Destiny: Patch Notes Analysis

This entry is part [part not set] of 15 in the series Destiny

Destiny – Update 1.0.2.3. – Patch Notes – 10/28/2014

Summary
This update makes Destiny a more stable experience for all players. We’re also changing the player experience in the Raid to ensure that the activity provides an endgame challenge that meets project goals for the intended level of difficulty.

General
Fixed an issue in which multiple errors reported with Zebra error codes
Errors previously reporting as Zebra will now display as their own separate codes
Fixed a rare issue related to being Kicked To Login repeatedly
Fixed a rare issue that resulted in a Kick To Orbit reported with the Cockatoo error code

Servers
Fixed an issue where some players would occasionally be erroneously kicked at the beginning of an activity due to a server error
Increased protection against account corruption

Raid
Fixed an issue where Atheon was not choosing random targets for teleport through the timestream during the final encounter on the Vault of Glass

-Swaggers’ Thoughts

To me this just seems like a straight up lie. There is no way that this section was supposed to be random and for a whole f-ing month it was the back three and they didn’t say a word. This is the same old BS where Bungie says, “Play the game your way”, but secretly that means only if your way is the exact 100% way we think you should play it. Throws strategy right out the window in a pathetic attempt to just make the damn thing harder for no reason what so ever.

Fixed an exploit where Atheon could be forced off his platform

More updates are to follow as we continue to support Destiny. Future enhancements being worked on include Exotic Weapon tuning, new features for voice communication between matchmade teammates, and the ability to hold more Bounties in your pocket at any time.

Destiny – Patch 1.0.1.5 (Hot Fix) and Dev Notes – 9/25/2014

OK. This is a really disappointing patch / dev notes. I am going to insert some comments along the way with my feeling.
Activities

Missions
Reduced drop rate of engrams following a hard wipe [fixed in 1.0.1.4]

-Swaggers’ Thoughts

I guess I don’t even know what they are saying here. Does this refer to the Moon farming where you kill almost all the enemies and die? So now after a wipe you get even LESS drops?

Queen’s Wrath Event
Material rewards for dismantling Queen’s Wrath gear will no longer provide ascendant materials, but missions will continue to drop Legendary items

This is a completely stupid move. The “Event” is completely and totally worthless for anyone over 24. It was already a retarded grind to do a bounty for a worthless faction just to get a ticket to get the exact same 2 items. The only reason to do any of this was for the Shards. Event is dead to me now.

World

Destinations
The Hive of the holy “Treasure Cave” have realized the futility of their endless assault on Skywatch and have retired to lick their wounds and plan their next attack.
Respawn timers for monster caves in Skywatch have been normalized to 40 seconds (increased from 6)
Respawn timers for monster caves in Forgotten Shore have been normalized to 40 seconds (increased from 10)
Respawn timers for monster caves in Ember Caves have been normalized to 40 seconds (increased from 10)
Respawn timers for monster caves in the Shattered Coast have been normalized to 40 seconds (increased from 10)
Respawn timers for monster caves in the Barrens have been normalized to 40 seconds (increased from 20)

-Swaggers’ Thoughts

I’m ok with this. Sucks for people who didn’t get to abuse it but really all my good pieces have come from other activities. The game is already an insanely stupid grind and all they are doing is dragging it out even further. All this smacks of desperation to keep people playing but then they have weekly limits on rewards. They seem to be hell bent on slow progress but hardcore players have already gotten to level 30 and the Raid have been completed in just 37 minutes less an a week after it came out.

Dev Notes

Loot

He Who Shall Not Be Named
Long ago during development, the Cryptarch decoded engrams of a given color into gear of that same color. Early in 2014 we added randomness, both for better and worse, to the decrypting process. The result was that end-of-session engram decoding got a lot more exciting and the Cryptarch himself suddenly acquired a personality. Both of these experiences were positive additions to the game.

But we didn’t adequately communicate the potential random outcomes of decryption. Players see what looks like the familiar metaphor of item identification, while the Cryptarch thinks he’s opening a grab bag of loot. Rage sharding of blues ensues. Expect to see changes to address this soon.

-Swaggers’ Thoughts

Loot drops are already rare enough and to get a Uncommon, or even worse, a Rare or Legendary for another class is absurd. This game is grind grind grind and there isn’t enough content to keep it from getting stale really fast.

Destiny: The Cave
The social experience of a cave farming run is amazing: the herding to get a team of Guardians all behind the line and firing in the right direction, the rush to grab the loot, the scramble when the panic wave starts, the beckoning glow from inside the cave. The speed at which the community organized around this activity was inspiring and humbling to us.

But shooting at a black hole for hours on end isn’t our dream for how Destiny is played. Our hope is that social engagement in public spaces is only one part of the Destiny experience. Expect changes soon which decrease the efficiency of cave farming and correspondingly increase engram drops from completing activities.

As I said in the patch notes this one I understand. I would bet money that nerfs comes before pluses though. Plus patrol is a activity and running from cave to cave while killing all the enemies seems completely in scope. Why would I run a Strike for 20 minutes to get complete CRAP? They need to VASTLY improve loot from strikes and missions if they want me to run those non-stop instead. I don’t understand why they hate caves but grinding strike is still grinding so who cares?

Reward Celebration
Growing more powerful by acquiring new upgrades, gear or progression is central to Destiny’s player experience. Our goal is to always celebrate when this occurs, both as a reward in and of itself and to communicate to players what is going on.

During development we sometimes prioritized making a system functional over celebrating its rewards, for example:
The Vault of Glass contains highly coveted loot but the actual moment of reward happens without fanfare and can be easily missed.
The lowest level of the Daily Heroic gives great XP and Reputation rewards, but neither of these progressions appears on the postgame screen.

We will slowly be addressing these and other issues going forward.

Social

Voice Communication
Our vision for Destiny is that all players, even matchmade players in the Crucible, Strikes, the Tower or public spaces, be able to communicate with one another in a way that promotes positive socialization. Voice communication is the easy answer, but existing voice paradigms, including those in our own Halo games, have not done enough to protect players from abusive griefing from a minority of players.

Destiny’s near-term solution will be to allow players to opt-in to voice communication during matchmade activities. Work on this feature was underway at launch and should be rolled out this year in Strikes and the Crucible.

-Swaggers’ Thoughts

No voice because some kids don’t like to be yelled at? Are you kidding me? Dumbest answer I have ever heard as to why there is no voice in a “SOCIAL” game.

Activities

Strikes
Strikes are intended to be a fun, combat-filled romp and stomp with a big boss and cool rewards at the end. Better with cooperation, but doable in a pick up group.

Since launch we’ve tracked down an issue which has made Strikes more challenging than originally designed by both increasing damage taken by players and decreasing the damage inflicted by players on the boss. Expect to see this addressed soon, and for Strikes to become a little less grindy as a result (sorry, Raiders – incoming damage is working as intended in the Vault of Glass).

-Swaggers’ Thoughts

There are only 4 strikes so creating any type of playlist is going to make them BORING and GRINDY. Add the random BS nature of rewards and it’s doubly bad.

Balance
Our goal when balancing Destiny is to never have one player choice– for example a choice of class or weapon– either be so much better than the alternatives that it is the only valid choice or to be so much worse that it would always be a mistake to choose. When we are successful with this kind of balance the result is a wide set of equally compelling player builds, some of which may be preferred by one player or another but none of which is an absolute right or wrong choice.

Exotic Weapons
Exotic Weapons are designed to look, feel and sound overpowered, but to not actually break the game. We hope these weapons challenge the way players think about their loadouts and expect their idiosyncrasies to sometimes be a little frustrating. We find ourselves wanting to collect them all and hope players feel the same way.

Not all our Exotic Weapons currently live up to this promise. In particular those weapons received from completing exotic bounties including Thorn and Bad Juju have disappointed many of us who have gone through the great effort to obtain them because, despite looking and sounding amazing, they feel underpowered. We’re here to offer some advice: don’t shard those guns. Their time will come.

-Swaggers’ Thoughts

Yeah. All that time and effort to get the Thorn and it kicks like a mule and takes 2 head or 3 standard shots to kill while someone with a Auto Rifle just hits dead target every shot. Worthless. Interested to see how long this change takes to see in game.

Auto Rifles
The Auto Rifle archetype is designed to appeal to players who like to throw up a wall of bullets and not worry if a few miss their target. It is intended to inflict sustained damage at close to medium range, but to lose effectiveness at longer ranges.

Today the Auto Rifle is too effective at long range, even beating Scout and Pulse Rifles in some circumstances. Expect stability and/or damage adjustments to the Auto Rifle to address this in the weeks ahead.

-Swaggers’ Thoughts

In “SOME CIRCUMSTANCES”? What are those? Where the user of the Auto Rifle is good awful at PvP? And then probably only 50% of the time.

Scout Rifles
Scout Rifles are for players who like to keep their enemies at medium range and hate to miss. They are intended to be an awkward weapon to use at close range but to be dominant– as long as you land your shots– at medium and longer ranges.

Scouts just aren’t hitting hard enough today when compared to other precision weapons. We’ll be addressing this soon.

Shotguns
Shotguns are for those situations where you need to deliver a massive spike of damage, right now, to the thing standing next to you about to do you harm.

Today shotguns are effective beyond their intended range, especially when upgraded with that intention. Expect changes soon to address shotguns which push the envelope of what it means to be close quarters.

Thank you for helping us drive these changes. Keep sharing. Keep talking. We’re watching and listening.

–Bungie

-Swaggers’ Thoughts

Just overall this is complete BS talk. Everything that helped players (Loot Cave and Queen Shards) is immediately destroyed via Hot Fix. Anything that they are talking about doing to help players is some time in the future and possibly up to a month or two.

Destiny – Patch 1.0.2 Pre-Release Notes

Cryptarch Changes 
Cayde-6 took the Cryptarch aside and showed him a sack of doorknobs. He decoded that mystery pretty quickly.
Legendary Engrams will always produce Legendary or better quality items, including Materials or Exotics
Rare Engrams will always produce Rare or better quality items
Rare engrams will have an increased chance to produce Legendary quality items

Activity Changes
Daily Heroics, Weekly Heroics, and Vanguard: Tiger Playlist activities will include Rare and Legendary Engrams in addition to their existing rewards

Item Changes
Ascendant materials have been promoted to Legendary to closer associate them with the gear they are used to upgrade
Legendary Engram items that exist in your inventory will be demoted to Rare quality when the patch goes live, so decode them while you can. But let’s be honest–even if you don’t, we all know they were blues already…

-Swaggers’ Thoughts

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES. I actually wanted to copy paste that a bout a BILLION more times. Perfect. How it should of been to begin with but amazing change. Can’t wait to see how Engrams are added to Activities.

Swaggers

I’ve been a pretty hardcore gamer since the Xbox 360 came out. I’m was top 10 on TA for all Xbox ONE games for gamerscore. I created this site to house all my YouTube guide videos and everything else video game related we can come up with.

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