Destiny 2 TWAB: Season of the Deep Preview and New Aspects!

In this week’s Destiny 2 Twab, we have huge news about the three new aspects and a preview for season 21 – the season of the Deep.

Destiny 2 TWAB: Season of the Deep Preview and New Aspects!

Read on to learn more about what’s coming in Destiny 2, or check out the original post at Bungie.

THIS WEEK AT BUNGIE – 05/18/2023

This Week at Bungie, we are saying goodbye to Season of Defiance and welcoming Season of the Deep! In other words, it’s the last week of the Season and we have tons of new content dropping in less than five days. So, let’s start on the right foot recalling what we talked about last week, shall we?

Last week topics:

A preview of Season 21 armor and weapons.
How the second week of Guardian Games went.
We teased the new dungeon.
Eververse got a storefront update.

And now, what’s on the menu for today:

An overview of all major changes coming with Season 21.
A first look at the three new Strand Aspects.
An in-depth preview of the Seasonal Artifact.
An update to how enemy shields look.
A note from the Engineering Team.
Updated standings of the Guardian Games and Guardian Games Cup.
Introducing Asians@Bungie!
The new Twitch Bounty emblem.

Now that you all know what’s coming, let’s scuba dive into the TWAB, shall we?

A TL;DR LIST OF SEASON 21 CHANGES

With Season of the Deep almost upon us, and with all the information we have already shared about it, some of you might need a refresher. Worry not, we are here to help.

ECONOMY UPDATES

Economy might sound boring at first, but when you start noticing how many things in the game depend on it… well, you start paying more attention to how it fluctuates. At the start of Season 21, we will have several updates to Destiny 2 economy. You can read in detail about them on the May 4 TWAB, but here’s a recap of the major changes:

Rahool Exotic Engram Focusing: you can decrypt or focus Exotic engrams, with Tier 1 and Tier 2 options.
Weapon Deepsight activation: there’s a new currency called Deepsight Harmonizer.
Changes to crafting costs: Legendary Shards are no longer required.

WEAPON SANDBOX TUNING

During Season 20, we introduced a lot of changes to weapons, as well as special reticles that better represent the perks and different firing patterns that some of them have. We are doubling down on that for Season 21, with more informative and more visible reticles at high field of view (FOV) for Fusion Rifles, Hand Cannons, Sidearms and Trace Rifles, as well as special ones for several Exotics, like Devil’s Ruin’s charged shot or Lumina’s Noble Rounds.

There are also some Exotic weapons buffs (Worldline Zero is back), reworks (Salvation’s Grip), some nerfs (Thunderlord was cheating a bit) and some damages fixes (Winterbite was scolded). And of course, there’s also adjustments to some Legendary archetypes and perks. You can read all about it in the weapon preview article that went live yesterday.

ABILITIES TUNING

For abilities, the best you can do is go and read the preview article we published on May 3. Lots of buffs for Supers on PvE, more Fragments slots for several Aspects, improved melees for Strand as well as lower cooldowns for Grapple, a few buffs to Stasis, and a long, very long etcetera.

EXOTIC ARMOR TUNING

Same story as with abilities. We have an in-depth article about the changes coming to more than 20 Exotic armor pieces. There are some big buffs in there, as well as complete reworks and a few nerfs to bring some outliers into line.

QUALITY OF LIFE IMPROVEMENTS

We are also introducing several Quality of Life (QoL) updates in Season 21. Here’s a list of them, with further details available in the May 4 TWAB.

New Vanguard bounties.
Finest Matterweave and Rainmaker can now be consumed to earn the associated material.
Good Boy Protocol coming back to the Tower.
Certain Triumphs now boost the raid Exotic drop rate in The Last Wish, Deepstone Crypt, Vow of the Disciple, Vault of Glass, and Kingsfall. And they are retroactive.

CRUCIBLE UPDATES

In addition to bringing the classic Meltdown PvP map into rotation, we are making several changes and updates to how Trials of Osiris will work in Season 21. Our intention is to make a more rewarding game mode without taking away the challenge.

Flawless Pool is being replaced by the new Practice Pool and Challenger Pool.
There’s a new Trials quest for new players.
Some Trials passages have been adjusted to provide a better experience.
Elimination is out and Dominion will be the core game mode for Trials.
Gilding the Flawless Seal has new requirements.

There’s plenty of information about it in the May 4 TWAB in case you want more.

THREE NEW OUT-STRANDING ASPECTS

At the beginning of Destiny 2 TWAB, we mentioned that we have three New Aspects in this Season of the Deep Preview! Just two weeks ago, we teased the new Aspects coming to Strand in Season 21 as part of a new quest in which Lightfall owners will learn more about the Veil in Neomuna and earn a new Legendary weapon. We felt like you wanted to see a bit more, so even though you will be able to test them by yourself in a few days, we recorded some short videos so you know what to expect and you can start thinking of new builds. Enjoy.

HUNTER: THREADED SPECTER

Activate your class ability to leave behind a decoy woven from Strand matter that draws the attention of nearby combatants. After taking significant damage or when combatants approach, the decoy detonates, dealing damage and releasing Threadlings that seek out and attack nearby foes.

TITAN: FLECHETTE STORM

While sliding, activate your charged melee ability to leap into the air, knocking nearby targets away and dealing damage. While airborne, activate your charged melee again to launch a cluster of damaging, unraveling projectiles. Repeatedly activating melee will chain additional throws.

WARLOCK: THE WANDERER

Tangles you throw attach to enemies and detonate into a suspending burst. Threadling final blows create a Tangle.

THE REFUNDABLE ARTIFACT IS ALMOST HERE!

Are you ready to wield your new NPA Repulsor Regulator? That’s your new Seasonal Artifact, treat it well or Drifter might use you as bait.

Remember that the Seasonal Artifact has changed a bit recently. With Lightfall, mods from the Artifact changed into perks that are always on when unlocked and you don’t have to slot them into your armor pieces. Starting with Season of the Deep, another change is coming: you will have the option to refund perks from the Artifact individually, one by one, so adapting to each activity and crafting the most focused build will be a bit faster and easier than before.

But in order to make the most amazing builds, you need to know the perks. That’s an easy fix:

1 COLUMN

Anti-Barrier Auto-Rifle: Your equipped Auto Rifle fires shield-piercing rounds and stun Barrier Champions. Additionally, Auto-Rifles are always overcharged when that modifier is active.
Unstoppable Hand Cannon: Aiming down the sights of a Hand Cannon for a short time loads a powerful explosive payload that stuns unshielded combatants. Strong against Unstoppable Champions. Additionally, Hand Cannons are always overcharged when that modifier is active.
Overload Scout Rifle: Landing consecutive hits on combatants with any Scout Rifle you are wielding causes disruption, delaying ability energy regeneration and lowering combatant damage output. Strong against Overload Champions. Additionally, Scout Rifles are always overcharged when that modifier is active.
Overload Trace Rifle: Uninterrupted fire from your equipped Trace Rifles causes the beam to stun combatants, delaying ability energy regeneration and lowering their damage output. Strong against Overload Champions. Additionally, Trace Rifles are always overcharged when that modifier is active.
Unstoppable Glaive: Glaives you wield fire a powerful explosive payload that stuns unshielded combatants. Strong against Unstoppable Champions. Additionally, Glaives are always overcharged when that modifier is active.

2 COLUMN

Authorized Mods: Arc: The armor energy costs of all armor mods affecting your Arc weapons are significantly discounted.
Authorized Mods: Void: The armor energy costs of all armor mods affecting your Void weapons are significantly discounted.
Authorized Mods: Strand: The armor energy costs of all armor mods affecting your Strand weapons are significantly discounted.
Authorized Mods: Melee: The armor energy costs of all armor mods affecting your melee are significantly discounted.
Technicolor Siphon: Grants access to Helmet armor mods that combine the effects of the Strand Siphon and Arc Siphon mods.

3 COLUMN

Improved Unraveling: Increases the amount of damage dealt by unraveling a target.
Deeper Origins: Greatly improves the benefits provided by the Unsated Hunger, Nanotech Tracer Rockets, Harmonic Resonance, and Noble Deeds traits.
Unto the Breach: Defeating a Void Debuffed targets creates a Void Breach while your Void subclass is equipped.
Electric Armor: Stay amplified longer while your Arc subclass is equipped.
Thunderous Retort: Grants bonus Arc Super damage if cast while critically wounded or while amplified. Lasts until the end of the Super activation.

4 COLUMN

Strand Soldier: Your Strand weapons gain Unraveling Rounds whenever you gain Woven Mail while your Strand subclass is equipped.
Overcharged Armory: Weapons with the Unsated Hunger, Nanotech Tracer Rockets, Harmonic Resonance, and Noble Deed traits are always overcharged weapons for you when that modifier is active.
Protective Breach: Picking up a Void Breach gives you an overshield or refreshes your existing overshield.
Counter Charge: Gain a stack of Armor Charge when you stun a Champion.
Amped Up: Gain damage resistance while amplified.

5 COLUMN

Conductive Cosmic Needle: Targets affected by Strand debuffs take increases damage from Arc and Void abilities.
Shock and Awe: Arc final blows while you are amplified summon a burst of lightning that damages and jolts targets.
Supernova: Picking up a Void Breach causes your next source of Void damage to create a large weakening pulse.
Squad Goals:
- Performing a finisher while you are amplified grants Amplified to nearby allies when your Arc subclass is equipped.
- Performing a finisher while you have Woven Mail grants Woven Mail to nearby allies when your Strand subclass is equipped.
- Performing a finisher while you have Devour grants Devour to nearby allies when your Void subclass is equipped.
Lightning Strikes Twice: After throwing an Arc grenade, gain increased grenade recharge for a short time. Arc final blows extend the duration of this benefit.

UPDATES TO ENEMY ELEMENTAL SHIELDS

We have one more update coming with Season of the Deep, one we haven’t mentioned until today: we are changing how enemy shields look. To tell you all about it, here’s the Destiny 2 Combat Team.

Destiny 2 Combat Team: Over the past few years, the Destiny Dev team has introduced numerous changes to the core game experience as we’ve overhauled internal systems, as well as endeavored to make the game more accessible to our audience. The change we are about to talk about touches on both of these topics.

With the launch of Season of the Deep we’re introducing a change to most combatant shields that will update their visuals across the entire game. This update had the explicit goal of not affecting Destiny’s existing gameplay, so this will be a visual-only change.

This is how shields are now

This is how shields will look starting next season:

Given that the majority of these shields have been in service since 2017, the number of bespoke combatant shields has become more difficult to maintain as we’ve significantly expanded the number of enemy combatants in the game. To address this challenge, we’ve made a large backend shift to a new shield system that will be easier to maintain and improve upon. Which brings us to our next point: accessibility.

When we decided to overhaul this system, we took the opportunity to create visuals that are more accessible for colorblind players and players with other visual impairments. As such, we’ve minimized visual information that is not relevant to gameplay in favor of bringing to the foreground more combat-relevant details. This primarily takes form in more clearly surfacing the unit’s shield element. Right now, the color of combatant shields are the only way a player can tell what the optimal element counter is. In the new system launching with Season of the Deep, we’ve included more visual artifacts with each shield type that indicates to players which elemental weapon types are best to use.

As a final detail, we’d like to note that Immunity Shields (white shields) and shields for specific boss encounters will not be receiving this update. Due to their slightly-more-complicated nature, we’re avoiding making any broad changes which could unintentionally impact encounter mechanics, designs, etc.

STABILIZING

And now, a note from the Engineering team: As part of the work to prepare for Lightfall, we embarked on a large technical upgrade to improve our Destiny 2 services and hardware. This work included updating our services to use new technologies as well as preparing for hardware upgrades. In the long run, this investment in the back end of Destiny 2 should lead to a more stable and reliable experience for all players, and faster recovery in instances where service downtime does occur. The launch of Lightfall was a great example of this, with high stability and uptime for both launch day and the Root of Nightmares World First Race.

However, as millions of players have interacted with these services, we have discovered some issues that we are working on addressing. A prime example of this is our background service update system. Typically, several days before one of our Tuesday updates, we will “stage” the update on our servers. This upgrades our backend services to the new version and means that during the Tuesday patch, we only take a brief amount of downtime before letting players back into the game. However, with our new libraries and code, we’ve discovered cases where the background update has put our services into a bad state, forcing us to bring Destiny 2 offline for extended maintenance.

So, what are we doing about this? We have a team focused on making corrections to our new services, so that we can safely perform background updates again. However, while we do that work, we also want to make sure your Destiny 2 experience is as predictable as possible. Therefore, starting with Season of the Deep’s launch (Update 7.1.0), we are moving to a scheduled downtime model where we bring Destiny 2 offline for an expected 1.5 hours on our update days. This will allow us to do our “staging” and rollout on the same day and should make the experience more stable and reliable. In the meantime, we will continue to monitor performance, upgrade hardware, increase service reliability, and work to give you a great experience each time you play the game.

GUARDIAN GAMES ARE COMING TO AN END

It’s the final week of the Guardian Games, have you made your class proud? Because Titans certainly are as they hold a big lead in the final stretch. No matter the class, watching you all take part in this friendly competition is always tremendously fun. Keep banking medallions till the end to earn more rewards!

CURRENT STANDINGS FOR GUARDIAN GAMES:

First Place: Titans
Second Place: Hunters
Third Place: Warlocks

And how is the Guardian Games Cup going? Several teams are still getting their points in, and we have raised over $125,000 dollars for the Bungie Foundation. Thank you, everyone!

TOP FOUR TEAMS – MONEY RAISED FOR THE BUNGIE FOUNDATION

First Place: DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS – $43,987.11
Second Place: Lost City Guardians – $7,335.00
Third Place: Metagalactic Boomers – $5,864.00
Fourth Place: Clan Archive – $5,271.00

TOP FOUR TEAMS – POINTS SCORED

First Place: Popcorn – 71,100 points
Second Place: Ursidae – 47,000 points
Third Place: Traveler’s Chosen – 26,729 points
Fourth Place: Prayer – 26,606 points

INTRODUCING ASIANS@BUNGIE

May is Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month, and we’re proud to introduce the Asians@Bungie.

Asians@Bungie began at the end of 2021 in response to the rising discrimination and violence against AANHPI communities. Their mission is to uplift their fellow AANHPI employees, provide Bungie diverse insight of AANHPI cultures, and to support local AANHPI communities. After many rounds of discussing creative directions, revising designs, and generous support from internal Inclusion Diversity & Equity and Consumer Products teams, they’re ready to debut the Stand With Asians pin and accompanying Harmonic Waves emblem:

The design of the pin reflects Bungie’s geographical relationship with the AANHPI communities across and within the Pacific Ocean. The background is a topographical outline of the Pacific Ocean, the clouds represent our one sky, and the seven-petaled tea flower is our hope in sharing a cup of tea with all seven continents, and because Bungie.

For the month of May, all proceeds from the Stand With Asians pin will go to International Community Health Services (ICHS), a non-profit healthcare organization based in Seattle that welcomes people of all backgrounds in need of care. Celebrating its 50^th anniversary, ICHS was formed in 1973 by young Asian American activists to disrupt the systemic racism that denied health to Asian immigrant communities. Today, ICHS remains deeply rooted in the Asian Pacific Islander community and continues to serve immigrant and refugee patients in over 70 languages. They have been a leading voice in challenging anti-Asian hate and championing health equity for communities of color.

We invite all allies to stand with AANHPI communities by pre-ordering the Stand With Asians pin which comes with the Harmonic Waves emblem at the Bungie Store and the EU Bungie Store. The Harmonic Waves emblem will be available without a pin purchase starting May 23 directly through the Bungie Foundation for a $10 donation. All donations received in May will support ICHS.

A NEW EMBLEM FOR GIFTING TWITCH SUBS

Emblems! Don’t you love emblems? Because we have a new one for you. Well, not only for you, but for everyone that takes part in a Twitch Subscription bounty on their favorite content creator’s channel. Say ‘hola, buenos días’ (“hello, good morning”) to the Pulsar Approaching emblem.

If you don’t know how that works, or if you want to have one on your Twitch channel, we got you covered: just head to our Destiny 2 Twitch Extension support article in here. Those who have completed the Twitch Sub bounty can collect their new Pulsar Approaching emblem from Rahool in the Tower starting May 28 at 9am PST.

Destiny 2 TWAB: Season of the Deep Preview and New Aspects!