Destiny 2 - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Imogen Beckhelling)

If there’s one thing I miss about Destiny 2, it’s the armour. I’m a firm supporter of the whole “you can’t save the world if you don’t look good” thing. What I do not miss about this game, however, is how much you have to grind to look that good in the first place. Destiny 2’s Solstice Of Heroes event kicks off on August 11th, and the new armour sets are lush, but good god do they seem like a lot of work to get.

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Destiny 2 - Cozmo 
This week at Bungie, we're getting ready for Solstice of Heroes.

Once again, it’s time for the annual tradition of honoring Guardians and your great accomplishments. Our free summer event, Solstice of Heroes, starts next week on August 11.



The European Aerial Zone is back and full of Hive, Cabal, and Fallen enemies for you to dispatch. Defeat as many of the bosses as you can in a fireteam of three and then hunt for chests that are hidden away around the floating island. The more bosses you take down, the more rewards you will earn.



Armor
This year, we have a new approach to Solstice of Heroes armor that we think is going to give you far more flexibility on how you show off your Solstice-ness.

Similar to previous years, you will start with a Rare set and upgrade it into a Majestic Legendary set. Once you have all of your Legendary gear, you can start upgrading it into a Magnificent set. The Magnificent set has a final list of objectives to complete:

  • Complete a Nightfall Ordeal on the Master difficulty.
  • Complete a Nightmare Hunt.
  • Complete Pit of Heresy.
  • Win seven Trials of Osiris matches. (Not on a single Passage)
  • Complete a Tier 5 Altar of Sorrow three times.

Completing these final objectives will unlock a white glow on your Magnificent armor. You need to upgrade your armor to Magnificent during Solstice of Heroes but can continue to complete these objectives to unlock the glows after the event ends. After you earn your Magnificent set you can continue to earn more randomly rolled pieces from opening Solstice Packages found in the EAZ.



Earning the Majestic Legendary set will unlock the option to purchase a Universal Ornament set from Eververse for either Silver or Bright Dust. This ornament will change its glow to match your Elemental subclass color. Unlike last year, you won’t need to purchase individual color glows. Each class set will be able to display three different elemental glows that will match whatever subclass you have equipped at the time.



Since the Elemental glow sets are Universal Ornaments, you will be able to apply them to any armor 2.0 pieces instead of only being able to apply them to your Solstice armor like before.

As a bonus, all of the Elemental Universal Ornaments will also support a fourth glow for players who equip the Stasis subclass when Beyond Light releases this fall.



One of our goals with the Solstice of Heroes armor was to improve the experience of earning over previous years. There won’t be any major armor updates, so once you earn your Majestic set it will be relevant up until next year’s event. The Elemental glows being made into Universal Ornaments will ensure you can use them on any of your high stat armor going forward.

Glows can’t be toggled on and off for Universal Ornaments. That is why this year’s glows are always on, as they are built into their Universal Ornaments.

The white glow on the Legendary Magnificent set are also always on once you complete the challenge for the corresponding piece. Both the white glows and the elemental glows will increase their intensity depending on how much super energy you have at the time.

Eververse
The Eververse store will also have some shiny new things available. Every new Solstice of Heroes item will be available for both Silver and Bright Dust at some time during the event with the exception of the “Iron Severance” Finisher.

Here is a quick look at some of the wares.



For more info on the event, check out our Solstice of Heroes page. Enjoy the celebration!

Lo-fi Beats
The Bungie Music team just released a remix lo-fi Destiny 2 track perfect for unwinding after an adrenaline pumping Crucible match or stressful Flawless dungeon finish. Put on some headphones and kick back with your feet up to these soothing jams.



You can check out thehttps://www.bungie.net/en/Explore/Detail/News/49425.
Destiny 2 - dmg04
This week at Bungie, we shared our Prophecy.

Challenge. Mystery. The Nine. Deserts, cubes, and… whiteboards? Earlier this week, we did a deep dive on our newest Dungeon, featuring some behind the scenes developer commentary. Did you miss it? Well, let’s fix that. Hit the jump for a recap!

These are some of our favorite streams to host. We’ve opened the minds of our designers to bridge the gap between Guardian and developer and get you into their headspace. If you’re not in a place where you can watch a stream, we also released a companion blog article. What does it take to build out a dungeon? How do these ideas come about? And most importantly, how many lines did Jon To write to stay occupied when quarantine began?

I don’t think I’ve ever put that many questions into a single intro, but it’s fun to embrace the chaos, isn’t it? Let's get on with the rest of the show. This week, we're talking Iron Banner, and have a quick patch note preview. Read the full article for more.
Destiny 2 - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Alice O'Connor)

Destiny 2 screenshot showing Lord Shaxx, veteran of the Great Beaver Hunt.

If you’ve been plagued by ‘Beaver’ errors gnawing at your connection in Destiny 2, good news: the bug behind the recent Beaver plague has been fixed. Turns out, something was wonky with Valve’s network setup, which they’ve now fixed. Beaver disconnections should now be a lot rarer, especially in the central and eastern USA. I casually say “something was wonky with Valve’s network setup” but if you want a full technical explanation, oh boy, you will enjoy one Valve engineer’s full story of the Beaver hunt.

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Destiny 2 - Cozmo 
This week at Bungie, we drew a thin line between light and dark.



Today, we had some exciting news to share on the Xbox Games Showcase. Bungie and Xbox announced that they are joining forces to bring Destiny 2 to Xbox Game Pass this fall.

With an active Xbox Game Pass subscription, players will have access to the standard edition (seasonal content sold separately) of each expansion beginning with Forsaken and Shadowkeep (available September 2020) and Beyond Light (available beginning on November 10, 2020).

Later this year we will be releasing a version of Destiny 2 that will be optimized for Xbox Series X, including 4K resolution and running at 60 frames per second. Players who already own Destiny 2 on Xbox One will be able to transfer their game to Xbox Series X for free via Smart Delivery.

In addition, for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers, Destiny 2 can also be streamed to your Android mobile devices via xCloud.

Would you like to know more? We answered some of the questions you might have here.

Dive Deep
Most of our fresh content doesn’t end up on our streaming channels, so it’s time we got back to our old antics. Next week, your Host will be the freshest face on the Community team: Nicole! She joins us in today’s TWAB to discuss details on the Developer Deep Dive into the Destiny dungeon:

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author
Nicole: Howdy, Guardians! I hope you’re all safe, healthy, and finding some fun out there. Thanks for keeping us company (not to mention each other) during these very unique days. I’ve felt so welcomed since stepping into the community from the Bungie side, and I’m excited to continue to explore ways to engage with and entertain you.

During our recent participation in the St. Jude Fundraiser marathon with our friends who drive the @GCXEvent, we discovered some new ways to recreate the streaming experience from our homes—which means developer commentary is coming soon to a screen near you!

You are cordially invited to dive into the Prophecy dungeon with some of the devs who created the experience.

Developer Deep Dive : Prophecy Dungeon
http://www.twitch.tv/bungie[/url]Tuesday, July 28 – 10AM Pacific[/b] Come and watch us play our own game and tell you stories from its creation on the development floor. Learn more about our inspirations and motivations as we share snapshots from when it was just a work in progress. Join us in chat for the conversation! We welcome you behind the curtain for a bit of fun, reminiscing, and insight into the life of game development. I can’t wait to talk to you all again soon, but for now, see you then! [/quote] (Oh, and yes, we’ll archive it later, for those of you who can’t make it.) [h2]Dam Beavers [/h2] We would never harm our large-toothed, pond-dwelling friends, but we are on a mission to reduce the error codes that share their name. Late last week, we had some success in bringing the number of Beaver errors back down to similar levels reported in past Seasons. Here is the Destiny Dev Team with some more info on our progress. [quote=author][b]Destiny Dev Team[/b]: This past week Valve identified hardware configuration issues with 4 relays in their Chicago, Virginia, Stockholm, and Dubai data centers. In each case, the affected relay was unable to send traffic to one other relay in the same data center. If a connection to a peer went through both of those relays, then it would drop. Valve has fixed the configuration issues, and we have confirmed that the rate of disconnections in the affected areas has been reduced significantly. These changes have reduced Beaver error codes significantly with players in the central and eastern United States of America being impacted the most. Beaver error codes are an indication of connectivity failure and can be caused by a wide range of issues. Some Beaver error codes are caused by local internet connectivity issues. If you still experiencing a lot of Beaver errors please use follow our [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Support/Troubleshoot?oid=12915]Network Troubleshooting Guide[/url] and then report any further issues on our [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Topics?pNumber=0&tg=Help&tSort=0&tType=0&d=2&lang=en]Help forum[/url]. [/quote] [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Explore/Detail/News/49387]Check out the full TWAB on Bungie.net![/urlTuesday, July 28 – 10AM Pacific


Come and watch us play our own game and tell you stories from its creation on the development floor. Learn more about our inspirations and motivations as we share snapshots from when it was just a work in progress. Join us in chat for the conversation!

We welcome you behind the curtain for a bit of fun, reminiscing, and insight into the life of game development.

I can’t wait to talk to you all again soon, but for now, see you then!

(Oh, and yes, we’ll archive it later, for those of you who can’t make it.)

Dam Beavers
We would never harm our large-toothed, pond-dwelling friends, but we are on a mission to reduce the error codes that share their name. Late last week, we had some success in bringing the number of Beaver errors back down to similar levels reported in past Seasons. Here is the Destiny Dev Team with some more info on our progress.

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author
Destiny Dev Team: This past week Valve identified hardware configuration issues with 4 relays in their Chicago, Virginia, Stockholm, and Dubai data centers. In each case, the affected relay was unable to send traffic to one other relay in the same data center. If a connection to a peer went through both of those relays, then it would drop. Valve has fixed the configuration issues, and we have confirmed that the rate of disconnections in the affected areas has been reduced significantly.

These changes have reduced Beaver error codes significantly with players in the central and eastern United States of America being impacted the most. Beaver error codes are an indication of connectivity failure and can be caused by a wide range of issues. Some Beaver error codes are caused by local internet connectivity issues. If you still experiencing a lot of Beaver errors please use follow our Network Troubleshooting Guide and then report any further issues on our Help forum.

Check out the full TWAB on Bungie.net!
Destiny 2 - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Alice O'Connor)

A chilly Destiny 2: Beyond Light screenshot.

While I’m still not convinced that getting pally with the forces of Darkness in Destiny 2 won’t cause a second collapse of human civilisation, it does look great fun. A new trailer for the Beyond Light expansion shows some of the ‘Stasis’ abilities we’ll somehow get from those presumed wrong’uns, and I was expecting to freeze enemies but I was not expecting to erect ice walls or throw ice platforms we can climb up. I think Stasis might even let us get a magic wand? Alright, Darkness, make your offer.

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Destiny 2 - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Natalie Clayton)

The Darkness might be an intimidating mass of deadly triangles, but Destiny 2 has more grounded concerns to worry about right now. As Bungie continue to wrestle with life under the Covid-19 pandemic, they’ve postponed the release of the game’s next big expansion to give themselves more breathing room. Destiny 2: Beyond Light will now release just under two months after its planned September release, launching instead on November 10th.

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Destiny 2 - dmg04
This week at Bungie, we are extending Season of Arrivals.

The launch date for our next expansion, Destiny 2: Beyond Light, has been moved to November 10, 2020. If you missed the full announcement, you can check it out here. We’ll wait until you’ve given it a read…

…Up to speed? While we’re sad to keep the secrets of Europa under wraps for a few extra weeks, our dev team is putting in the work to deliver an adventure that is worthy of your bravery. Doing that work from our homes finds us very far away from our usual ideal of working together in a studio that has been quarantined, so we’re taking the time we need to do it right under the most challenging of conditions.

With the extra time between September and November, we have some plans to make the most of the suddenly longer Season.



  • Moments of Triumph will be extended to November 10, 2020. Cutting it close on some of those tougher Triumphs? Here’s a little extra time to finish them off.
  • The show must go on: Festival of the Lost will now take place during Season of Arrivals, beginning on October 10.
  • We’re planning a handful of ritual activity modifiers to look forward to:
  • Increased Valor
  • Increased Infamy
  • Increased [REDACTED]
  • A few additional Iron Banner events between September and November.
  • And more…
We know that no amount of extra Infamy or Valor will keep your hunger satiated, but we will have a few more surprises to share on the road to launch. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, the pages that appeared on the day we revealed Beyond Light have been updated with all of the new and relevant information. Bookmark ‘em or pass ‘em along to your friends. Some in-game UI elements will not reflect the new launch date until a future update.

For the full TWAB article, hit this link!
Ostriv - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (RPS)

A screenshot from Valorant of duelist ReynaOri And The Will Of The Wisps Mora

Halloo, gentle reader. Since we’re half way through the entire year of 2020 (yet somehow it is also still March?), we decided to run down, lasso and tie up some of our favourite games from the last six months, and force them into a nice list for you.

2020 still has plenty of new PC games to come, of course, but these are the ones closest to our little hearts so far. We’ve got strategy, we’ve got card games, we’ve got systematic reclamation of scraped spaceships. And, since Nate Crowley is one of the contributors to this list, we’ve got fish. Statistically speaking, there’s bound to be at least one game on here that you’ll ruddy bloody love too!

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Destiny 2 - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Alice O'Connor)

Slamming a hot dunk with Ruinous Effigy in Destiny 2.

As we grapple to understand Destiny 2‘s looming spacepyramid threat, this week the enigmatic forces extended an olive branch in the form of a gun which… turns its victims into orbs you can pick up and dunk on their mates to murder them too? And this is to help us understand them? Great. We’ll be having coffee mornings any day now, then. The new quest for Ruinous Effigy arrived in Tuesday’s update and it’s well worth getting. It’s great fun to play with, and such a perfectly odd gift from an alien presence.

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