling the pesky shaders that they don’t want or need. One of the biggest changes to the economy comes in the form of Masterwork Cores.

Currently, Masterwork Cores are the difficult part of the economy. These are needed to infuse a weapon into another to raise the power level (along with legendary marks, glimmer and planetary resources.) The Cores are the rarest of these resources. Starting with the 10/30 update, there will be bounties that provide Cores as a reward. This is very welcome for everyone trying to increase their power level or to improve a piece of armor or weapon that they simply won’t give up.

Other News of Note

October 16th will bring this year’s Festival of the Lost. Bungie has simply described this as a costume party. We can speculate but that’s all the info we have so far. Commander Zavala now has Nightfall Ranks in addition to his Vanguard Ranks. Also, the Flashpoint is on Mercury this week. (This includes the Heroic Adventure. Players must complete the adventure on normal level if they can’t access it when set to heroic instead.)

That’s it from us. Feel free to chime in with your thoughts. Defend the Sleeper or Edge Transit if you’d like. Tell us where you found Xur. (Did you catch Cayde’s cape in the Tower? Tweet us a pic at @HHFTTpodcast.)

Be on the lookout for a new podcast episode coming soon with a very special guest. Until then…Eyes up, Guardian! The first round’s on us.