Month: April 2015

Destiny Share The Player Trading System Still on Bungie’s Radar

Will Bungie ever introduce a player trading system for items in Destiny? It’s a question that Bungie is continually asked, including during yesterday’s special livestream for upcoming expansion House of Wolves. Destiny creative director Christopher Barrett responded by saying that, although it’s not a feature he’d personally like to see in Destiny, it’s not been ruled out for sometime down the road.

 Barrett said people have been asking about a Destiny trading system “since the beginning of time.”

“It’s something we’re…there’s downsides to it and there’s upsides,” he explained. Destiny community member Gothalion said a item trading system could diminish the appeal of Destiny’s endgame if players could freely swap items between one another.

Barrett said he agreed. But while he wouldn’t personally like to see player trading in Destiny, he says the team internally at Bungie is divided on the subject, noting that the studio’s “investment designers” continue to explore the possibility.

“The investment designers, there’s a lot of conversations I’m sure that happen about that,” Barrett said. “We’re always considering features like that. Personally, I’d prefer not to have player trading. But you’ll get different opinions across the entire team.”

Destiny publisher Activision does have a history with player trading systems, as the company’s genre-defining MMO World of Warcraft has had such a system for years now.

Would you like to see player trading in Destiny? Let us know in the comments below.

We learned a lot more about Destiny’s new House of Wolves expansion yesterday, and you can see a roundup of the key points here. The expansion itself arrives May 19 for all platforms.

The latest teaser trailer for the second DLC instalment from Destiny

Rockstar has warned fans to update their password protection on their Social Club accounts to avoid them being hijacked. Fans have been reporting problems with accessing GTA 5 due to being locked out by people who have managed to steal their user details.

However, Rockstar has also stressed that the Rockstar Social Club has not been compromised. Fans have been opening tickets via the Rockstar Support page on Twitter to try to restore full access to their accounts which seem to have been hijacked through another website or database.

Destiny’s latest teaser trailer for the second DLC instalment, House of Wolves, has revealed new details about the level changes set to be implemented. The new content will allow players to reach at least light level 34 after the clip ran through all the new features set to be added and briefly focussed on a character screen who had reached it. Destiny power leveling make you upgrade more quickly.

The video also revealed the new reef social space, characters, and gear upgrades. The level cap was originally raised for the The Dark Below expansion, with the light level system rising from 30 to 32. Fans are still waiting for the official announcement from Bungie but all looks set to be revealed during a live stream demonstration on April 22.

The Bungie team will begin to roll out information for the upcoming Destiny Expansion II: House of Wolves from 19:00, with Deej (Bungie Community Manager) hosting  the livestream straight from the studio with Christopher Barrett (Bungie Creative Director) and community member Gothalion.

They’ll take viewers through a live tour of the brand new social space, The Reef, while discussing the new content, new vendors and more. Wednesday, April 22: Bungie and special community guest Gothalion on Twitch for a tour of the The Reef can be watched below:

Remedy, the makers of Xbox title, Alan Wake, has revealed that a sequel in the series could be available on all platforms. The original title was a console exclusive on the Xbox 360 but things could all be different after production wraps on Quantum Break for Xbox One.

“Ultimately, these things are business decisions,” Remedy Chief Creative Officer Sam Lake told Polygon.  “We are definitely not ruling anything out and looking at different opportunities, but nothing is set in stone at the moment.” “When it comes to sequels it’s our thing, we can do whatever makes sense and what’s best for the franchise overall,”

“But obviously it depends on many different things. I think that regardless of the platform, a good sequel — while it continues the story of the original one — it’s still something that someone who hasn’t played the original one can enjoy and jump on board and dive into the setting and the world and enjoy themselves.”

The Biggest House of Wolves Changes from Destiny

As part of a livestream video broadcast today, Bungie outlined some major changes coming to Destiny by way of the game’s upcoming House of Wolves expansion, which is set to launch on all platforms May 19.

 Below you’ll find a roundup of some of the biggest news from the video broadcast, while we’ll have a more in-depth video breakdown later today featuring commentary from GameSpot’s Destiny experts. You’ll also find some new images of House of Wolves in the gallery at the bottom of this post.

Keep in mind that today’s Destiny broadcast was primarily focused on The Reef, one of the new social spaces coming to the game. The expansion doesn’t have a new raid, but it will come with a new three-player cooperative arena called Prison of Elders and new Crucible event known as Trials of Osiris.

Bungie will talk more about these new in-game activities through Twitch broadcasts in the coming weeks. For now, here are five major takeaways from today’s Destiny broadcast:

 

1. Legendary armor and weapons can now be upgraded to max level with Etheric Light. Exotics can be upgraded separately without resetting progress.

2. New weapons can be reforged with new perks at Gunsmith. This feature was previously only available in Iron Banner, making the Gunsmith useful again for post-Level 20 players.

3. Speaker has an all purpose material exchange including Ascendant and Radiant materials, Glimmer, and Motes of Light

4. New social space: Vestian Outpost. New NPCs to be introduced include:

  • Petra Venj – Main story agent.
  • Variks – Warden of the Prison of Elders
  • Brother Vance – Trials of Osiris Handler

5. Tons of new ships, weapons, and armor, which should introduce greater player variety. Max level cap raised to at least 34.

The House of Wolves DLC Lets You Reach Light Level 34 From Destiny

The second DLC expansion for Destiny, House of Wolves, will allow players to reach at least light level 34, a fact revealed by a new teaser trailer. Destiny power leveling make you upgrade easy.

The video, which you can watch below, briefly highlights the additions House of Wolves brings with it: a new social space, new characters, and new gear upgrades. We get a glimpse of each of these things, and it’s during that last section that we get a brief look at the character screen, showing a character whose light level is 34.

Following the release of The Dark Below expansion, the cap for light level–the system for leveling up beyond the standard level cap of 20–was bumped up from 30 to 32.

Bungie has yet to formally announce another increase to the light level cap, though it’s been presumed for some time that it would be going up with the next expansion. Then again, many assumed House of Wolves would include a new raid, which it will not.

We don’t know for sure that 34 is the new maximum–it’s possible it could go even higher–but we don’t have long to wait before finding out. Bungie has a livestream set to take place tomorrow, April 22, where it’ll be talking about “the upgrade paths for your gear.” It also has plans to reveal more in the weeks to come, with House of Wolves set to launch on May 19.

Destiny show new challenges burn it all down this week

It’s that wonderful time when Bungie’s regular offering of high-reward Weekly Heroic and Nightfall Strike missions are rebooted (along with any raid progress made in the previous week), giving everyone a fresh chance at scoring some of the game’s sweetest and rarest loot.

Are you new to Destiny? Don’t know what any of this means? Good news! There’s a Destiny wiki that’s packed with information. Click on through for details on what Strikes are, and howNightfall differs from Weekly Heroic challenges.

Taste the rainbow! Destiny fans can’t ask for much more from their weekly challenge reset. There are shorter Strikes than Winter’s Run, which concludes with a knockdown brawl against a towering Archon Priest, but the three-way burn makes everything more fun. Here’s a rundown of this week’s modifiers:

Nightfall

  • Epic – This is a standard Nightfall modifier. It just means there are more enemies to fight, and a greater number of Majors (the yellow health bar dudes) on the field.
  • Nightfall – Another standard Nightfall modifier. This one boots the entire Fireteam back to orbit if everyone is downed inside one of the revive-only respawn Darkness Zones.
  • Arc Burn – Big damage boost for all weapons that deal Arc damage (blue electricity symbol).
  • Solar Burn – Big damage boost for all weapons that deal Solar damage (orange fireball symbol).
  • Void Burn – Big damage boost for all weapons that deal Arc damage (purple swirly symbol).

Weekly Heroic

  • Heroic
  • Void Burn

“Rainbow burn” is a term that Destiny fans use to apply to the rarely appearing Nightfall challenge that has the Arc, Solar and Void Burns attached to it. Where most Nightfall and Weekly Heroic modifiers are designed to make the going tougher, burns are a double-edged situation.

On the one hand, using a weapon bolstered by the specified element — in this week’s case, any of the three — comes with a massive damage boost. On the other, enemies can inflict that much more harm on you when their mode of attack aligns with the burn. So when there’s a rainbow burn, you’re taking a whole lot more damage from virtually everything, but you’re giving as good as you get.

Obviously, this is the week to bring along any of the raid primary weapons that you’ve picked up, since those are the only primaries that apply elemental damage. The Word of Crota hand cannon and/or the Atheon’s Epilogue auto rifle are good picks for Winter’s Run due to the abundance of void-shielded Minotaur enemies. Arc damage is also handy for the final showdown, so dust off the ol’ Fatebringer hand cannon, too.

Destiny: Broadcast To Show New Gear Upgrades And Areas

Now that we know that Destiny’s massively anticipated House of Wolves DLC expansion has an official release date of May 19th 2015, players of the popular multiplayer shooter have been clamouring for some new official information from Bungie. Sitting at just over a month away, the House of Wolves has been a long time coming, or at least it feels that way for Guardians.

To help appease the masses that have been diligently waiting for their next Destiny fix, Bungie have scheduled a Twitch broadcast that will show off a number of the new gear upgrades coming to the game, as well as some of the new areas that until now have only really been seen by glitching your way through certain areas of the game.

The stream will be going live at 11 a.m. Pacific, which is around 2 p.m. Eastern, on Bungie’s official Twitch channel. If you’re interested in the upcoming DLC, then this is a must see stream for sure.

Xur’s Location And Exotic Goods For Weekend From Destiny

Bungie slipped a jukebox into the Tower bar area with the Destiny 1.1.2 update released earlier this week. Naturally, this is where the mysterious Exotic vendor made his appearance Friday morning. Will PlayStation and Xbox players have a reason to dance though?

Xûr can be found in the very back of the bar located underneath the Future War Cult in the hangar this weekend. It’s a long jog, but easy to find. Just turn left when you enter the hanger, go down the stairs to the left, and then straight back. Here’s where you can find him on the Tower map just to be sure though.

Xûr and his items will only be available in Destiny through the morning of Sunday, March 29. As soon as the clock strikes 5 a.m. ET / 2 a.m. PT, he will be gone.

The Exotic items on sale this weekend in Destiny are led by “The Last Word” Hand Cannon. This gun hasn’t been sold often by Xûr, but it is an absolute beast in PVP due to its rapid fire capabilities. Meanwhile, the stat rolls on the Titan and Hunter armor pieces are quite good this week while Warlocks get a frequent visitor with a decent stat roll.

This week’s selection of upgrades is fairly average all around. The Achlyophage Symbiote and Sunbreakers are the only ones with great stat rolls. That said, it may be hard to advise to re-purchase or upgrade any Exotic piece of armor that you currently have with The House of Wolves just a couple of weeks away.

Here is what is available for sale and upgrade from Xûr this weekend. Thanks again to DestinyDB for the Exotic information below.

Purple Ball Has Been “Reborn,” Now in a Different Color

Over on the official Bungie site, the studio announced a HUGE change to Destiny, and that’s the big ball you see in the Tower.

Yep, the Destiny purple ball isn’t as purple now. Here’s what Bungie Technical Artist Nate Hawbaker had to say regarding this game-changing, er, change:

The Purple Ball has been reborn – shinier, more metal, but just as purple in spirit…It has captured the hearts and minds of so many Guardians who visit the Tower in search of their combat wares. We sought to honor their playful rituals by infusing it with the magic that players have clearly assigned to the second most important sphere in the game.

Now, before anyone says it, yes, Bungie is being sarcastic, so don’t spew hate how they seem to be making a big deal out of nothing with the color change.

Here’s what the ball looks like now in case you’re interested:

As for what’s due next after Destiny update 1.1.2, Bungie says update 1.2.0 is the next “destination,” and included in it is the House of Wolves expansion, but it will “impact the experience of every player” regardless if they get the DLC or not.

Have you noticed the ball’s color change? What do you want Bungie to change in the Tower next?

Destiny: The Agent of Nine’s Exotic Items, Times And Location April 17-19

Hey, “Destiny” fans! It’s Friday, and you know what that means. Xur, Agent of the Nine, is back in Bungie’s popular shooter “Destiny.” This week, Xur is in the hangar downstairs.

Check out the Agent of the Nine’s items below:

  • Exotic Engram [Chest armour] – 23Mol
  • Helm of Inmost Light [Exotic Titan helmet] – 13SC
  • Radiant Dance Machines [Exotic Hunter leg armour] – 13SC
  • Voidfang Vestments [Exotic Warlock chest armour] – 13SC
  • The Last Word [Exotic hand cannon] – 23SC
  • Exotic Shard – 7SC

This week, players can upgrade the following armour — Crest of the Alpha Lupi, The Armamentarium, Sunbreakers, Heart of the Praxic Fire, Knucklehead Radar and Achlyophage Symbiote.

Hard Light, Red Death, Thorn, Patience and Time, Plan C, Hawkmoon and SUROS Regime are the upgradeable weapons.

Meanwhile, Bungie is preparing for the upcoming “Destiny” downloadable content (DLC) expansion pack, “House of Wolves,” which is scheduled to reach the Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 on May 19, four months after the game’s first expansion, “The Dark Below.” Publisher Activision confirmed the release date in a news release earlier this week.

“Destiny” booked a record for most initial sales in the first 24 hours of a franchise debut. The online action title went on sale last September and Bungie sold $500 million worth of the game to retailers within two days, making it the largest new game franchise launch in history. Activision Blizzard Inc. CEO Bobby Kotick claimed the sales figure was an “industry milestone” that “marks another blockbuster success for our company and demonstrates our unique ability to create some of the most successful entertainment franchises in the world.”

Two Social Spaces Unearthed By Data Miners

Destiny data miners have dug their way into Update 1.1.2 and unearthed plans for two new social spaces.

 This information became available thanks to Reddit user ShdwFlm. It was already covered previously on IGN that the new expansion, House of Wolves, would have a new social space in the Reef. That social space now has a name: Queen’s Bay. At Queen’s Bay you will collect Reef bounties and get involved with the new The Prison of Elders and Trials of Osiris activities.

Along with this was discovered an entirely new social space called Halls of Amentet. This requires experience in Trials of Osiris and it could potentially be a small, three-player social hub.

 A new strike called The Shadow Thief takes place on the moon. This mission requires players to board the Ketch of a mercenary named Taniks-Syn to eliminate him and his strike force. Also brought up to the surface was three new story missions, three new quests, and one new raid where Guardian Fireteams will fight against the solar system’s deadliest enemies in The Prison of Elders.

House of Wolves will include three new player versus player maps: The Timekeeper, Thieves’ Den, and Widow’s Court. However, the data miners found a reference to two more called Black Shield and MM Test Factory. Black Shield will be set at Firebase Thuri on Phobos, one of Mars’ moons. MM Test Factory is described as being for testing purposes only.

Lastly, an Exotic class ship schematic called Manus Celer Dei has been unveiled among the 46 new ship schematics.