Bungie’s Destiny 2 had a very strong opening on Steam with roughly 220,000 peak concurrent players. However, it also suffered from a number of server issues, which necessitated emergency maintenance. The developer has recently tweeted that servers are going offline for maintenance again at 8 AM PT today.

Fortunately, it won’t be for long – maintenance is expected to conclude at 8.30 AM PT. You may return to your regularly scheduled grind after that, whether you’re a new player hopping in for the first time with New Light or a veteran returning with Shadowkeep. The latter offers new Exotic quests, weapons, and armor earned from the Lectern of Enchantment and so on.

Destiny 2: Shadowkeep’s launch is just the beginning though. On October 5th, the Garden of Salvation raid will launch along with the Vex Offensive. Hero Nightmare Hunts will arrive on October 8th, with Legend Nightmare Hunts to follow on October 15th. Stay tuned for more details on the raid when it goes live this Saturday.

Tomorrow (10/03) at 8 AM PDT Destiny 2 will be taken offline for maintenance.

Maintenance is expected to conclude at 8:30 AM PDT.

For more info: https://t.co/Ocy0lEVMfq

— Bungie Help (@BungieHelp) October 3, 2019

Yesterday was a big day for Destiny 2 and Bungie. Not only did we see the release of Shadowkeep – Destiny 2’s newest expansion – and New Light – which is Destiny 2’s free-to-play version – we also saw the looter shooter making the jump to Steam. And it seems Steam users really took to the game. Not only did the game dominate the top sellers list yesterday, it also had an impressive debut in terms of player count.

On Steam, Bungie’s shooter hit a peak concurrent player count just shy of 220,000 players on its launch day- 219,997, to be more precise. At the time of writing this report, its current player count is 130,727, with the game ranking below perennial player count leaders Dota 2, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

Doubtless, Destiny 2: New Light’s free-to-play nature must be having a significant contribution in its player count, while the newly launched Shadowkeep must also be attracting plenty of attention. The fact that Destiny 2 on Steam supports cross-saves with PS4 must have brought over some players as well. Now to see how long it’s able to maintain these figures.

Bungie has taken Destiny 2 offline in the wake of its shift to Steam (which can be pre-loaded now) and going free-to-play. Maintenance is currently ongoing and should end at 10 AM PT/1 PM ET. However, at that time, update 2.6.0.1 will be rolled out for Destiny 2 and should be done by 12 PM PT.

So if you experience some issues signing in fro 10 AM to 12 PM PT, this will be due to “background maintenance”. Regardless, it’s a brave new age for Destiny 2. Along with the launch of Destiny 2: New Light, Bungie is also releasing a new expansion called Shadowkeep.

Furthermore, players who were previously on Battle.net can shift their profiles over to Steam. If you enabled cross-save for Xbox One and PS4, then those characters can also be transferred to Steam once New Light is live. It might take some time before Forsaken owners see their licenses for the game show up though.

Pinnacle weapons are going away and power progression is also being overhauled so be prepared. Head here to see what content will be available free for New Light.

See you on the other side, Guardians. https://t.co/tSYxtuHbRh

— Bungie (@Bungie) September 30, 2019

It’s the last Xur visit until Destiny 2: Shadowkeep and New Light launch tomorrow. Head to Giant’s Scar on Io to find him. Xur will hang around until the next weekly reset, which is the same time that Shadowkeep is set to drop.

This week’s Exotics aren’t anything crazy. Helm of Saint-14 (Titan helm), Lucky Pants (Hunter boots) and Nezarec’s Sin (Warlock helm) are all available for 23 Legendary Shards. Given the buffs that Ward of Dawn is receiving in the next sandbox update, Helm of Saint-14 is a must-have for Titans since it blinds foes who get too close to the shield.

The Exotic weapon this week is Vigilance Wing, a five-shot burst pulse rifle which increases health regen and movement speed when an ally is killed nearby. More importantly, the Legendary trait Last Stand improves performance and recovery when you’re the last member alive on your fireteam. Elimination will be one of the returning modes with New Light so Vigilance Wing could synergize well. Pick it up for 29 Legendary Shards.

Destiny 2: Shadowkeep is out soon and in keeping with every major expansion, Bungie is significantly revamping the progression and economy systems. Armor 2.0 is one of the bigger new additions, allowing players to totally customize their armor with mods. With Shadowkeep, how players will level up is also changing.

Instead of 15 to 20 points below, non-Powerful Rewards will now drop at 0 to 3 points below one’s highest potential Power Level. All Powerful Reward sources in Year 2 now only provide Legendary items and won’t have a chance for random Exotics. It is possible to obtain bonus Exotics from Nightfall: The Ordeal, though that carries its own set of challenges (Eriana’s Vow, the new Exotic handcannon, will become a must for the activity).

And though the new Seasonal Artifact will add to a player’s Power Level as they progress, it will not affect the Power level of loot drops. All new characters in Destiny 2 will start at 750 Power, which is the new minimum. The soft cap for Power is 900 – past that, you’ll need Powerful and Pinnacle rewards to hit the new 950 Powerful cap. If you want to hit the hard cap, which is 960 Power, only Pinnacle rewards will get you there.

Check out the full progression and economy changes here, which also detail where Bright Dust for Eververse will drop. Destiny 2: Shadowkeep is out tomorrow for Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

Rewards Power and Progression

• All non-powerful rewards now drop 3 to 0 points below your highest equippable Power level, up from 15 to 20 below
• Year 2 powerful reward sources have changed to Legendary rewards
• These sources no longer have a chance to drop a random Exotic instead of the Legendary gear
• Bonus Exotics that drop from Nightfall: The Ordeal will drop at the character’s highest equippable Power level.
• Under- and over-leveling activities no longer adjust how much Power is received from the rewards
• Experience no longer fuels a player’s character level, which has been changed to be level 50 for all characters
• Experience instead progresses the Season Pass, Seasonal Artifact mod, and Power progressions, as well as the unlocking of destinations for new characters
• Experience rewards have been rebalanced with the introduction of the Season Pass and Seasonal Artifact progressions
• The Power granted from the Seasonal Artifact is additive with the Power of the player’s equippable gear, but does not increase the Power of gear drops
• All existing gear has had its Power increased to a minimum of 750; new characters will begin Destiny 2 at Power 750 as well

The Power bands for Season 8 are as follows:

Floor: 750

Soft Cap: 900

• All drops up to this point will be upgrades to the most powerful item in your inventory or vault
• Beyond this point, only powerful and pinnacle rewards will increase a player’s Power

Powerful Cap: 950

• All non-powerful/pinnacle rewards are capped at 950
• Pinnacle rewards are the only way to raise Power above this point
• Powerful rewards are equivalent to the character’s highest-equippable Power beyond this point

Pinnacle Cap: 960

• This is the highest Power at which gear drops; also known as the “hard cap”
• The Seasonal Artifact bonus Power allows characters to attain values above this level

Prime Engrams

• Prime Engrams now gain charges more quickly, drop more frequently, and have a higher maximum charge cap (nine charges, up from six during Year 2)
• The Power gains have been rebalanced for the increased frequency, providing +3 Power, down from a range of +4 to +7
• Players who have completed the “Prime Example” quest prior to Shadowkeep’s release will earn charges, but those charges won’t drop until the character has reached 900 Power
• This will help players avoid spending charges early for gains that are most beneficial during the Soft Cap to Powerful Cap range

Pinnacle weapons have been an interesting reward in Bungie’s Destiny 2, challenging players to undertake long quests to earn specific weapons. Vanguard Strikes, Crucible and Gambit each had their unique weapon to earn. With Destiny 2: Shadowkeep, pinnacle weapons are going away for the sake of ritual weapons.

Though these weapons will have curated rolls, there won’t be any special perks like Recluse’s Master of Arms or Breakneck’s Onslaught. In the recent “This Week at Bungie” blog, the developer clarified its reason for removing pinnacle weapons. “The decision to stop creating extremely powerful pinnacle weapons was made for a variety of reasons. The first was that the band in which ‘pinnacle’ perk can exist is actually quite small, and most of them far exceeded the efficacy they should have been at. Another issue is that they cause problems in the player ecosystem, particularly in the case of the Crucible pinnacle weapons.

“Due to the nature of PvP and PvE, anything that works well in PvP is likely going be extremely effective in PvE as well. This forces players into the Crucible if they want the ‘best’ loadouts. Even the title of ‘pinnacle’ set a variety of unrealistic expectations. Rather than being the absolute height of Legendary power, they were supposed to be interesting novelties to chase.

“These problems became more pronounced the more of them we produced. In the end, we decided to move away from pinnacle weapons. If you managed to collect them all, we hope you enjoy them!”

But that’s not all. The development team is also reducing the “effectiveness” of certain damage perks for PvE. This includes Rampage, Kill Clip, Swashbuckler, Multikill Clip, Desperado, Surrounded, Master of Arms and Onslaught. They’ll now have the same multipliers for damage in PvE as PvP while Onslaught and Desperado will change “bullet impact values” in PvE. The idea is that Legendary weapons have become “too powerful”, outclassing Exotic primaries and invalidating “non-damage related perks”.

The Rampage change doesn’t affect Huckleberry, the Exotic SMG, so that would make it exceptionally sought after when Shadowkeep drops. A number of other changes will be coming with the next expansion’s launch so stay tuned. Destiny 2: Shadowkeep and New Light are out tomorrow for Xbox One, PS4 and PC. Check out the first story mission and some patrols on the Moon here.

Bungie’s Destiny 2 is just a few days from going free to play with Destiny 2: New Light. We already know that the entirety of Year 1 content including the Red War campaign, Curse of Osiris and Warmind will be included. However, Bungie has gone into more detail about all the content that will be accessible.

For instance, even though the Forsaken campaign isn’t included, players can access Gambit mode. Content previously exclusive to the Annual Pass like Gambit Prime, The Menagerie and Black Armory Forges will also be free. In a follow-up tweet, Bungie clarified that The Reckoning was also included.

If that weren’t enough, Year 2 Exotics like Thunderlord, Arbalest, Outbreak Perfected and Bad Juju will be available as well. It was noted that any Exotics from the listed activities would not be obtainable – which presumably means Year 2 activities – but everything else is free.

Those who don’t own Forsaken won’t have access to the new subclasses (though Forsaken will be available on October 1st for Steam). Destiny 2: New Light is out on October 1st for Xbox One, PS4 and PC with the next expansion Shadowkeep arriving on the same day.

https://twitter.com/DestinyTheGame/status/1177289273025843200

https://twitter.com/DestinyTheGame/status/1177323560085278723

October 1

— Destiny 2 (@DestinyTheGame) September 26, 2019

You’d probably think that now – yes, finally, now! – is the time to get back into Destiny 2. The title launched with a number of glaring flaws and Bungie successfully fixed them. The Forsaken expansion built up the endgame significantly and offered a number of different milestones to chase. There are numerous raids worth playing. The Annual Pass also introduced a myriad of modes, from the six player Menagerie to a more insufferable version of Gambit and Exotic Quests, to keep players hooked. The lore! So much lore was added, providing some honest-to-goodness compelling tales to sift through (well, aside from Season of Opulence and it’s admittedly disturbing love-letters about the Guardian from Calus).

There were Pinnacle weapons to grind, Triumphs to unlock, titles to earn and achievements to tout. All of that even comes with you to Steam. And if you choose to go from PS4 and Xbox One to PC, then cross-save finally makes that possible.

What if you’ve never played Destiny before? Is Destiny 2 still a worthwhile experience? This is where the move to Steam becomes even better. Starting from October 1^st, Destiny 2 will adopt a free-to-play model and become Destiny 2: New Light. You gain access to the base campaign, Curse of Osiris and Warmind expansions, and all of the updates and free content added till now (barring limited time events which returns when they return). Best of all, with Forsaken launching on October 1st, you get to experience all the great content in that expansion. Want more? The Forsaken Annual Pass has been made free.

Even if you don’t own Forsaken, Gambit Prime along with the Tangled Shore, Dreaming City, Black Armory Forges, The Menagerie and future PvP modes. Sure, you still have to pay for the expansions and Bungie has shifted more to a free-to-play model when it comes to microtransactions (read: more direct purchases) but now is the best time for new players to jump in.

Right?

That’s the paradox that Bungie seemingly struggles with, that too when a new expansion was set to launch at nearly any time during Destiny’s lifespan. If you’re simply in it for the new main quest, then most of this may not really phase you. However, those seeking to make this their next looter shooter, their main “live service” game or even, as Bungie consistently insists, their new hobby, Destiny 2 has some serious problems.

First off, I mentioned the Forsaken expansion and Annual Pass. The Dreaming City will be available with Destiny 2: New Light at launch, allowing anyone to partake in the Blind Well event. This sounds good except because no one was really playing it after launch. Don’t get me wrong – Blind Well was popular for about a month after the expansion launched and still serves as a decent place for some fulfilling some quest requirements. But it’s also a publicly matchmade space, much like Escalation Protocol from Warmind or the public event on Mercury from Curse of Osiris. And again, both activities didn’t see all that much play a good month or two after their expansions released (with Mercury’s public event dying far quicker).

There are matchmade activities like the Forges from Black Armory, The Reckoning and Gambit Prime from Season of the Drifter, and the Menagerie from Season of Opulence. However, first-time players, even if they gain access to the Annual Pass on Steam, won’t really find much by way of participation from Destiny 2’s hardcore established player base. There’s the hope that the predicted flood of new players will take care of that but eventually, we’ll be right back to where we started.

That’s because Bungie’s approach to content isn’t like Capcom with Monster Hunter World: Iceborne. It’s not looking to make all content relevant for a good long time. In fact, it’s making changes to activities like the Menagerie to make it less rewarding when Shadowkeep and New Light launch. Can’t have players becoming too powerful, too quickly after all. What about activities like Heroic Menagerie, Scourge of the Past, Crown of Sorrow or The Last Wish which don’t even have matchmaking? These activities require finding your own group. Good luck with that, especially given the lack of an in-game LFG system, still not implemented even after five years of the franchise’s existence.

Armor 2.0 revamps the current armor system to have slots for inserting whatever mods a player chooses – along with mods being reusable, finally. All previously released armor will have Armor 2.0 versions, thus incentivizing players to farm old activities for the same. This should, in theory, cause veterans to hop in the pool with newbies. “In theory” being the key word here. A system which allowed veterans to matchmake with new players and help them in different activities, garnering different rewards in the process, would have been nice (and no, we’re not talking about the failure that is Guided Games). At this point, it doesn’t seem like a veteran player unless they must have Armor 2.0 versions of everything in the game will want to revisit older activities for the same.

But all of this is symptomatic of a bigger issue that Bungie has with anything Destiny 2-related – content is ultimately made irrelevant within a short span of time. So while theoretically, hopping into Destiny 2 when a major expansion launches is fine, the content is made passe so quickly that you might as well not even bother. It’s more than just being incentivized to do new things – the overall structure of the franchise has been developed to reward “being there” at the beginning. The lack of a proper structure for solo players to enjoy all of the content, from Crucible to end-game, hasn’t helped matters.

Bungie has further built this up by implementing various “Fear of Missing Out” or FOMO mechanics into the game. It started off innocently enough – the developer removed Trials of the Nine and Faction Rallies simply because they weren’t good enough, not because they were slated for removal. The decision to not bring them back could range from allocating resources somewhere else – which makes sense with all the work necessary for Shadowkeep, a new Annual Pass, New Light etc etc – to simply having no idea how to bring them back. So if you weren’t there to get the admittedly lame rewards, then too bad (but hey, no big loss either, right?).

Then there were the Annual Events. Didn’t partake in the murder-mystery to help find Master Ives’ killer? Well, you could still earn the Exotic machine gun Thunderlord but it would have to be through Exotic Engrams, which have finicky drop rates. Didn’t farm the Menagerie when its rewards system was broken in the initial week? Then farming all those different Austringer weapon rolls became headache after Bungie patched it. Of course, then it buffed the same and is now getting ready to nerf again.

Then there were the Moments of Triumph, which could be used to obtain Bad Juju (which again moved to Exotic Engrams if you didn’t get it in that time). Then came the Solstice of Heroes and its punishing armor grind. “But you get this set as your first Armor 2.0 variant when Shadowkeep launches!” they say.

However, even players who were there and earned their so-called coveted rewards are punished. Grinding The Whisper mission, when it wasn’t initially guaranteed to start – and only available on the weekends – to pick up the Whisper of the Worm? It’s since been nerfed into irrelevance. Grinding out the murder-mystery with Master Ives during the Festival of the Lost to get the Thunderlord? It’s been nerfed and heavy machine guns in general have received numerous other nerfs.

Oh, what’s that? Even if you farm for so-called perfect PvE rolls on weapons, Bungie is changing critical damage modifiers for minor enemies with the launch of Shadowkeep. You’ll no longer deal 50 percent additional damage on minor enemies with critical shots aka headshots. While weapon damage is being buffed to compensate, there’s still a net loss in damage overall (and the changes to prevent buff stacking don’t help either). Heck, we’re also see perks like Rampage, Kill Clip, Swashbuckler, Multikill Clip, Desperado, Surrounded, Master of Arms and Onslaught nerfed when Shadowkeep releases.

So really, you’re encouraged to be there, day-one, for Destiny content and just enjoy it while it lasts. Because it’s not going to last. Many will point to Bungie just doing its best to rein in the power fantasy so that things remain challenging. Excuses like raid boss design, Crucible balance and so on and so forth get thrown around as well. Which is funny given that (a) not that many players raid regularly anyway and (b) Crucible has always been unbalanced and attempting to rectify resulted in a stunningly bad Year 1 meta for Destiny 2.

But I digress. With Shadowkeep, this FOMO phenomenon will be pushed even further. Bungie’s new approach to Seasons is to remove content once the season is over. No, seriously. Season of the Undying kicks off with Vex Offensive, a new six-player activitiy that will likely be similar to Escalation Protocol. Once the season ends, the activity will likely be gone.

Any loot associated will also be unobtainable – Bungie will shift it to loot pools for other activities. On the one hand, it’s a way to incentivize players who missed previous seasons to play older content once that current Season is over. On the other hand, it bloats the loot pool of those previously activities, lowering the chances of obtaining previous season items. Besides, the next season will be here already and has a time limit as well. Where will players prefer to spend their time, first and foremost?

The new Seasonal Ranks also incentivize doing things in the “Now”. Want that new Exotic handcannon? How about that heavy bow? New armor set? Better get to grinding, especially if you’re on the free track. The Premium version of Seasonal Ranks is included with the Season Pass and to be fair, $10 isn’t the worst price to pay for new activities and cosmetics. The problem is when they’re inevitably gone and if you didn’t happen to reap the rewards, then too bad. Oh well – at least it’s a way for Bungie to further monetize the game by selling catch-up boosters for when the season is close to ending.

I don’t blame Bungie for the various ways it’s trying to make money out of Destiny 2, especially now that it’s separated from Activision. Much as I hate FOMO mechanics, they work from a financial point of view. Games like Warframe and Path of Exile have their own take on the same with Prime Access and Supporter Packs respectively. And besides, some players are happy to see Bungie taking these steps to “evolve” the world of Destiny 2 over a period of time as opposed to keeping things static.

However, as a new player, it’s honestly a confusing time to get into the game. If you want to experience Shadowkeep, you’ll have no idea who these characters are or what’s going on with the story. You might just be here for the awesome gear and weapons. The jury is still out on what new items will be available with the expansion. But the cosmetically minded will likely be disappointed to see a number of great items in Eververse, unless they put down money and time to get the sweet-looking gear from the Season of the Undying Seasonal Ranks.

As a lapsed player, you may find yourself surrounded by tons of content but no one to really play it with. There are things to do solo, sure, but there’s still a large swathe of content that you’re cut off from. We’ll even be seeing changes to the overall reward structure so you might not be as consistently rewarded as you once felt. You may feel weaker due to nerfs. Your favourite Exotics and weapons will probably feel underwhelming, if not outright pathetic.

In the long term, I’d like to see Bungie make more efforts to cater to theplayers who don’t necessarily play with the same groups anymore or prefer playing by themselves. I’d like to see certain activities like raids facilitate NPCs – after all, if the rewards aren’t going to push veterans to sherpa new players through, why not just allow for AI teammates? These would make for incredible missions and opportunities for dialogue and interactions. Heck, take The Division 2’s approach and lock certain items like Raid Exotics behind playing with friends. The upcoming Seasonal Artifacts structure looks to offer a decent reward structure and progression for solo players, which is good. Now if only they weren’t phased out and players’ progress reset with a new Artifact every new season.

At the end of the day, Destiny is still a fascinating franchise. It’s merged together first person multiplayer shooting, social elements, MMO gameplay and live service elements into one odd yet endearing package. It’s managed to endure even as other live service games have floundered or outright failed. It’s commanded the loyalty of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of players, throughout the years. It’s seen incredible highs and unbelievable lows, faced XP and microtransaction scandals while being celebrated for its gunplay and raid design. There’s quite a lot that other live service games could learn from it.

However, while Destiny is a unique experience, one with perks and flaws, it suffers the most from a distinct lack of direction. If you watch Bungie’s recent ViDoc on the Moon and Beyond, you’ll hear quite a lot about this being the year that the developer finally takes Destiny 2 in the right direction. It may sound familiar…because we’ve been hearing this spiel in some form or the other over the years. “This is the year, this is finally the year” they’ll say before everything is inevitably overhauled for the sake of trying something new.

There’s something to be said about change and improving things but also enough to be said about having a clear vision and sticking to it for the long term. As the story changes and shifts, one hopes that this is the year that Bungie has finally achieved its vision while ensuring every player, new or old, is along for the ride. Because if it isn’t, then the next year may very well be a repeat of the failings of Year 1.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

The time has finally come for PC Guardians – the pre-load for Destiny 2 has gone live on Steam. It’s reportedly 79 GB so clear up some space on your hard drive. Also keep in mind that this is just the base Steam version aka New Light without the launch day patch.

Destiny 2: New Light and Shadowkeep, the next expansion for the shared world shooter, will go live on Tuesday. Those migrating over from Battle.net with the Forsaken expansion should take note. Due to the time necessary to transfer licenses, Forsaken quests and story content will be unavailable. You can still access Gambit, Forsaken Strikes, the Tangled Shore and the Dreaming City though.

The launch trailer for Shadowkeep is also currently live, showcasing some of the dangers that players will encounter on the Moon. These include an army of Nightmares, past foes like Crota and Ghaul, and a mysterious voice that could be the long-awaited darkness. Stay tuned for more details – Destiny 2: Shadowkeep launches on October 1st for Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

With Bungie’s Destiny 2 shifting from Battle.net to Steam with the launch of Shadowkeep, PC players will be able to migrate their progress over to the new platform. However, it will take some time for Forsaken licenses to transfer. The process will be taking place even after Shadowkeep is out but some content won’t be available until then.

In its latest “This Week at Bungie”, the developer has explained which content won’t be available. These include:

• Forsaken campaign missions
• Forsaken quest content
• The Last Wish raid
• The Shattered Throne dungeon

Other content like Gambit activities, Forsaken Strikes available in the Vanguard Strike playlist, Crucible maps and Patrols in both the Tangled Shore and Dreaming City will be available. This content will be included with New Light, the free to play version of Destiny 2 launching alongside Shadowkeep. So if you’re missing 1,000 Voices or haven’t completed all of the Forsaken quests, you have until next week.

Destiny 2: Shadowkeep is out on October 1st for Xbox One, PS4 and PC. Here are 15 things you should know before picking it up. The Forsaken Complete Collection, which includes the Annual Pass, has been discounted to $25 on Xbox One and PS4, if you’re keen on picking that up. Current Forsaken owners get the Annual Pass for free.