The This week at Bungie article this week was pretty loaded with details about changes coming to the Crucible. Here is a look at some highlights from the article.
Eliksni Quarter Community Event
The final community event for the season starts on November 22, and will last until the season ends on December 6, 2022.
Here’s how you can help:
Collect treasure in the form of Captain’s Coins from around the system to donate towards the Eliksni Quarter, helping Spider with improvements and upkeep while Misraaks and Eido devote their time to researching the Relics of Nezarec.
Where to find Captain’s Coins?
Captain’s Coins can be found in Destination chests, Lost Sectors, public events, and of course, Season of Plunder Ketchcrash and Expedition activities.
You can also find Captain’s Coins in the King’s Fall raid, Dares of Eternity, strikes, Crucible, and Gambit.
Rewards
Each Guardian will have their own personal donations reward track with an emblem, upgrade materials, and a new swashbuckling Ghost Shell.
The community as a whole will pool their treasure together to help Misraaks and Spider improve the Eliksni Quarter, receiving global community earned rewards and special Eliksni ‘thank you’ gifts along the way.
Guardians may even find a Deepsight weapon or two to help with completing their crafting collection.
This is the last community event for this season and only lasts for two weeks!
Source: This week at Bungie – November 17, 2022
Scallywag Title Requirements Update
On Tuesday, November 22, there will be some changes coming to the Season of Plunder title. Bungie is reducing some requirements needed to unlock Scallywag.
Here’s an explanation from the Bungie Dev Team about the changes:
Dev Team: We’ve looked at the data and the Season of Plunder Seal and title is harder to acquire than originally intended. To earn the Seal you will still need to complete the vast majority of Plunder content and show mastery over the Seasonal activities, Seals are meant to be an aspirational goal, but our data shows that certain triumphs were over-tuned. We’re taking the feedback around Destiny’s grind to heart which is why we made the decision to deploy the following changes before the Season concludes:
- Drop Ruffian completion value to 10 (down from 50).
- While we introduced a fix to prevent Ruffians from despawning in Expeditions, players can still progress through objectives a bit too fast for these Champions to spawn.
- As such, we’re reducing the requirement to help players meet the requirements a bit faster.
- Drop Vendor upgrades required (14 down from 23).
- This would be the equivalent of completing the first 7 weeks of Seasonal Challenges that award Repute, the upgrade currency.
- Change promote and summon First Mates to doing it 1 time each.
- We realize that this step didn’t have a deep enough tutorial for some players to fully grasp, and requires a lengthy grind to unlock all three First Mates.
- Change the Seal requirement to complete 8 out of 9 Triumphs.
- This should allow some flexibility for players as they progress through Triumphs and Seasonal Challenges to unlock the Seasonal title.
-Bungie Dev Team
Game Security Update
Earlier this week, the Bungie Security team made some changes to protect the competitive Crucible experience (and more!). The Security team has an update regarding this:
Security Team: The team is continuing to improve upon detections and mitigations gained with BattlEye. With their help, we have implemented a mitigation against network tools used to gain an unfair advantage in various activities. We will continue to collect data and observe this behavior to strengthen our detections as time goes on. Competition is best when fair. While we are evaluating this data, we will continue to issue bans to those abusing these methods.
-Bungie Security Team
If you run into someone in-game who you think may be cheating, Bungie recommends using the in-game reporting tool, or make a report on Bungie.net.
Future Crucible Changes
Starting in Season 19, the Crucible screen will have the following options:
- Quickplay 6v6
- This is now a playlist with both Clash and Control.
- Uses loose skill-based matchmaking (SBMM), which Bungie has tuned during Season 18.
- Weekly Rotator 6v6/FFA
- Rotates weekly between Momentum Control, Mayhem, Team Scorched, Rift, and Rumble.
- Use purely connection-based matchmaking (CBMM).
- Competitive Division / Freelance 3v3
- This is now a playlist, randomly picking Survival, Rift, and Showdown.
- These modes showcase a variety of playstyles designed to show how good you really are.
- Uses a new SBMM setting built using concepts we developed for loose SBMM tuning, but tightened to match you more closely against opponents of your Skill.
- Crucible Labs
- During Season 19, Labs is showcasing 3v3 Rift with asymmetric maps.
- Labs has a stacking +25% reputation booster!
- Crucible Labs uses CBMM.
- Private Match
- This will continue to act as your place to train up in a given mode, play against your friends, host small tournaments, or mess with activity settings to make silly modes!
The Crucible screen will also update during limited-time PvP events:
- Trials of Osiris 3v3
- When Trials is active, it replaces Crucible Labs.
- Trials uses ticket-based matchmaking (TBMM) and the Flawless pool—though we have some news on that below too!
- Iron Banner / Freelance 6v6
- When Iron Banner is active, it replaces the Quickplay node.
- Iron Banner is going to be moving to loose SBMM during Season 19.
Here’s an example image of what the Crucible Director will look like during an Iron Banner week with Rumble as the featured weekly rotator mode:
Crucible Rewards
New Triumphs and title will be available starting in Season 19.
The Triumph for Crucible next season is Glorious (that is the name, although it will be pretty Glorious to achieve this Triumph).
“When it comes to gilding, we’ve taken a pass on the requirements for Unbroken to relieve stress. Win streaks and reaching specific Glory thresholds over multiple Seasons are no longer required. We will be challenging you to win a number of matches during a given Season and reach the Adept Division (more on that below) for gilding—but all of this can be accomplished within a single Season. If you see someone with a gilded Glorious, you know they are the best of the best.”
Crucible Engram Focusing
Lord Shaxx will offer engram focusing for Crucible weapons and armor starting in Season 19.
- Crucible Engrams
- Crucible Engrams will be a virtual currency and live exclusively on the Rank progress bar on Lord Shaxx.
- Crucible Engrams may be opened individually by players directly on Shaxx.
- Crucible Gear Focusing
- You can focus the Crucible Engram directly into either Crucible armor or Crucible weapons.
- Crucible gear focusing cost for Season 19:
- 1 Crucible Engram
- 10,000 Glimmer
- 50 Legendary Shards
- Crucible Engrams DO NOT need to be “claimed” in order to be spent on focusing (see note below).
- Individual pieces of gear must have been acquired at least once prior to being available for focusing.
- Crucible armor available for focusing in Season 19:
- Clutch Extol Set
- Crucible weapons available for focusing in Season 19:
- Stars in Shadow
- The Keening
- Frozen Orbit
- Survivor’s Epitaph
- Sorrow’s Verse
- Crisis Inverted
- Riptide
- Out of Bounds
- Crucible gear focusing cost for Season 19:
- Brand new Crucible weapons are only available as drops during their introductory Season, and are then available for focusing the following Season.
- You can focus the Crucible Engram directly into either Crucible armor or Crucible weapons.
- Other Shaxx Changes
- The Kill-Tracker Ghost Shell will no longer appear at Lord Shaxx if it has already been acquired. It may be reacquired from Collections.
“Additionally, we’ll be looking at ways for players to earn older Crucible armor sets through focusing in Season 20, when Lightfall releases. We’ve previously announced legacy focusing for Trials, Nightfall, and Iron Banner—and this applies to armor sets as well. If you’ve been asking for the return of the Exile armor set or eyeballing some older Iron Banner pieces, we’re looking forward to having those available once more. Stay tuned for more details”
New Matchmaking Techniques
Fireteam-Based Matchmaking
Starting in the first week of Season 19, Bungie will be testing a new Quickplay matchmaking parameter: Fireteam-Based Matchmaking (SBMM).FBMM should match opponents based on your fireteam’s makeup. If you join a matchmaking queue as a full team of six, you should match another full team. Read the full TWAB article for more details. Bungie plans to roll this out to more playlists such as: Iron Banner, Trials of Osiris, and more after they have spent a good amount of time testing the new settings.
Quitter Suspensions
Here are changes coming to quitter suspensions in Season 19:
- Lowered the amount of suspension time handed out for serial quitting in the Quickplay playlist.
- Added the amount of time remaining to all suspension messages and made the messages trigger when clicking on the node. If you want to know how much time you have left before you can play again, the information is now available.
- As we continue to roll out both of the new matchmaking techniques (FBMM and Dynamic Skill Ranges) which address many of the player feedback surrounding SBMM in Quickplay, we will be re-evaluating the need for a quitter penalty in Quickplay at all.
This does not include everything noted in the latest TWAB, I recommend checking out the full article to learn more and get a more detailed look at future changes.
New Crucible Maps
Bungie is bringing back two more maps from early Destiny 2 in Year 5 and a brand new map in Year 6 (Lightfall).
Competitive Division
Goals for Competitive Division
- All players can find a variety of balanced matches and feel competitive.
- A player’s PvP division is a core part of their Guardian identity.
- Maintain places in the ecosystem to not engage in ranked play but still have decently balanced matches, or to not engage in Skill-based matching at all.
What is Competitive Division?
Glory is being removed in Season 19 and a 3v3 Ranked playlist, Competitive Division, will be added (which is a true ladder-based system).
- There are seven Divisions, each with three subdivisions.
- Copper
- Bronze
- Silver
- Gold
- Platinum
- Adept
- Ascendant
At the start of the Season, you will begin a “placement series” during which you will not gain any Division Rating for the first seven games. After the seventh game, you complete the placement series and are placed into a division based on Skill:
- For the first Season, the highest you can be placed is Gold III. In future Seasons, you will be placed closer to your previous Competitive Division.
As you continue to compete in the Competitive Division, your Division Rating is adjusted based on four major factors:
- Match outcome: Whether you win or lose.
- Division inflation/deflation: How far above or below your division is compared to your Skill.
- Match performance: How well you performed on a match-to-match basis.
- Player-to-lobby Skill delta: How your Skill compares to everyone else in the match.
As you earn and lose Division Rating:
- If you gain enough Rating to move up between subdivisions (ex., from Gold II to Gold I), you automatically enter the next subdivision. Same goes for moving down subdivisions.
- If you gain enough Rating to move up a division (ex., from Gold I to Platinum III), you enter a promotion series, where you must win two out of three games to be promoted to the next division.
- Similarly, if you lose enough Rating to move down a division (ex., from Gold III to Silver 1), you enter a relegation series, where you must win two out of three games to remain in your current division.
Upon reaching Gold or higher, your Division Rating is subject to decay on a weekly basis; i.e., you will lose Division Rating if you haven’t played enough matches recently.
There will be small intro quest that will demonstrate the Competitive Division system and unlock Rose (returning Hand Cannon). This quest must be completed once for each account and will be available from Shaxx once you unlock Crucible as a New Light, or immediately for veteran players.
Learn more in the latest TWAB article, Bungie will also be releasing a Help article closer to launch to go a bit further in-depth about how the new ranking system will work.
Competitive Division Rewards
- Your current division gives you a multiplier on all Crucible ranks (reputation) earned in Destiny, letting you earn more Crucible engrams, resets, and extra perks on weapons much faster.
- Copper and Bronze – 1.0x
- Silver – 1.1x
- Gold – 1.2x
- Platinum – 1.3x
- Adept – 1.4x
- Ascendant – 1.5x
- So, even if you aren’t great at PvP, jumping into Competitive Division and earning/keeping your rank up will help you earn Crucible rewards 10-20% faster than now.
- This bonus stacks multiplicatively with both the scheduled Bonus Ranks weeks and the “hidden” bonus in Crucible Labs.
- As a note, Bungie is reducing bonus week Crucible rank multipliers from 2.0 to 1.5 in Season 19.
- Bungie has also moved unique Glory playlist rewards:
- MIDA Multi-Tool catalyst is now a rare drop on any win in the Crucible.
- One of the best rewards you can get from Competitive division is right in the name.
- Your Competitive Division, which you have earned throughout the Season, lets you know where you actually sit in the hierarchy of players better than KDA, win percentage, or a third-party Elo ranking ever could.
Future Rewards Updates
- In the Seasons post-Lightfall, the Competitive Division is expected to get cosmetic rewards. Expect more discussion after Lightfall launches!
Rose returns!
Rose will be returning as a reward in the Competitive Division! Rose was originally a legendary hand cannon that was earned as a reward from the Lumina exotic quest. It will return with random rolls and an updated perk pool!
- Hybrid: Fires like a 140 RPM Hand Cannon, but allows you to move like a 150 RPM, and has stats that blend the two.
- Its perk list is built from popular consistency perks designed to highlight 3v3 play.
- Random rolled grips instead of an Origin Trait.
- How do you earn it though?
- When you complete your Competitive Division intro quest (once per character), you get a drop with the perk selection Rose originally had.
- After the intro quest, you have a character-based weekly Competitive Division challenge to earn another roll.
- That’s it! Play Competitive Division, earn one roll a week per character!
Iron Banner New Game Mode
Launches January 3, 2023
A new game mode called Fortress is coming to Iron Banner in Season 19.
What is Fortress?
“In Iron Banner: Fortress, the core gameplay is capturing and holding zones. If that sounds like Zone Control to you, you’d be right! The real fun begins when Caiatl gets involved, but we’ll leave some of this for you to experience first-hand when Iron Banner: Fortress launches on January 3, 2023.”
Rewards:
Iron Banner weapons not seen since the earlier days of Destiny 2 will be making a return in Season 19. This will include an auto rifle and slug shotgun. Weapons will be updated with random rolls. fresh perks from the last few Seasons, and the Iron Banner Origin Trait.
Plus, fan favorite armor sets from the Taken King era are making a return (shown above)!
Trials of Osiris
In Season 19, a new Machine Gun and 140 Hand Cannon will be added to the loot pool (Bungie doesn’t want to spoil any gear just yet).
Bungie is also looking to add FBMM into Trials of Osiris in the future. Bungie goal is to “provide a larger sense of “fairness” for smaller fireteams and eliminate the need for a Freelance node. Solos can match solos or fill in for teams of duos. Fireteams of three will match fireteams of three.”
The Flawless pool will not have any changes made to it in Season 19. Bungie is working on a new model that will remove the Flawless pool but still provide protection for those working on Trials rep rewards. More information will be provided later in Season 19, Bungie’s goal is to have Trials Labs during Season 20.
Important Reminders
Previous Season Pass and Vendor Rewards
All Guardians should ensure they have collected any earned but unclaimed rewards from their Previous Season Pass page for Season of the Haunted, as well as any unclaimed vendor rewards before this Season ends!
Previous Season Pass rewards can only be claimed up to one Season after a Season concludes. Once we transition into Season of [REDACTED] on December 6, 2022, the Previous Season Pass page will be updated for Season of Plunder rewards.
Save your Stadia Characters
Destiny 2 players whose main characters are from Stadia should set up Cross Save with another platform so they do not lose access to their characters after the shutdown on January 18, 2023. Additionally, after January 18, players with Google Stadia as their primary account should not deactivate Cross Save for any reason. Doing so will result in players completely losing access to their characters.
For more information, please see Bungie’s Save Your Stadia Characters article.
Stadia players who encounter issues accessing their characters once they set up Cross Save should see this Stadia Cross Save Troubleshooting Guide.
There will be no TWAB next week, while Bungie is out on holiday (It is Thanksgiving in the United States). TWAB will return on December 1.
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