Category: Destiny Glimmer

Will Be Improved Before House Of Wolves’ Launch

Destiny’s player-versus-player activities are going to be much more tempting soon. Bungie plans to boost the rewards for Crucible matches prior to the House of Wolves expansion’s debut.

 “Shortly before the hunt for the House of Wolves begins on May 19th, all players will download Update 1.2.0 for Destiny power leveling,” Bungie’s David Dague said in the latest Weekly Update. “It will be another evolution for the experience you know.”

When Update 1.2 goes live, Legendary items will become possible end-of-match rewards in the Crucible. Furthermore, you’ll earn twice the usual Reputation and Marks at the end of a match. The first time you finish a daily feature Crucible activity each day, you’ll get a reward package. The changes should hopefully encourage players to push through a losing battle and stay until the end rather than quitting.

Iron Banner will be undergoing a couple changes as well. Spawn locking, an exploit that allows one team to essentially delay the respawns for their enemies, will be fixed. Furthermore, Iron Banner vendor Lord Saladin will begin selling Etheric Light. This new currency, available at Rank 3 and 5 in Iron Banner, allows players to upgrade any Legendary or Exotic weapon to the new damage cap of 365. It’s a way for players to keep their old favorites relevant even as Bungie adds newer loot in House of Wolves.

Lastly, three maps (“Pantheon,” “Skyshock,” “The Cauldron”) from previous expansion pack The Dark Below will be made available to all players. You’ll encounter them in the rotation for “select playlists” that weren’t announced just yet.

“As always, the full suite of changes will be itemized and scrutinized in the Patch Notes,” Dague said. “We’ll set your expectations for the exact date when all these changes arrive as it draws nearer.”

Destiny’s House of Wolves expansion will bring a number of other big changes for the Crucible. The largest is the new weekend activity Trials of Osiris, designed for teams of three. In Trials, teams will face off against each other in a new Elimination mode. They’ll keep going until they hit nine wins or three losses. A team’s final record during a Trials run will determine what kind of rewards they can purchase from new vendor Brother Vance. In addition to new equipment, Vance will sell consumables that make it easier for players to improve their record. For example, the Favor of Osiris adds a win to the team’s Trials run.

The expansion also enhances the usual Crucible modes with three new maps: “Black Shield,” “Thieves’ Den” and “Widow’s Court.” PS3 and PS4 owners will have exclusive access to a fourth map called “Timekeeper.”

House of Wolves will make some changes to currencies as well. Commendations will no longer be needed for buying Legendaries. You can burn your remaining supply off for bonus Reputation. Players will have  plenty of new currencies to gather, though.

Bungie Accidentally Nerfs Black Hammer And Fix Incoming From Destiny

 Gamers don’t need to go far to know that Destiny is among the most divisive games around; the title’s struggles are well documented. Moreover, no matter what Bungie tries to fix with their new game, it’s often the case that they end up turning yet another gamer off in the process.

Such was the case this month when Destiny released their 1.1.2 update. In it, Bungie included a handful of useful features, including increased vault space and some very important fixes for the game’s raid bosses.

But hidden among those “good” changes was yet another unexpected one. See, Bungie tried to make a change to the Black Hammer sniper rifle in Destiny, but they ended up breaking the gun (slightly) in the process. Today, the developer acknowledged the problem and vowed to fix it.

“Additionally, we are aware that the White Nail perk is not activating when targeting Fallen Walker legs. We apologize for the inconvenience. “

Any high level player should be plenty familiar with the Black Hammer. It’s a Legendary sniper rifle that only drops once a player defeats Crota in the Crota’s End raid on Normal difficulty. What makes Black Hammer truly special is its White Nail upgrade, which replenishes the gun’s 3-bullet clip any time they land 3 consecutive precision hits.

Now, in most cases the White Nail upgrade made Black Hammer a godsend – a high level sniper rifle with a seemingly endless supply of ammo. However, when the gun first launched it had some problems; specifically, the gun’s increased damage against Hive enemies made it so the While Nail upgrade didn’t trigger against them. So, the gun that came from defeating a Hive god, and that was supposed to make the Hive-centric Crota’s End raid easier, was made practically useless against those enemies.

 Luckily, it wasn’t too long before Destiny fixed the problem simply by turning the Hive damage off. At the very least it made the sniper rifle more useful. That is, before the latest Destiny update hit.

With said update, Bungie was hoping to nerf a specific part of the Black Hammer’s White Nail upgrade that let ‘Immune’ damage count as precision hits. In essence, players could hit a precision shot and then put two shots into an immune target and still refill their ammo. This was a particularly useful trick with the Fallen Walker, whose massive legs double as precision spots and immune spots depending on whether the Destiny tank is vulnerable or not. It was basically an exploit that Bungie wanted to get rid off.

By doing that, however, Bungie ended up making it so the Walker’s legs no longer counted as precision spots for the Black Hammer either. As a result, any player using the Black Hammer against the tank saw no White Nail perk and ran out of ammo quickly.

There’s no word from Bungie as far as when a fix for the problem might arrive, but the good news is they are aware and looking into it. The bad news is that this isn’t the first time Bungie has tried to change something in Destiny and broken something else in the process.

 For that matter, why they even needed to address such a small issue when so many other problems are left unchecked is just one of the reasons many deride Bungie and Destiny. They focus on taking away from players more than giving to them. That will hopefully change when the House of Wolves DLC hits on May 19th, bringing with it a new social space and cooperative experience called Prison of Elders. At least we hope…

Did you notice this problem with the Black Hammer sniper rifle? Are there any issues like this that Bungie needs to fix in Destiny ASAP?

Destiny: New Crucible Maps/Trials of Osiris and Elimination Mode

Last week, Bungie revealed details about The Reef, Destiny power leveling new social space in the upcoming House of Wolves expansion. As part of this week’s continuation of coverage, the developer discussed additions coming to Destiny’s PvP during a livestream presentation today. GameSpot went hands-on with the content last week and here’s the full rundown on what to expect.

One big point of contention for House of Wolves when it was announced was the lack of a new raid. But one thing that Bungie will be adding to help ease the pain of that omission will be The Trials of Osiris. This new end-game PvP activity will run every week from Friday to Tuesday. Trials of Osiris will be based on a new 3v3 mode called Elimination where two teams of three face off in a deathmatch. You’ll be able to revive your teammates in this mode, and the first team to win five rounds wins the match. In order to help players focus their strategies, there will only be one map available per week.

 In order to enter the Trials of Osiris you will need a Trials Passage. You’ll be able to earn some by accepting quests that involve talking to NPCs on the Reef. But after that’s completed, Trials Passages will cost 100 Glimmer each. In addition to earning you admittance into Osiris, the Trials Passage tracks your wins and losses. Once you lose three times, that specific Trials Passage is done and you can turn it in. Your package rewards are based on the total number of wins you accumulate.

Here are the rewards in Trials of Osiris:

  • Two to three wins — A blue package that can contain Motes of Light, Passage Coins, and other items
  • Five wins — Ability to purchase the weekly armor
  • Six wins — A legendary package
  • Seven wins — Ability to purchase the weekly weapon
  • Eight wins — Ability to buy a legendary package (Bungie did not disclose the packages rewards, but they did mention that it will not contain Exotics or Trials of Osiris armor)

The rewards are cumulative. So, for example, if you garner seven wins, you’ll be able to purchase the weekly weapon and you’ll also earn every lesser reward.

If you start off poorly or if you just want to begin a fresh card with a new team, you can discard your Trials Passage at any time. Brother Vance sells consumables that will help you get more wins and negate some losses. These items cost Passage Coins that you will receive as rewards from the Crucible and other places. Passage Coins are a new currency coming to the game that can be used to buy consumables from Trials of Osiris NPC Brother Vance.

Trials of Osiris will contain two sets of armor. The better set will be gated through Crucible wins, whereas the other set will be randomly dropped after matches.

As a sidenote, you’ll want to make sure to do Iron Banner when its available, because at Rank 3 and Rank 5 you can earn an Etheric Light to Ascend your gear.

The Dark Below Crucible maps will become free for everyone once House of Wolves releases on May 19. A Bungie representative at the preview event said, “All the Dark Below maps are going into the regular playlist for everybody. If you just have Destiny with no expansion packs, you’ll be able to play.”

The four new Crucible maps coming to the expansion are all small- to medium-sized maps with no vehicles. However, only three of the maps will come to both Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

  • Thieves Den — Fallen hideout located on Venus. It has a broken down walker, a docked ship, and multiple caves to run through.
  • Widow’s Court — An asymmetrical map with both long lines of sight and tight interiors. Set in a European Dead Zone on Earth.
  • Black Shield — A decommissioned Firebase believed to be used by the Cabal on Mars as a war base.

The only PlayStation exclusive for House of Wolves will be a Crucible map called Time Keeper. Focused around a mysterious, clockwork-like structure on Mars built by the Vex, this map has the most verticality and the most open space to run around in.

To encourage all players to spend more time in the Crucible on Xbox One and PS4, Bungie is going to increase the rewards you get for participating in the mode:

  • Earn double Marks
  • Earn double reputation
  • Increased number of Engrams rewarded after each match
  • Completing the daily Crucible missions will net you a reward pack containing Motes of Light, Passage Coins, or other items

On May 6 we’ll have more information about the upcoming PvE additions for House of Wolves when Bungie hosts its final livestream prior to the expansion’s release. House of Wolves will cost $20 as standalone content, but it’s also included with Destiny’s $35 Expansion Pass.

The weekly reset challenges you to silence a horrible from Destiny

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

For the second week in a row, Destiny fans enjoy the full rainbow burn for their weekly Nightfall. It’s a mixed blessing, however, as they’re paired with the tough and lengthy “Will of Crota” Strike. Not just that, but the Fallen and Hive enemies scattered throughout the mission bring the full range of elemental attacks. That means it’s more important than ever to hang back and steer clear of incoming fire while making the most of opportunities when they present themselves.

Here’s a rundown of the modifiers for this week:

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
  • Solar Burn

Before you get started, there are a few things to know about Will of Crota. First: you’re going to need to own Destiny’s first expansion pack, The Dark Below. This Strike is part of that add-on, and there’s no way to participate in the weekly challenges without it.

What’s more, you’ll need to have finished The Dark Below’s first three story missions before you can dive in with Will of Crota. You can always hop into a friend’s game if they have it unlocked, but you can’t host a Nightfall of your own or jump into Weekly Heroic matchmaking until you complete most of The Dark Below’s story.

For the first part of the Strike, a wave-based showdown with Fallen (and Hive) forces, use the small room that you enter the larger chamber from as a home base, withdrawing down the steps that first led you to the encounter when necessary. Take potshots when you can and bait melee enemies into the home base room, but don’t venture too far into the larger room.

The next phase of the Strike is relatively easy; just equip your best long-range weapons and fire out the wide door of the large control room that you can first spot enemies from. Beware of Shanks (the flying drone enemies) occasionally spawning in behind you and press forward only when Fallen forces stop rushing you.

Will of Crota’s final phase is broken into three parts. For the first two, just hang back and let things come to you. It’s a little slow-going, but the Hive tend to swarm in and they can easily catch a bolder group of players unaware.

For the final phase — your battle against the boss wizard, Omnigul — stick to the small room that opens into her chamber and chip away at her health from there. There’s danger from all sides, as Hive swarm through the two main doors leading into Omnigul’s chamber and exploding Cursed Thralls occasionally spawn from the inaccessible door in the base room. As with the rest of this Strike, patience is key.

New Weapons Upgrade Mechanics and Social Space Revealed From Destiny

“Destiny” game developer, Bungie, has revealed more details about its upcoming DLC “House of Wolves.” The upcoming DLC pack promises something that will “change the way the game is played” according to a report in Tech Times.

The report says that the coming expansion back is supposedly “built around players who have already conquered the game” and this is further confirmed by a recent announcement by Bungie about the game’s new Social Space called The Queen’s Bay.

A screen grab from the video game Destiny. Activision Blizzard Inc intends to spend 0 million developing and promoting Destiny, potentially breaking industry records as it seeks to build the sci-fi role-playing videogame into its next multibillion-dollar franchise.

The Queen’s Bay is located within the Reef where most of the action will take place in the new DLC pack. This Social Space however is not just available for those who have the expansion pack but is also available for other players who want to access it. It is however considered the player hub for the “House of Wolves” expansion.

It is manned by a character named Petra, who is the new Bounty Tracker and Story Agent. She acts as the player’s main contact in the area and assigns new Story Quests and hands out bounties for “House of Wolves.”

According to the report, the Queen’s Bay is also populated with shops who have new gear, weapons, shaders and ship schematics. It was not mentioned how players can access these however. The good news is even if players are at the Queen’s Bay, they can still have access to the facilities in the Tower, namely the Cryptarch, Vault and Bounty Trackers.

Part of the expansion pack’s new feature is that ability of the Tower’s gunsmith to re-forge weapons, giving players a chance to make the perfect weapon. This however comes with a price every time you have the gunsmith re-forge your weapon.

The report also cited other details shared by Bungie, such as raising the Light level cap increase to 34 such that players will be able to access all the game’s new Social Spaces without the expansion or Season pass. One last detail confirmed was the new “Prison of Elders” mode which is not simply a “simpler tower defense-style co-op mode” which will change on a week-to-week basis.

Bungie intends to reveal additional details this week. The “House of Wolves” expansion pack will be released on May 19.

New stores opening at USA from Destiny

Syracuse, N.Y. — Lots of tenants are shifting spots at Destiny USA and a few new stores are set to open.

Here’s an update:

On the new tenant front, work is coming along on Nordstrom Rack. Rack, Nordstrom’s off-price unit, is set to take up a huge chunk of space on the first level of Destiny’s expansion section.

The barricades for the 33,000-square-foot store extend almost the entire length of one side of the corridor just off the Canyon. The retailer is swallowing up space once occupied by Tod’s, which has closed, and Puma, along with some previously vacant space.

Puma moved and is now located in the spot that was home to Hickey Freeman until it closed earlier this year. Rack will be across from a number of Destiny’s high-end outlets including Armani, Salvatore Ferragamo and Brooks Brothers.

It’s set to open this fall.

Construction barricades are still up for Jared The Galleria too. It’ll be right near Rack’s new store on the expansion’s first level. Also coming soon at Destiny is Threads, a men’s and women’s fashion and accessories store that will be located where Envy U and XSRE were on the second level of the expansion.

Via Roma, a menswear retailer, is set to open on the second level of the mall’s older section where Cortefiel was located before it closed. That’s between Ann Taylor and the Apple store. You know Deb, the mall stalwart, is out of business. But its space at Destiny wasn’t empty long. Lane Bryant is moving in temporarily.

Lane Bryant’s old location just down the hall is getting a facelift, which should wrap up by the end of June. The store will open in the temporary space Wednesday. Also on the move is Cooperstown Connection. It’s moving to the former location of Ecko Unltd. on the expansion’s second level. That’s down the hall from its old spot near Chico’s.

And Guitar Outlet moved from the expansion to the former location of Ruum, the childrenswear store, on the first level of Destiny’s older section. No info from the mall yet on plans for the old Cooperstown and Guitar Outlet locations.

Two more: There’s a new retailer, New York Fashions, open in the second-level connector between the mall’s old and new sections on the Lord & Taylor side. And Toys R Us Express is opening soon on the second level of the older section near Banana Republic.

Destiny Share Iron Banner Returning On April 28th

Destiny’s Iron Banner event is much loved by the game’s community which is why it’s not surprising to see it return after a brief time out. It has been confirmed today when this PvP event returns next. Fortunately Destiny fans don’t have to wait for too long because they will be able to take part in the Iron Banner event in just a couple of days.

Bungie brings back the Iron Banner PvP event after every few weeks and sure enough the community is always ready for it, rather they’re anxiously waiting for it to return. There’s no doubt in the fact that Destiny fans will be excited to see Iron Banner return next week.

The developer of this popular title confirmed today that Iron Banner will return next week after Destiny’s weekly reset in the coming days. The event was actually supposed to arrive this week but it was delayed due to recent Crucible changes implemented with patch 1.1.2.

All new rules for ammo introduced with patch 1.1.2 will apply to the Iron Banner event as well so do keep that in mind once you’re down to play next week. Iron Banner goes live on April 28th at 10am PST.

Those who are willing to play it should keep in mind that they won’t be able to access it from inside the Crucible menu, rather it will appear on the left side next to featured activities.

Iron Banner Returns Next Week, New Gear Rewards Revealed From Destiny

Destiny’s limited time PvP Iron Banner event will return this coming Tuesday, April 28, developer Bungie has announced as part of the latest Bungie Weekly Update

The event kicks off that day at 10 AM PDT / 1 PM EDT / 6 PM UK. Bungie explained that it previously expected the Iron Banner to return this week, but changes made to Destiny’s Crucible multiplayer mode through the 1.1.2 update led the developer to push the event back a week.

Bungie also notes that, due to a “navigation bug,” the only way players will be able to access Iron Banner next week is by selecting it through Destiny’s main Director menu, not inside the Crucible mode itself. It will show up there on the left side of the screen as a “Featured” activity.

Finally, Bungie announced the special gear you can earn for completing the event. This includes three new helmets, which you can see below.

In other recent Destiny news, Bungie recently announced loads of details about the game’s upcoming House of Wolves expansion. The developer has also outlined changes to the game’s Commendations system.

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.”