Destiny 2's getting some big changes in the coming weeks even if you don't pick up Curse of Osiris. The latest post on Bungie's official blog is packed with announcements that should prick up the ears of new Guardians and veterans of the Red War alike. Or if you're an Exo and don't have ears, maybe your antennae? Anyway, there's a lot of ground to cover, so I've broken the updates out into a few sections.
Xbox One X and PS4 Pro support are coming soon
Destiny 2's a beautiful game wherever you play it, but it's still kind of a bummer to load it up on your fancy 4K-ready console and get pretty much the same visuals as before. That'll change when Bungie pushes out official Xbox One X and PS4 Pro support along with the launch of Curse of Osiris and Destiny 2 Season 2 on December 5. Wait, don't get mad! You don't have to buy Curse of Osiris to get the 4K update, they're just arriving at the same time. Bungie says both systems will receive HDR lighting and the Xbox One X version will play at 4K, while PS4 Pro will render at adaptive 4K. That means it'll be 4K resolution in certain scenes but dip below that to prioritize performance when necessary.
An emote wheel and better chat are on the way
There are some fantastic emotes in Destiny 2 (they're the one thing that might finally get me to drop cash on Silver, honestly) including spicy ramen consumption, salt shaking, and table flipping. But as it stands right now, the game limits you to equipping one special emote at a time. According to Bungie, that's going to change "as soon as possible" with the addition of a handy emote wheel. Yesssssss.
Also, PC players will be equally pleased to hear that the developers know in-game chat is kinda useless right now. Bungie says integrating Clan Chat (which is currently accessible via the app) directly into the game is one of its "highest priorities". It wants to add in other much-desired features like zone chat and whisper notifications as well but they remain lower priority for now.
Reset times are a-changin'
Ever since ancient times, Destiny has taken a break at 1am Pacific time on Tuesday mornings (9am UK time) to freshen up and give players a new crop of activities to play and items to buy. It meant relatively few players would have their play time interrupted, at least in the Western Hemisphere, but it also produced a weird disconnect with some new content releases. Bungie's addressing that by moving the reset time forward to 9 am Pacific time (that's noon Eastern and 5 pm GMT). This new reset time will go into effect on December 5.
Guided Games will be a bit more welcoming
Guided Games have been a great idea in principal but kinda impractical. First, the bad news: Bungie isn't gonna start letting you do other things like explore planets while you wait to match up with guides for a Raid or Nightfall Strike. But it is adding an audio cue for when you find a match so you can at least read a book or something. Bungie's also adding the option for clans to participate as guides even if they're full. It sounds like some changes might also be coming for the checkpoint system (right now it's all-or-nothing, even if you get disconnected) but those are further out.
A bonus XP weekend is on the way
From November 17 at 10 am PST (6 pm GMT) to November 20 at the same time, you'll receive double XP for everything as long as you have a fellow clan member in your fireteam. Bungie is calling this the first Clarion Call event and it says more will follow, including ones that will award lone wolf players.
That's a pretty good set of changes on the way just for the next month or so. Chase all that with a shot of Destiny 2: Curse of Osiris and we'll all be blasting space aliens together well into the new year.
