Bungie just showed off some really nice-looking new armour sets and some other little additions coming next month to Destiny, a sci-fi shooter video game whose biggest fan picked the wrong week to go on holiday.
The star of Bungie’s sneak-peek livestream was the new Desolate armour. It was teased last week and is modelled off of the Taken enemies introduced in last spring’s terrific Taken King expansion. Players can gather it piece by piece by picking up Sterling Treasure chests, which are earned a variety of ways, including via weekly activities and playing the new level 41 version of the Prison of Elders.
There’s even a new Taken-style ship to obtain…
…and there’s a Taken-style emote that can only be obtained if you collect enough Desolate gear.
Bungie showed a range of other new armour sets in the livestream all while also demonstrating the April update’s new HUD-free mode. By changing a menu setting, players can turn off all on-screen icons, including their aiming reticle, the better to see the game’s art.
Another key change of note: infusing items will no longer split stats. Instead, according to Bungie, combining two items will boost the lower-level item to the attack/defence stats of the higher one. This not only makes item infusion a more attractive option but seems to give Bungie a loophole for providing a microtransaction way to get the new Desolate gear. Those Sterling Treasure chests that contain Desolate gear pieces can be earned in-game, but they can also be purchased using in-game currency that’s been bought with real money.
Bungie already introduced this microtransaction system for some cosmetic items in the game last spring but hadn’t made armour pieces available in that marketplace. The twist here is that, even though the Desolate gear can be obtained through a Sterling Treasure bought via microtransaction, the Desolate gear shown in the stream was merely at level three, making it tactically useless on its own.
As Bungie’s livestreamer explained, a player would need to infuse it with higher-level gear to give it decent stats, and that higher-level gear would have to be earned by playing the game, the same as always. That sounds fine, but we’ll have to see how it works in the actual game
Since item-infusing is going to be a bigger deal, and since people are all going to be chasing the game’s new 335 light-level cap, Bungie is making sure that high-level items drop in the game. Here’s how to get them once the April update hits:
- King’s Fall (hard mode) will drop gear up to 335 (after a post-update hot fix)
- Iron Banner will drop items up to 335
- Trials of Osiris will drop items up to 335
- Strike Uniques will drop items up to 335
- Exotic Engrams will decode items up to 335
- Court of Oryx artifact drops will be up to 335
- Challenge of Elders will end with 335-level enemies (and presumably drop items at that level)
- King’s Fall (normal) will drop items up to 320
The April update will also offer a range of new emotes, including a Karate Kid kick. Take a look (click to play):
The update adds a new type of cosmetic item called a Chroma that players can use to add glow to individual item pieces and, in a first for the game, use it to re-colour parts of their guns.
Finally, Bungie is adding this new ghost and this Taken-style sword, proving they still employ some terrific artists.
All of this hits when the game is updated on April 12.
Top: Official artwork showcasing the Taken Warlock armour set
Comments
17 responses to “Destiny Is Getting A Bunch Of Cool New Gear In April”
Is this an early April fools joke lol
Man…. it’s things like this that make we regret dropping Destiny after the taken king. Cool loot, glowing swords, delicious pvp…
But Dark Souls 3 comes out that day so only people without “gudness” will be playing Destiny.
I’m torn as I’ve recently started playing Destiny again (after dropping it a month after release) and I’m really loving the new style in TTK. The quest system and the way the game world works gives you a lot more options than doing nothing but strikes and raids.
But alas, Dark Souls 3 comes out on the same day which is the first game I’ve pre-ordered since Burning Crusade :O
I don’t regret dropping this game at all. Seeing microtransactions for actual gear now is pretty gross (yes, infusion). But hey, that’s Activision for you. Look at the Black Ops 3 subreddit where someone was banned for planning to post the actual odds for their shitty bought Supply Drops.
Mechanically it’s amazing and super slick. The gunplay and movement are amazing. Just…everything else kind of sucks. Especially Bungie’s shit.
Disclaimer: only stopped playing in December, so I’m pretty up to date.
You’re as right as maple syrup and butter on a short stack.
The only thing that kept me going was killing other guardians, it was so much fun. I couldn’t justify spending money on future DLC just to keep playing PVP.
Mmmmm, that sounds delicious 😉
But yes, fair point. The latest iteration of Trials isn’t too bad, but on the whole PvP is pretty dire.
Destiny? What’s that?
Wait, Destiny is still a thing?
This a case of too little too late, so many other games out now so many more by then.
Thanks but no thanks, homie dont play dat.
I want to get excited for it, and I kind of want to even try it out… but… division
Playing Division made me realise how much I took Destiny for granted if anything. After quickly burning out on sub-par (compared to Destiny) gameplay – and I mean the 30 second loop of actual gameplay, not the loot mechanics – The Division really has no hold over me the way Destiny still does, even after months of not playing.
One day everyone will look back and remember Destiny above most other games that came out during this generation, I know that now for sure.
Really? Has had the opposite effect for me. Division has shown me how much better destiny could have been. A true open world, loot that has a lot more variation, PvP that is fun and exciting, and a great story that I actually want to find out more about and that isn’t hidden in grimoire.
Funny to see the different reactions though. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not bagging destiny, I loved it, but now that I’ve broken the addiction, I find it hard to look back. Like when you quit smoking, and you just can’t stand the smell of it once you’ve broken the addiction 😛 To each their own I guess 🙂
Loot that has a lot more variation?? Are we playing the same game? One of the main reasons why I stopped playing The Division is because I knew the best I was aiming for was another marksman rifle that behaved essentially the same but had bigger numbers on the screen. You compare that to all the different exotics and their perks in Destiny and The Division may as well have only one of each gun.
I can’t wait to get back to a world with character again. New York may be expertly realised, but it’s also incredibly limited, and that’s shown in the enemy types and weapons especially.
As for the story, I can’t tell you what happened the whole time. The only character I can remember is Faye Lau and that’s cause her name was on the screen in subtitles most of the game. Granted, I wasn’t paying much attention, but the game never really gave me a reason to. I still have no idea what happened at the end of the game plot-wise.
I was addicted to Destiny too, but I still look back happily at all the time I spent with it. Even though it fucked us around with its loot drops, exploits, difficulties, no-matchmaking etc, the gameplay was always fun, and the world was exciting and weird and interesting. I think if you honestly look at Destiny, and acknowledge its faults and its strengths, the most important things a game needs to do at a base level, it consistently pulls off. It’s all the extra stuff that needed and still needs tweaking.
Yes, but you have to remember the game is still brand spanking new. Some weapons will be nerfed, others buffed making them more balanced. Plus, Destiny is at its end, where as The Divison is still in its infancy, so there will be A LOT more weapons and loot coming too. Division has similar perks on weapons also, and the variation between weapons is on par with destiny. Plus the marksman rifles (for example) have a few different variations, bolt action, semi-auto, etc. Then on top of that, each marksman rifle has further variations like First Wave M1A, Socom M1A, Standard M1A, etc. I don’t know, to me it feels like I’m spoilt for choice in this game, where as destiny you were only ever aiming for one specific weapon
I don’t know, the story did suck me in with Division, but I was completely lost with Destiny. Possibly Division just grabbed me, but I know I’m not the only one who had no idea what was actually going on in destiny 😛
As I said though, I’m not bagging destiny, I put more hours into that game then just about any other, but I just fee l like The Division has more to offer (to me at least). 🙂
Has the ridiculous RNG upon RNG been removed from raid drops too? Ooh, yay, finally picked up a Ghost from Kings Fall after 10+ runs aaaaand it’s only a 300.
You must be new to MMO style loot systems. I got a 304 ghost during my first ever raid 🙂
edit: was supposed to be a reply to the post above 😡
Most definitely not new my friend. I’ve been MMO’ing since the 90’s, and have tried a vast majority of MMOs upon release. The loot drops in Destiny raids has been quite poor though, especially Kings Fall and the way the light system works.
In my usual 6 man fireteam, in the first 10 weeks of running it, only one of us picked up a Ghost and it was a 300, not a 310. And that’s one item slot. Trying to get geared up to take on hard mode with 310 light for a full team of 6 was definitely an exercise in frustration, and honestly contributed to a few of us giving up on the game. I don’t expect to walk in to a raid and walk out with all the gear I could ever want, but to spend forever looking for that one piece, and when it FINALLY drops, it’s the worst possible version? That’s not fun. If I wanted to grind forever, I’ll go load up PSO and farm a Sealed J-Sword.