Bungie has released the February update for futuristic shooter Destiny, with update 2.1.1 featuring several tweaks to improve the playing experience of the game.
The Crimson Days Valentine's-themed event for Destiny is just around the corner, with Bungie previously revealing that one of the things gamers can look forward to is the newest game mode for the Crucible named Crimson Doubles. The two-on-two game mode pits player-established pairs against each other and features the Broken Heart perk, where gamers, upon the death of their teammate, will receive maxed out armor, agility, health regeneration and weapon handling.
Update 2.1.1 will launch on the same day as Crimson Days, which is on Feb. 9 at 10 AM PST. In addition to what the Valentine's-themed event will bring, here are the things gamers can look forward to once the update is deployed.
Special Ammo Restrictions
Upon the release of the February update, players will begin certain matches without access to Special Ammo. Once the match begins though, green Special crates can be acquired, though gamers will have to look a bit harder for them.
According to senior designer Derek Carroll, the decision to restrict Special Ammo is due to the desire of the PvP team to increase the usage of Primary Weapons, especially at the beginning of matches.
All three-on-three playlists will be featuring the new behavior for Special Ammo, including Elimination, Salvage, Skirmish, Trials and all rotating three-on-three playlists. Rumble, however is not considered a three-on-three mode and therefore will not be experiencing the changes.
The decision to limit the change to three-on-three modes is because in larger game types, the initial conditions are generally less sensitive.
Freelance Playlists
The update also introduces Freelance six-on-six and Freelance three-on-three playlists, which are mixed-mode playlists that can only be accessed by solo players and not Fireteams.
The goals of the new playlists, according to designer Jeremiah Pieschl, are to create level playing fields and to provide playlists that would lead to a wider range of engagements. The teams in the Freelance playlists will begin on equal ground, with the mixed modes leading to diverse match experiences.
Freelance three-on-three will feature Clash, Rift and Control while Freelance six-on-six will feature Salvage, Elimination and Skirmish.
Trials Of Osiris Improvement
Bungie says that, after applying new settings for the reduction of lag in certain game modes, the same settings will now be applied to Trials of Osiris, with Clash and the upcoming Crimson Doubles among the next modes that will be receiving the new settings.
Bungie adds that in a future update that will not be in February, it is planning to apply the improved settings for matchmaking in all Crucible playlists.
Damage Referee
The February update will see the installation of a Damage Referee, which will keep gamers safe from unstable connections.
According to networking engineer Paul Lewellen, the Damage Referee will include upcoming changes to how Destiny handles Internet connection problems that are beyond the control of gamers. Gamers with good connections will see a positive difference in how their games play, while gamers with bad connections will lose fights more often to have them make improvements on their connections first before playing again.
King's Fall fixes
Lead designer Gavin Irby says that with the February update, runners in the Daughters or Oryx encounter will no longer experience the issue of having their cameras snap back to a default position. In addition, the teleporting Ogres have been nerfed no longer to be able to teleport.
