Some big changes to Destiny's loot and engram system are finally here, and it should make many a frustrated player breathe a sigh of relief.
As of update 1.0.2, which just went live, purple legendary engrams will always reward a legendary item with a small chance of an exotic, with blue rare engrams always rewarding a rare item or better. Ascendant Shards and Ascendant Energy crafting materials have also been upgraded to legendary status to better represent their purpose in upgrading high-level gear.
Of course, these new engrams still have a chance of being an item for another class or crafting materials, but it is a step in the right direction for a system that players have been vocally displeased about since the game's launch. Parody Twitter accounts like @LegendaryEngram and the @theCryptarch made constant fun of the unfortunate situation Destiny players found themselves in, as they rushed back to the Cryptarch to unlock a legendary engram, only to receive a useless blue item. That has thankfully now changed.
Roses are red Your item is blue Your engram was purple Sucks to be you
— Legendary Engram (@legendaryengram) September 18, 2014
Whispers of my demise in the next few hours have been greatly exaggerated, I will be just as mean, never forget that. — Cryptarch (@TheCryptarch) October 1, 2014
Bungie is also making the end-game Strike playlists more rewarding for players by adding a chance for legendary gear to be rewarded upon completion. Rare and legendary drops have been added to the Vanguard: Tiger Strike playlist, Daily Heroic Missions (for the first time completed per day) and Weekly Heroic Missions (first time completed per week.) This should get more players to engage with end-game content, rather than lining up at various loot caves to farm engrams as many players were doing previously.
A few changes also come to Destiny on the PvP side. First Light and Bastion will be appearing less often in the Control and Clash multiplayer playlists, and the match time limit for the two maps has been lowered to 12 minutes from 15.
This patch is just the latest update for Destiny, of which many more are sure to be on the way as Bungie continues to support the game in the coming weeks and months. Destiny's first expansion "The Dark Below" releases in Dec., but already some gamers have discovered the names and locations of many of the missions, strikes and raids that will be included. Other savvy gamers have pieced together what might be Destiny's future story, even as others compete to finish the game's greatest challenges in record time.
Be sure to check out our Destiny news round up for all the latest news, as well as this comprehensive guide for some of the best Destiny info on the web.
