There's lots to unpack in the latest Destiny 2 update from Bungie, but the most important was a big date for Guardians. A stream scheduled for June 5, hosted by game director Steve Cotton and project lead Scott Taylor, is set to reveal a lot more about what year two of Destiny 2 will bring. We'll obviously bring you all the news from that 9am PT/12pm ET stream when it happens.
"We have some big ideas for how we’re going to transform your Guardian lifestyle and reinforce your hobby as an interplanetary hero," says community manager David 'Deej' Dague. "We’ll respond to a bunch of community feedback and unveil some other things you haven’t even been looking forward to... yet. We’ll top it all off with a look at a new Roadmap with exciting new promises for everyone."
Escalation Protocol nerfed
Now that you've got "June 5" safely scrawled onto your arm in Sharpie, here are the important things to note from the update. Escalation Protocol is about to change, with power levels for enemies in waves four to seven dropping. Instead of hitting power level 400 in waves six and seven, you'll now be facing power level 385. Waves one to three will stay at 370 Power.
Bungie explains that this change is being made to let players attempt Escalation Protocol with smaller teams.
"By reducing the Power levels of the latter waves, we are intending to make Escalation Protocol more approachable for players who want to try the activity at 385 as a fireteam of three with potential help from others in the world," says Deej.
"Getting nine players into the same space will still be possible, but for those at or close to max level, it shouldn’t feel as necessary as before. If anyone is worried that we're nerfing this activity into the ground, rest assured that it will still be a highly difficult end-game experience. All the mechanics, timers, and enemy behaviors will remain unchanged, so you should still plan to bring your best team, gear, and strategies to succeed."
Faction Rallies
The post also revealed developer progress on the Faction Rallies, which are being tweaked to make the events feel more significant for players. The most exciting change is a new Renown mechanic, which will reward players with more faction tokens for completing events. "Players may earn Renown by completing a public event or patrol, or by defeating high-value targets on destinations," says Bungie.
"Players who loot a Lost Sector with Renown active will receive significantly more faction tokens than usual - the more stacks of Renown they have, the more faction tokens they earn. Renown is lost when players are defeated by enemies, so be careful when you're attempting to loot a Lost Sector with high Renown."
Other big changes include reworked pledging: to pledge to a faction, you'll you have to pledge your whole account, not on a per character basis - no making Dead Orbit your side piece. And each faction now has one exotic armor ornament and exotic weapon catalyst, which won't be available any other way. Those factions don't seem quite so silly now, do they?
For more Destiny 2: Warmind help, you can check out our complete Destiny 2 walkthrough guide, which now includes tips for every mission of the expansion's campaign.
