One of the biggest game in 2014, Destiny from developer Bungie draws closer, we look at the aspects of the game that will allow players to play it smoothly once it is out.
Destiny will be released on 9 September 2014.
Day One Update 1.0.1
Destiny's day one patch will be bringing a lot of changes to the game's Weapons, Builds, Talents, Maps, Activities, Achievements, Progression, game stability and UI. This new update will not be the first in a series of updates that will improve the game.
It has also revealed that it is already working on future patches that will bring new content and improvements.
Below are the complete patch notes for Destiny's Update 1.0.1 (Bungie):
Classes - General
Removed subclass locking from builds.
Adjusted the unlock order for all subclass trees.
Adjusted the cooldown ranges of armor stats (Intellect, Discipline, Strength).
Agility now has more impact to move speed and acceleration.
Classes - Titan
General
- Catapult no longer has screen effects
Striker
- Shoulder Charge now deals Arc damage instead of Kinetic
- Lightning Grenade shock damage increased by 66 percentage (base 60 to 100)
- Amplify Super bonus-on-kill increased from 6 percentage to 10 percentage
- Flashbang no longer disorients ultra combatants
- Transfusion now has a 5-second cooldown before it can trigger again
- Juggernaut shield is removed after jumping or sprinting for 6.5 seconds
Defender
- Ward of Dawn now immediately regenerates your health on activation
Classes – Hunter
Gunslinger
- Golden Gun is now unable to overpenetrate through a Ward of Dawn shield
- Incendiary Grenade detonation damage reduced by 18 percentage (base 140 to 115)
- Chain of Woe now grants an additional 5 percentage, 10 percentage, 15 percentage bonus to reload speed
- Gunslinger's Trance buff duration increased from 10 to 15 seconds
Bladedancer
- Arcbolt Grenade impact damage reduced by 17 percentage (base 120 to 100)
- Razor's Edge distance traveled slowed and reduced
- Quickdraw now no longer requires a melee hit
- Blink now cancels invisibility when used
Classes – Warlock
Voidwalker
- Nova Bomb Vortex duration reduced from 5 to 3.5 seconds.
- Nova Bomb Vortex effects now has displays for its victims.
- Energy Drain impact damage increased by 10 percentage (base 100 to 110)
- Soul Rip super bonus on kill increased from 6 percentage to 10 percentage bonus
- Vortex Grenade linger damage reduced by 50 percentage (base 15 to 10) per tick
- Surge now grants a bonus to reload and weapon-ready speed
- Surge now activates when doing damage to an enemy instead of killing blow
- Surge agility buff increased by 33 percentage (base 10 to 13)
Sunsinger
- Firebolt Grenade impact damage reduced by 20 percentage (base 100 to 80)
- Flame Shield now activates when doing damage to an enemy instead of killing blow
- Flame Shield now provides a small overshield
- Solar Grenade linger damage reduced by 50 percentage (base 15 to 10) per tick
Weapons
General
- Removed weapon speed penalties from extended sprinting
- Capped inventory to 999 rounds
- Fixed several weapons that would display an incorrect magazine size
- Swapping weapons from inventory now only takes 50 percentage of the ammo in PvE
Perks
- Return to Sender now procs more frequently by 15 percentage
- Range Finder bonus reduced by 4 percentage
- High Caliber Rounds damage to combatants increased by 67 percentage
Assault Rifles
- Reduced the base Damage of all Assault Rifles by 7 percentage
- Reduced the base Accuracy ranges by [14 percentage to 25 percentage], modified by weapon stat
- Reduced the base Stability ranges by [8 percentage to 80 percentage], modified by weapon stat
Pulse Rifles
- Increased the base Damage per bullet range by [2 percentage to 17 percentage], modified by weapon stat
- Increased the base Stability range by [8 percentage to 25 percentage], modified by weapon stat
- Reduced the base Rate of Fire by [8 percentage to 19], modified by weapon stat
Scout Rifles
- Reduced the base Damage of all Scout Rifles by 8 percentage
- Fixed an issue that broke the fx for explosive rounds
Hand Cannons
- Increased the base Zoom of all Hand Cannons by 20 percentage
- Increased the base Damage per bullet range by [4 percentage to 15 percentage], modified by weapon stat
- Increased the base Magazine size range by [8 percentage to 20 percentage], modified by weapon stat
- Reduced the base Accuracy range by [75 percentage to 100 percentage], modified by weapon stat
Sniper Rifles
- Increased the base Stability range by [6 percentage to 100 percentage], modified by weapon stat
Fusion Rifles
- Fusion Rifle charging is now more reliable.
Shotguns
- Improved Shotgun damage falloff networking.
- Reduced base Damage per bullet range by [2 percentage to 5 percentage], modified by weapon stat
- Reduced base Shotgun range by [1 percentage to 7 percentage], modified by weapon stat
HMGs
- Improved HMG projectile networking.
Vehicles
General
- Fixed audio dropouts from vehicles for local player.
Sparrow
- Dodging while boosting is now easier to execute.
Cabal Interceptor
- Reduced Rocket Rate of Fire from 1 to 1.5666 seconds per shot.
- Reduced Rocket damage blast radius from 7 to 6 meters.
- Reduced Rocket damage falloff curves so they are less effective at long rangers
- Reduced Arming shape from 1 to 0.6 meters.
PVP
General
- Crucible Marks drop rate increased from 2 to 3 for wins, 1 to 2 for losses.
- Match completion XP and Glimmer awards increased.
- Match completion can now award Engrams.
- Playlists now unlock sequentially instead of based on character level.
- Health numbers are now normalized at a 200 base value (up from 175) to be easier for players to calculate.
- Ghost ammo collection disabled in all playlists.
- 'Crushing' voice-overs now plays properly when the game has 0:30 and 0:10 seconds remaining
Medals
- Mark of the Unbroken minimum threshold increased from 7 to 15
- Back in Action death streak threshold increased from 3 to 5
- Heating Up medal removed to avoid spam and player confusion
- Domination now only fires only once per domination zone per player
- Domination medal score increased from 40 to 125
Game Types
Salvage
- Salvage Zones now do not return to the most recent salvaged relic locations
- Fixed a bug with Salvage probe offense points being given out incorrectly
- Fixed spawn policy content that caused bad behavior on (PS3 only)
Maps
First Light
- Pike spawns reduced from 4 to 3.
- Interceptor spawns reduced from 2 to 1.
- Interceptor spawn times reduced to 2 minutes.
- Interceptor timer now does not start incrementing until after the game has started.
Blind Watch
- Windmill now pumps approximately 14 percentage less liters of waters per match from 3.5L to 3L.
Rusted Lands
- Line-of-sight spawn influencers changed to reduce spawning near enemies.
- Level-of-detail volumes adjusted for better performance on slower platforms.
Shores of Time
- Playable space volumes adjusted to remove exploit zones
- Level-of-detail volumes adjusted for better performance on slower platforms.
The Anomaly
- Fixed a hole that let players see out of environment in the lower tunnel.
Bastion
- Pike spawns reduced from 4 to 3.
- Interceptor spawns reduced from 2 to 1.
- Interceptor spawn timers reduced to 2 minutes.
- Interceptor timer now does not start incrementing until after the game has started.
Exodus Blue
- Added physics volume to keep players from getting on top of the giant hose reel near Control Zone A
Activities
Missions
- Fixed an issue with Ishtar Collective Venus mission to enable the Vex Turret to drop Mind Cores for assisting players, instead of only killing blow players.
Strikes
- Strikes now award increasingly more Vanguard Marks at higher levels.
- Strikes now award significantly better Gear at lower levels.
- Fixed an exploit using Ward of Dawn against Sepiks Prime
Raids
- Raid condensed to two difficulty tiers, in order to get straight to the punishment. Levels adjusted.
- Flawless Raider achievement cut, then un-cut, then cut, then un-cut, then declared immune to further cutting.
Destinations
World
- Patrols award increased Vanguard reputation but no longer award Vanguard Marks.
- Patrol VIP objectives brought in-line with other objectives, but still award additional reputation.
- Treasure chest glimmer drop rate reduced, but added Materials to loot table.
- Treasure chests now have a small chance to award large drops of additional Glimmer, Materials, Engrams, and Consumables.
- Fixed various bugs where combatants were spawning in front of players
- Fixed bugs where too many combatants were spawning during some instances of the Vex Block event
Combatants
- Removed spurious XP bonuses for Fallen Captains, Hive Knights and Wizards, Vex Minotaurs, Cabal Centurions
- Stealth Vandals should award XP now.
- Acyclic Geometer's name now display properly.
- Fixed Hydras to reward the correct loot for Patrol missions on Venus
- Spidertank leg health reduced by 16 percentage (base 3000 to 2520) per leg.
Vendors
- Bounty introduction unlock moved from Level 6 to Level 4.
- Bounty Leads will be sent to characters upon reaching various milestones.
- Engram and Package tooltips now indicate what they can contain.
- Packages earned from Faction reputation rewards now contain Glimmer instead of awarding XP.
- Cryptarch reputation requirements to reach Rank 2 increased.
- Cryptarch reputation earned from purchasing Engrams are greatly reduced.
- Vanguard and Crucible Marks are now accruable beginning at Level 18.
Technical
- Fixed an issue with skill distribution that caused convergence to take much too long.
- Fixed an issue where players' skill rating was too often shifting negatively causing less than ideal matches.
PC Version Release Likely
Bungie has indicated that the PC version of Destiny is likely to come in the future. As we know, Destiny will not be releasing for PC.
"It is [a good fit], and it's something we're talking about and looking at very carefully, and obviously it makes a lot of sense with the genre and the type of game it is," Erik Hirshberg, ceo of Activision Publishing had told Polygon during the E3 2014.
"You know, developing on PC is a different animal than developing for consoles and so we just want to make sure that we're putting one foot in front of the other and getting it right, and that it's of the highest possible quality. But obviously I see the same things about the natural fit," he added.
Later, another Bungie employee too hinted on a possible PC port for the always online game. "We haven't said yes, and we haven't said no... We have a lot of people who play on PCs. We have a lot of appetite to build that experience. We haven't announced it yet, but we're looking forward to talking more about that kind of stuff in the future," said Eric Osborne, senior writer, Bungie.
Bungie is reported to be the most expensive video game ever made with an estimated $500 million budget.
Destiny is Always Online Game
Destiny players are to be reminded that Destiny will be an always online video game and without Internet broadband connection, players will not be able to play the game. Also, players will have to download the patch before they can play it.
