Activation of House of Wolves from Destiny

On Wednesday, Bungie released Destiny update 1.2.0, which took the game offline for a few hours and prepared it for House of Wolves later this month, but the changes didn’t go live yet.

In their Weekly Update, Bungie revealed that update 1.2.0 goes live on May 12, while another update on May 19 will set the stage for House of Wolves‘ activation:

Update 1.2.0

  • Tuesday, May 12
  • Sometime after 10am PT
  • Final preparation and world changes

Update 1.2.0.1

  • Tuesday, May 19
  • Sometime after 10am PT
  • Final delivery and activation of House of Wolves

They also warned about the supposed patch notes floating around, saying, “As always, keep an eye out for official Patch Notes. The last word on game updates will be brought to you by the Destiny Dev Team. Accept no substitutes!” If you’re thinking of picking up either of the Destiny expansions on PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360, Bungie revealed that their Digital Upgrade Program has been extended indefinitely:

Many players have benefited from this initiative since it began. To enable more people to take advantage of this offering, it will be extended indefinitely. Please note that this extended offer is only for the Expansion Pass, Expansion I, and Expansion II. For our fans who will be entering the Destiny universe on PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 we have some great news! For a limited time, whenever you buy the Expansion Pass, Expansion I, or Expansion II on PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360, you will be able to download the next-gen version within the same console family for FREE.

Finally, Bungie’s fundraising effort to support disaster recovery in Nepal has reached $400,000. You can learn more about the initiative over here.

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.

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.”

Destiny 2 Release Date, News, and Rumors, Expansion House of Wolves

The popular game Destiny has had a lot of success with their initial release and their expansion of The Dark Below.  They will have another expansion this summer with House of Wolves, not to mention the high anticipation of Destiny 2.  Here is what we know of the release date, news, and rumors.

 While word of Destiny 2 is scarce at best, there is word about Destiny next expansion, House of Wolves.  According to Gamespot, a Bungie Weekly Update blog post has revealed that “this month, there will come a day when we’ll reveal a release date for the trials that await you, with a whole reef of details soon to follow-but it is not this day”.

However, Gamespot also reports that there is already a massive leak saying that House of Wolves will launch on May 19th, but the official word that House of Wolves will probably launch by the end of June.

The new expansion pack is a follow-up to last December’s The Dark Below.  House of Wolves plans to contain three new Crucible maps, a new Fallen Strike, a new Awoken storyline plus an exclusive raid, as well as hundreds of new weapons, armor, and gear.

“Most of the time, this is awesome. When someone is willing to put in the time as a Raid sherpa, a clan leader, or a forum moderator, we all benefit and Destiny comes a little bit closer to its potential as a shared world.”

Community Manager David Dague also announced that fans are set to find out the release date of House of Wolves later this month.

Destiny Share Update Sees Raid Fixes, Strike Improvements and More

Bungie recently released some important details for the “Destiny” upcoming Patch 1.1.2. Slated to be released alongside the game’s upcoming second expansion, House of Wolves, the said update will see changes on raids, Destiny power leveling make you upgrade easy, strikes and improvements on player usage.

As pointed out in the studio’s official update blog site, the next upgrade will bring in the needed fixes for the Atheon and Crota Raid bugs.

“In 1.1.2, we have an opportunity to make some targeted fixes. We prioritized a list of items based on community feedback and tried to hit the ones that have been the most important to players. In particular, we wanted to improve the Atheon and Crota boss encounters. They’re challenging enough without the game getting in your way,” senior designer Gavin Irby told Bungie.net.

More details about the Raid bug fixes will be provided when the Update Notes for Patch 1.1.2 is released, the site said.

The upgrade will also bring some Strike fixes which is said to improve the strikes gameplay. The blog cited User Research Lead, John Hopson particularly addressing the Cerberus Vae III Strike which, as he said, is “arguably the longest and hardest Strike in the Game.”

To answer the problem, production engineer Brenton Woodrow said that their goal now is to “ease up” on the difficulty of the strike.

“Our goal was to ease the difficulty for the least-completed strikes. In order to do this, we focused on the final boss encounters, which were fairly lengthy on higher tiers. We addressed this by reducing the strength for several of the major combatants,” Woodrow said.

Bungie will also begin handing out punishments to players who idle around during matchmaking activities.

“Sitting idle in Strikes and PvP has been on our radar for a while now, but it’s become clear that a small number of the worst idlers are responsible for damaging the experiences of thousands of other players,” Hopson said.

The site clarified the premise of the punishment by saying that only those “truly dedicated idlers” are to be reprimanded by “temporarily banning” them from the multiplayer activities.

Destiny: Vault space and Raid fixes

In its weekly blog update about Destiny Patch 1.1.2, Bungie has said that it will be addressing a number of player concerns in the future update, including more Vault space and Raid fixes, to further improve the game.

Earlier this week, Bungie had released a 1.1.1.1 hotfix patch to Destiny that was meant only for back end improvements to help the game’s developers monitor the game. Bungie will be releasing the next patch, Destiny Patch 1.1.2 sometime in the next several weeks, ahead of the launch of The House of Wolves expansion pack.

In the latest blog update, design lead M.E. Chung has discussed how the team identifies the improvements and features that need to be added in their updates. After listening to their community feedback and brainstorming with the research team, Bungee follows a process for selecting and developing new features for its updates. Apparently, time constraints allow the developer to limit the number of features and fixes they can work on for the update.

Bungee has not provided any clear details on what can be expected in the Destiny 1.1.2 update, though it has listed these five features as a priority on its blog:

Vault Space – We know you need more space to collect all the treasures you gain from your missions, and more gear is on the way.

Raid Fixes – There are times when Atheon and Crota can be uncooperative, so we’re tackling their worst bugs.

Destiny: Iron Banner offers multiple buffs an Armour Shader

This week in Destiny marks the return of the fabled Iron Banner PvP playlist, which in turn brings with it a series of armour pieces and weapons that have Raid-level stats – a must-have for any player looking to expand their current inventory. What follows is a guide in order to avoid grinding your hours away, and tips on how to quickly reach Rank 5 to get the best gear.

Personal Destiny power leveling, plus some helpful tables from Reddit, suggest that the best way to complete the Iron Banner is to spread your hours of playtime evenly across the week in which it’s available. This piece of information is, of course, a no-brainer; but it’s the math behind it that’s interesting.

Destiny‘s Iron Banner offers multiple buffs – an Armour Shader, an Emblem, a Class-item, a purchasable ‘Tempered Buff’, and a multiplier for every day it’s available. Basically, if you equip all these and play later in the week, you’ll rack up experience faster than you will earlier. The trick is knowing when to play, and for how long.

Just as a start: The best method to achieve Rank 5 is to either play 1 hour per day for the whole week; or 2 hours per day over the last 4 days.

The following table, as provided by Reddit user GenericDeadHead, offers stats based on the following variables:

  • You play 6 matches per day
  • You have the Shader, Emblem, and Class-item equipped
  • You have the Tempered Buff
  • You win 50% of your matches
  • You turn in 3 Bounties per day

Although it may look confusing at first glance, the data shows that if you play roughly 6 games of Iron Banner per day, with all the buffs active while winning at least half of your games, you will achieve Rank 5 by the end of the week. The chart shows how much Rep you gain from handing in your Bounties and winning your games for each day, and shows how far along that gets you towards each rank.

If you aren’t available earlier in the week, or you need to catch up on lost time, there’s another chart to calculate how long you need for the last 4 days of the week.

The following table offers stats based on the following variables:

  • You play 10 matches per day
  • You have the Shader, Emblem Class-item equipped
  • You have the Tempered buff each day
  • You win 50% of your matches
  • You turn in 4 Bounties per day

 

This chart shows that, by starting on Friday, you only need to put in an extra 4 games per day on average, and you should be able to hit Rank 5 by the day before reset.

All of this information is based on the variables presented, and is certainly up for change depending on how many of the buffs you have, or how many games you win/lose. Ultimately, it provides a guide to how many games you should be playing per day, so as to avoid mindless grinding.

Xur’s Location And Exotic Goods For Weekend Of March 13 From Destiny

Destiny players who need to keep their health up should check out the wares being sold by Xûr, Agent of the Nine, this weekend. The mysterious vendor has returned to the Tower, and PlayStation and Xbox owners can grab the Red Death Exotic Pulse Rifle.

Those looking for Xûr should run straight ahead towards the Vanguard hall after spawning in the Tower. He is located to the right of the table that the three Vanguards are standing at, against the wall. Here’s where you can find him on the Tower map, just to be sure.

Xûr and his items will only be available in Destiny through the morning of Sunday, March 15. As soon as the clock strikes 5 a.m. ET / 2 a.m. PT, he will be gone.

The Red Death tops the interest charts this week, as it is one of the rare times the Pulse Rifle has been sold. The combination of its utility for the Crota’s End raid and the boost that all Pulse Rifles received in the recent Destiny 1.1.1 patch make this a can’t-miss purchase for those that don’t have one.

The upgrades are worth checking out this week as well. Mask of the Third Man, Helm of Saint-14, Light Beyond Nemesis, and Lucky Raspberry all have good to excellent stat rolls. Unfortunately, the stats on the armor items for sale are poor to average. The good news is that Xûr is selling an Exotic Helmet Engram for anyone that wants to take a chance there.

And, yes, Heavy Weapon Ammo Synthesis packs are available.

For those wondering what to get, here are a few helpful hints.

The Red Death perk is a crucial weapon in the toughest PVE encounters like Crota’s End simply because of the perk that carries the same name. This perks fully regenerates player health after each kill. The Unflinching perk also makes this a great weapon for PVP, as it helps you keep your aim steady while you’re being shot.

The Insurmountable Skullfort is the other helmet available for Striker Titans in Destiny. And by other, I mean you only want to pick it up if you don’t have the other Exotic Titan helmets or chest plates available. It is geared toward health regeneration with the Infusion perk that replenishes health when picking up Orbs. Meanwhile, the Improved Transfusion perk regenerates health when killing enemies with the Fist of Havoc. Not bad to have for the final encounter in the Crota’s End raid, but not as useful as other Exotics like Helm of Saint-14, Inmost Most, or Armamentarium.

The 108 Discipline stat roll is very average, making the Insurmountable Skullfort easier to pass on this week.

Knucklehead Radar is unique in Destiny, as it allows the radar to stay up when any Hunters sub-class uses any primary weapon. That’s something you’ll have to decide if it is worth it, as some players swear by it while others don’t feel the perk adds many benefits when there are already several weapons that come with the perk.

The 105 Strength stat is just as average as the stats on the Insurmountable Skullfort.

Claws of Ahamkara are the other Warlock Exotic gauntlets in Destiny, and can be used with either sub-class. The Whispers perk allows for two fully-powered melee attacks, and the Snap Discharge perk increases melee attack speed. If you want to build a melee-powered Warlock, these gauntlets are for you.

The split 55 Discipline and 60 Strength stat roll is above average for these gauntlets. Xûr has sold these at a higher stat roll only one other time, so they may be worth a look if you’re a Warlock who likes to punch.

House of Wolves DLC Might Arrive in May From Destiny

Bungie’s Destiny has become an unprecedented success for the company despite several issues that have arisen since launch. Given that many gamers expected a sprawling space epic, akin to Borderlands meets Halo, the low amount of content has been a major issue.

 This was somewhat mitigated with The Dark Below expansion but for a $20 DLC, it included one new Raid, a few new Exotics, three new Story missions, one new Strike, three new PvP maps and an increased Light level cap (not to mention periodic Nightfalls and Weeklies that can only be played if you have the DLC). While this sounds good on paper, it pales in comparison to what other MMO-like games have offered. So what’s coming next?

GamingBolt recently spoke to Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter about his thoughts on the same. Activision has already confirmed that a sequel will be happening but what has Pachter heard regarding other future plans for Destiny, especially the major content update rumoured to be happening in Fall?

 “You know, Activision’s management told me that they’re – they and Bungie – are trying to keep Destiny’s revenues about flat every year this year and going forward every year until Destiny 2 comes out. It’s going to be more than just map packs and levelling up. This major content drop is going to be more like a World of WarCraft expansion, so probably more like a $40 ten level cap change as opposed to a $20 two level cap change. That’s really what they intend to do.”

Pachter also said he’s unsure about the frequency of the $20 expansions but that there may be at least a four month gap between each one. “I don’t know how frequently we’re going to see the $20 versions, but my guess is that you’ll see two $20 expansions and one $40 expansion each year, so kind of pace it out that way. Every four months, you get something like that. So I think that the goal is to keep that 3.5 to 5.5 million daily active player group spending $60 to $80 a year.

“Maybe you can sell the $40 expansion and one $20 expansion to each of them. That’s like selling them a new game every year, and Destiny maybe ends up generating 5 million units at $60. I think that’s their plan, and I think if you really like Destiny, that’s just like buying Call of Duty every year. That’s not that big a deal.

“I don’t think Destiny is ever going to be as big as Call of Duty, but I think the plan is, as people get next gen consoles – there were 3.5 million daily active players back in November, they said it was higher now, my guess is 5, like I said – and I think their goal is by year end it’s 7. And by year end ‘16, it’s 9, and then by year end ‘17 it’s 11, and then the next Destiny sells 20 million copies and then they start again.”

 This isn’t exactly a new business plan that Bungie and Activision stumbled upon. EA has been selling games as a service for quite some time now with FIFA’s Ultimate Team mode. “You know, I think that it’s a smart and new business model.

I mean, it’s essentially taking the MMO subscription model and turning it into a pay-as-you-go for content model, and it might work. I think it’s an interesting new business model. You’ll hear all the publishers talk about something called “games as a service”, essentially that means subscription games. They would really love to morph into that, but none of them wants to give up that $60 initial sale.

So FIFA Ultimate Team is that. They keep selling you stuff but you need to buy the game in order to play it. Destiny is that, it’s just that the stuff that they’re selling you is in a big package that costs $20 or $40.

Destiny Needs to Evolve in These 3 Ways for True Success

Destiny

Destiny. Some love it. Some hate it. But whatever you think about it, it’scommercial success can’t be ignored. And that’s the pity, really. Because the game could have been so, so, so much better.

Many complaints have been made. Most of these echo the same few points. But for Destiny to have been the rock ‘em sock ‘em hit it aspired to be, these qualities needed to be at the top of their game.

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