A rare moment of peace has descended across the worlds of Destiny 2, there is no fighting, no grinding for weapons, not even a grunt from Zavala. It’s not because all the races in the game have suddenly become big fans of cuddles, it’s because the servers are offline and they won’t be back on for a good few hours.
The good news is that in a few minutes, around 3am UK time, you can start downloading the latest patch which includes The Witch Queen, but play does not resume until 5pm UK time. Here’s the schedule of events.
- February 21, 6:45 PM PST (0245 UTC): Destiny 2 is brought offline.
- February 21, 7 PM (0300 UTC): Pre-load for Update 4.0.0.1 will be available on all platforms.
- February 22, 9 AM (1700 UTC): Destiny 2 will be brought back online. Update 4.0.0.1 will be playable on all platforms and regions.
- February 22, 10 AM (1800 UTC): Destiny 2 maintenance is scheduled to complete.
Now that patch I mentioned, it’s rather bad news for those on PlayStation 4. “Players using the PS4 version of Destiny 2 will be required to download all associated Destiny 2 Required Content before playing The Witch Queen,” say Bungie. Yep, you have to download the whole game again, but after this patches should be much smaller.
We also have preview of the patch notes, we will post the full version as soon as they are available.
Ritual Rewards
- Starting with The Witch Queen, ritual playlist rewards will be updated to grant ritual specific gear (weapons, mods, armor) and no longer be granting rewards from the general world pool.
- Crucible will grant Crucible gear, Vanguard will grant Vanguard gear, and Gambit will grant Gambit gear.
- Engram focusing is currently only available on Saint-14 and the Drifter for their ritual specific engrams.
- World engrams will continue to be granted at major ranks on ritual vendors, just for a little variety.
- Gambit, Crucible, and Vanguard rituals are receiving updated armor rewards for a new expansion release.
- These share the same base appearance but have slight differences in decals and coloring to represent each ritual.
Returning Crucible Maps
- Eternity and Vostok return to the Crucible on February 22, 2022.
Eververse
- No changes.
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- Wait, what? Seriously?
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- Yeah, there are no systematic changes to the Eververse.
- There will be new cosmetic items available for Silver and Bright Dust, but no systematic changes to the experience.
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- But what about Bright Dust? Any changes to how much players will be earning?
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- There are no changes to Bright Dust acquisition or totals compared to that of Season 15.
- Players will continue to earn Bright Dust from Seasonal Challenges, repeatable bounties on specific vendors, and through the Season Pass.
- Please note: This week brings the final drop of 700 Bright Dust in celebration of our 30th Anniversary. Make sure to redeem this offer in the Eververse storefront before it’s gone!
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- Wait, what? Seriously?
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Season Pass Changes
- High-stat Seasonal armor has been reintroduced.
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- Individual pieces are awarded between ranks 57 and 87.
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- Legendary Engrams have been replaced with focused Umbral Engrams.
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- Five in total. Each focused to a different armor piece (arms, legs, chest, class, and head).
- All Umbral Engrams are tier 2.
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- The Season Pass emblem has been removed, but we have introduced a Season Pass Sparrow.
- The Season Pass scrounger bonuses (bonuses which increased Seasonal weapon/armor drop chances in ritual activities) have been overhauled.
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- The weapon scrounger bonuses are no longer separated by weapon type or ritual activity. They now apply to both Season Pass Legendary weapons and all activities at once.
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- Two weapon scrounger bonuses instead of six.
- The first bonus grants the player a small chance to receive the weapons from ritual activities. The second bonus gives an improved chance.
- Total drop chance is unchanged from previous Seasons.
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- The armor scrounger bonuses are no longer separated by ritual activity. It now applies to all activities at once.
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- One armor scrounger bonus instead of three.
- Like the weapon, the total drop chance for each armor piece is unchanged.
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- The weapon scrounger bonuses are no longer separated by weapon type or ritual activity. They now apply to both Season Pass Legendary weapons and all activities at once.
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- Aside from the emblem, no items have been removed from the Season Pass, only added.
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- A number of rewards such as Glimmer and Legendary Shards have been consolidated to make room for high-stat armor.
- A small amount of Upgrade Modules have been added.
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- The order some rewards are acquired has been tuned to accommodate the above changes.
Shattered Throne: “Thrallway”
- Fixed an issue where Shadow Thrall in The Shattered Throne were unintentionally granting investment rewards, such as Glimmer, engrams, and XP.
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- As players begin to craft weapons and level up their Season Pass on February 22, we want to ensure gameplay rewards are earned by playing and completing activities, bounties, or just hanging out with friends in patrols while defeating minions of the Darkness.
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Boss Stomps
- Adjusted the physics knockback for boss stomps.
- This will should result in fewer deaths from being knocked into objects.
Source: Bungie
