Destiny is getting some big changes with the release of The Taken King, and Bungie is slowly but surely pulling the curtain back on what's new in a series of livestreams.
Bungie's first Taken King livestream was walkthrough of all the major changes that are coming in what the developer is calling Destiny year two. These aren't new pieces of content or quests, but rather a myriad of quality of life improvements that will make the Destiny experience, faster, more streamlined and overall better than the game that shipped almost a year ago.
First up in the stream was a discussion of character level and Light level. Unlike before, when a player's character level post-20 was determined by the Light attribute on certain pieces of gear, come Sept. 15, players will be able to level up to the new cap of 40 soley through earning XP. Any existing character's Light level will be converted to their standard character level on Sept. 15. That doesn't mean you have to log on the night before and equip all your best gear, however. Bungie says not to dismantle anything, as the game will make note of all the items in your inventory and vault space when calculating your maximum Light level for the conversion.
However, that doesn't mean Light level is going away entirely. Instead, it now serves a similar function to "item level" in games like World of Warcraft. Light level is now an average of your attack and defense values from all equipped gear. Certain missions or activities will have a recommended Light level, allowing players to quickly gauge whether or not their character is well-geared enough to succeed.
Much of that was already known, but it was after the level discussion that new Destiny year two details emerged. For example, not much was known about how The Taken King's character boost would work. It will be an item called "Spark of Light" that is delivered via the postmaster. Once used, it will automatically boost any character under level 25 to 25.
The game's bounty and quest systems are receiving a major overhaul with The Taken King, too. Missions are now grouped together to form quests, and players can now hold more bounties. Senior design lead Tyson Green said during the livestream that many new bounties will be added to the game and can be completed more quickly than bounties in the past. These new bounties were made with the idea that players don't have to go out of their way to accomplish them. Instead, they are extras that players can work on while doing the content they already want to do. Making bounties even better is the ability to track them while playing. This allows for players to keep tabs of their bounty progress without having to pause and go into the character menus.
Huge changes are coming to items and how players store them as well. Class items and even Ghost shells will now grant players defense, stats and perks, with Ghosts having the ability to detect various crafting components in the game world. Managing all those items will be easier than ever before with increased vault space. Bungie revealed that weapons and armor will now have 72 vault slots each, double that of what is currently available.
You'll be able to clear out much of your vault without fear come Taken King with the addition of collections and exotic item blueprints. This is a new system that keeps track of items you've earned and allows you to re-equip or remake them without having to fiddle with inventory management. Things like shaders, ships and emblems now have their own collections. Simply go to a terminal in the Tower to re-equip a shader of your choice, while also viewing how to obtain shaders you haven't yet acquired.
Exotic item blueprints work in a similar manner. The game now keeps track of all the exotic items you've earned over your career, unlocking a blueprint upon obtaining one. If you've deleted an exotic item at any point, you'll always be able to use the blueprint to recreate it — for a price, of course.
Better yet, some year one Destiny items are being reforged for year two. Items like Light Beyond Nemesis and Suros Regime will have new, level 40 versions that can be acquired using the blueprint system upon reaching level 40, provided players have the necessary materials.
A brand new system called Infusion is coming exclusively to the game's year two weapons. This allows players to upgrade year two legendary or exotic weapons, adding power and perks by "feeding" other legendary and exotic items to it. This gives players more options for keeping weapons that they really like or another use for weapons that they don't.
A major theme of Destiny year two is player choice and putting progression in the player's hands. Rather than wait and pray for a certain drop, Bungie is making sure players always have a way to progress by adding new ways to get guaranteed legendary drops, whether it be from new weekly PvP quest lines or from purchasing legendary engrams from the Cryptarch. Reputations will be easier to gain with the new Allegiance system, which gives players the option to pay glimmer in order to gain additional rep for any given faction. Allegiances can be changed once a week and don't require players to sacrifice an item slot wearing something they don't want to wear.
The game is ditching the old Vanguard and Crucible mark system in favor for the more streamlined Legendary marks. Players can hold 200 of these marks at a time, but unlike Crucible or Vanguard marks, these aren't capped at a weekly earning limit. Legendary marks can be earned through various activities or by dismantling unwanted year two legendary gear. Existing Crucible and Vanguard marks will be converted into commendations that can be cashed in for reputation gain.
Oh, and there are some new dances too, in case you were wondering.
Bungie's message with year two is clear. It puts player progression in the hands of players and doesn't hold them back. It makes managing items, bounties and quests far easier — and that's just the tip of the iceberg. A whole new zone, with new missions, strikes and a new raid are all coming in The Taken King as well. Those will be revealed in two subsequent livestreams, but for now, Destiny players can rest assured they have plenty to look forward to.
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