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Tech
Destiny 2 Lightfall Patch Notes For Update 7.0.0.1 Include A Massive Set Of Changes – GameSpot
The release of any new Destiny 2 expansion is always accompanied by a large set of patch notes, and Lightfall is no exception. Update 7.0.0.1 is now available for preloading ahead of Lightfall’s launch on Tuesday, and Bungie has now released the full patch notes. While they largely consist of details we’ve been hearing about for weeks or months, it does conveniently bring together all of the key changes in one place in case you haven’t been scouring every one of the many blog posts in the lead-up to launch.
Among the key changes are adjustments to difficulty. Adept difficulty has been removed, and the activity levels for Hero (soft cap +20), Legend (+30), and Master (+40) have each been tweaked. “Each has a scaling combat delta that keeps you under level in the activity and provides a smoother pathway to Grandmaster,” Bungie says. Alongside this is a division of the previous singes/burns system, where elemental damage you dealt and received would be subject to an increase based on a rotating modifier. Now, surges and threats, respectively, will dictate those independently, and a new “overcharged” system will allow for certain weapon types to deal additional damage, based on a combination of activity modifiers and upgrades you’ve unlocked on your seasonal Artifact.
The new Guardian Ranks system has been introduced, offering what should be a more guided experience. That should be particularly useful for newer or more casual players who may not know what to do at a given time. The Triumph tab, meanwhile, has been reworked into the Juorney tab, featuring much of the same information with a new design but also incorporating things like the new Commendations system (where players can praise one another in various categories) and seasonal challenges.
Elsewhere in the update, armor is no longer associated with a specific energy type, meaning you’re no longer constrained in terms of which mods can be applied to a given piece of armor. There are also extensive changes to armor mods, with adjustments to their costs and specific effects.
On the weapons side, crafting has been adjusted to do away with the Resonant Elements currency, and Deepsight objectives have been largely removed–you’ll only see Deepsight on weapons where a pattern for it can be unlocked. (In other words, no more Vaults full of red-border weapons.) There are also numerous balance changes, such as machine guns and heavy grenade launchers being buffed, and linear fusion rifles being nerfed. Various Exotics have been changed, too, like Prometheus Lens’s catalyst getting the Incandescent perk and Leviathan’s Breath applying Volatile when you land a perfect-draw shot.
There is a ton more in the patch notes, which should help pass the time with Destiny 2’s ongoing server downtime running until Lightfall’s release at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET on February 28. If you need another way to make the wait feel shorter, check out our Lightfall story primer that recaps everything that’s happened since the Beyond Light expansion’s release in November 2020. Keep in mind, everything below is coming as an update to all players, while Lightfall and Season of Defiance will introduce a lot of new content, including the Neomuna location and Strand subclass.
ACTIVITIES
CRUCIBLE
- Added an Exotic Armor Swap penalty applied to Trials of Osiris and Competitive Division. Equipping a different piece of Exotic armor drains all ability energy in these modes.
- Competitive Division
- Fixed a bug that caused the Competitive intro quest to auto-claim the completion reward. Rewards are now claimed upon interacting with Shaxx.
- Competitive Rift & Showdown have reduced revive delay time to 1.5s from 2s; reduced respawn time to 5.5s from 7s.
VANGUARD OPS
- Fixed an issue in Heist Battleground: Europa where a Heavy ammo crate could respawn for players who get quarantined into the boss fight arena.
- When you play Vanguard Ops or Nightfall, your final score determines a reputation multiplier for that activity’s completion. Multipliers run from 1.0 (under 30,000 points) to 7.0 (above 250,000). We also tuned the amount of Vanguard rank you receive for completions, Nightfall quality, and streaks.
- Full pass on all Vanguard map and mode multipliers, with an eye toward balancing score-per-hour, rather than score-per-attempt.
- Vanguard and Nightfall strikes: Added on-screen health bar for bosses previously missing them.
- Fixed an issue where player could be given the same objective twice in quick succession in The Devil’s Lair strike.
- The Vanguard Ops playlist has increased in difficulty – players can no longer level beyond the enemy combatants.
- Additional rotating modifiers have been added to the Vanguard Ops playlist.
DIFFICULTY OPTIONS
- Hero, Legend, and Master difficulties have been reworked for greater challenge and to accommodate new modifiers. Adept difficulty has been removed.
- Hero activity level is now soft cap + 20. Legend is Power cap + 30, and Master is Power cap + 40. Each has a scaling combat delta that keeps you under level in the activity and provides a smoother pathway to Grandmaster.
- Most Hero/Legend/Master/Grandmaster activities now feature the ability to use “overcharged” weapons for increased damage. Which weapons are overcharged are determined by your Seasonal Artifact unlocks and activity modifiers.
- Elemental singes and burns have been replaced and broken out into incoming and outgoing components: “threats” and “surges”. Damage bonuses for surges and overcharges do not stack.
RAIDS AND DUNGEONS
- Armor pieces from Master difficulty Grasp of Avarice, Duality, and Spire of the Watcher drop with higher stats.
UI/UX
- Lightfall title screen
- The title screen has received a visual and audio update for Lightfall.
- Guardian Ranks
- UI throughout Destiny 2 has been updated to display player’s Guardian Rank.
- Orbit Screen
- Added a button to directly access the Journey tab.
- Triumphs tab → Journey tab
- When building the Guardian Ranks feature, the team leaned into the opportunity to refresh and relabel the Triumphs tab to better encapsulate the player’s journey through Destiny 2.
- Many of the changes will be immediately visible but some are more subtle including:
- An access point to view details about the Commendations you have sent and received.
- An additional access point for Seasonal Challenges.
- Seals are no longer broken into two categories – Seals and Titles – they are just Titles.
- Additionally, to focus the information shown at the top level, both Triumphs and Titles have been migrated to bespoke sub-screens.
- Added the ability to equip/unequip Titles from the sub-screen rather than going into the details screen.
- Commendations
- Commendations may be sent and received near the end of most activities.
- Accessibility
- In all locations where Commendations may be viewed or given, the player’s Colorblind preferences are respected.
- This includes VFX in the post-game carnage report.
- In all locations where Commendations may be viewed or given, the player’s Colorblind preferences are respected.
- Post Game Carnage Report (PGCR)
- Updated the PGCR to complement the new Commendations feature and updated some features.
- The PGCR now consists of two tabs, the Commendations screen and the scoreboard.
- The reputation wheel has been simplified and is displayed on the top right of the scoreboard page.
- The player can now access the PGCR during the mission end countdown by pressing a button to open Nav mode. Holding it down will still take you to the Director.
- A tradeoff for this functionally is that when the mission end countdown is active the Nav mode cannot be opened. Pressing a button to open Nav mode will open the PGCR instead.
- Ritual Rank Tooltips
- Updated rank tooltips so all rank tooltips now include a streak tracker and added a section that shows a player’s total reputation rank points.
- Tracking
- More items can be tracked at a time:
- Up to three Guardian Ranks objectives can be tracked.
- Up to six non-Guardian Ranks objectives can be tracked.
- Nav mode updates:
- A tab has been added specifically to display tracked Guardian Ranks objectives.
- Tracked objectives that are not specific to Guardian Ranks are grouped together.
- Tracking now split into multiple sections on the Journey tab.
- Guardian Ranks section specifically shows tracked Guardian Ranks objectives.
- All currently trackable, non-quest objectives are shown below the Seasonal Challenges access point.
- Guardian Ranks auto-tracking is enabled by default.
- The goal is to immediately point players towards objectives they can work on to increase their Guardian Rank.
- This may be toggled on the Journey screen if manual tracking is more your speed.
- Tracked Seasonal Challenges properly display their challenge type in its tooltip on the tracking screen.
- More items can be tracked at a time:
- Collections
- Some access points have migrated from the Triumphs tab to the Collections tab:
- Lore
- Weapon patterns & catalysts
- Medals
- Stat trackers
- Increased the number of visible ‘recently discovered’ items.
- Some access points have migrated from the Triumphs tab to the Collections tab:
- Waypoints
- Rectangles are out. Circles are in.
- Guardian Ranks replaces Season Pass level for Guardians.
- Records
- In order to help call out which Guardian Rank records are Seasonal, a blue gradient has been added to the bottom of all Seasonal records including those on the Seasonal Challenges screen.
- Vendors
- Ritual vendors in the Tower (Zavala, Shaxx, Drifter, Banshee-44, Saladin, Saint-14) now have help tooltips describing the core ritual and reputation, as well as explaining some of the less visible features.
QOL UPDATES AND FIXES
- Character screen
- Removed the currency display on the Character screen.
- Clans
- Fixed an issue where Hawthorne’s icon on the Tower map wouldn’t consistently pulse when a clan engram was available to claim.
- Roster
- Improved contrast between player names and background colors on the Roster.
- Fixed an issue causing the Director screen to refresh the footer UI when players in the Roster changed states.
- Settings
- Fixed an issue causing the Settings menu to close when leaving a submenu.
GAMEPLAY AND INVESTMENT
ARMOR
- Armor energy type has been deprecated. Armor now has untyped armor energy, and all mods use that untyped energy when socketed.
- Armor mods that were previously based on weapon archetype are now based on weapon damage type.
- Most armor mods that are based on weapon damage type also have a harmonic version, which is discounted when the weapon’s damage type matches your subclass damage type.
- Armor mod costs have been generally reduced across the board.
- The Combat Style mod socket has been deprecated and replaced on all armor pieces with an extra socket for mods associated with that armor slot (helmet, gauntlets, etc.).
- The Charged With Light and Elemental Wells armor mods have been merged into a single system: Armor Charge.
- Players using the Armor Charge system can gain up to three stacks of Armor Charge at a time (expanded up to six stacks by equipping Charged Up mods).
- Picking up an Orb of Power grants one stack of Armor Charge.
- Many mods that previously created Elemental Wells or granted stacks of Charged With Light directly have been modified to instead spawn Orbs of Power.
- Mods that provide an ongoing benefit (such as Font of Wisdom) now grant that benefit as long as you have stacks of Armor Charge; these mods cause Armor Charge stacks to decay every 10 seconds.
- Some redundant mods have been deprecated when their effect would overlap with an existing mod’s effects.
- Some armor mods (such as the Kickstart mods and most mods triggered by using a finisher) now make use of the Armor Charge system.
- Some of the functionality of Elemental Wells and their associated mods have been moved into subclass fragments and the new Firesprite and Void Breech.
- Warmind Cells have been deprecated.
- Seasonal Artifact
- Unlocking a perk in the Seasonal Artifact now grants that perk directly to the character when it is relevant; you no longer need to socket an armor mod to gain an Artifact perk’s effect.
- Column 2 of the Artifact now unlocks multiple discounted mods per node.
- The maximum number of unlocked perks has been reduced to 12.
- Resetting your selections in the Seasonal Artifact is now free.
- Removed the one-second button hold to unlock an Artifact perk; a single button press now unlocks the perk.
- Artifice armor has had its bonus socket converted into a socket that allows you to increase any one stat on that armor piece by +3.
- Adjusted the amount of damage reduction provided by the Resilience stat in PvE. At tier 10 damage reduction now caps at 30% (down from 40% in Season 19), and the progression of the damage reduction across tiers has been smoothed to give more relative value to lower tiers of Resilience.
- The armor mods granting Resilience have had their armor energy costs increased to 4 (+10 Resilience) and 2 (+5 Resilience).
- The Iron Lord’s Pride perk has been added to all Iron Banner armor sets from Season 8 to the present.
- Exotic Armor changes
- Khepri’s Sting: Truesight is now granted when damaging an enemy with a smoke bomb. Additionally, when you have an undetonated smoke bomb on the battlefield and have not been made invisible by a smoke bomb, you gain significantly increased melee energy generation.
- Heart of Inmost Light: Reduced duration of the empowered ability buffs in PvE to five seconds (down from 10 seconds). Reduced bonus class ability regeneration while empowered to +25% per stack in both PvE and PvP (down from +150% and +38%, respectively).
- This change is intended to decrease how easy it is to get and maintain a 2x empowerment bonus in PvE, as well as reduce the total amount of bonus ability energy provided. The goal is for Heart of Inmost light to remain strong in ability-focused builds, while giving room for other Exotics to shine as well.
- The Bombardiers now cause targets damaged by its explosive to become severed when used by a Strand Hunter.
- Chromatic Fire has been updated to work with Strand.
- Mantle of Battle Harmony updated to work with Strand.
- Verity’s Brow updated to work with Strand.
- Felwinter’s Helm triggers weaken burst off Strand melees.
- Claws of Ahamkara will not provide an additional melee charge when equipped to a Strand subclass.
- Armor that supports coloration and appearance change based on your currently selected subclass has been updated to support Strand. This includes the following:
- 2020, 2021, and 2022 Solstice Armor sets.
- Antaeus Wards and ornaments.
- No Backup Plans and ornaments.
WEAPONS
- Crafting changes
- Resonant elements have been removed.
- Crafting component costs have been replaced with standard currencies such as Glimmer and Enhancement Cores.
- Deepsight will now only manifest on weapons that have a pattern available to unlock.
- Deepsight has been removed on existing weapons that do not have a pattern available to unlock.
- The Deepsight attunement objective has been removed. You can immediately extract or dismantle the weapon to obtain pattern progress.
- Crafting bug fixes
- Fixed an issue where a crafted perk cost was doubled for the King’s Fall weapons Defiance of Yasmin and Smite of Merain.
- Updated several different weapon VFX to address miscellaneous bugs and performance issues.
- Restored the correct audio to Field-Forged shotguns.
- Red reticle is now enabled on PC.
- Linear Fusion Rifles
- Reduced damage vs. Champions, minibosses, bosses, and vehicles by 15%.
- Sleeper Simulant and The Queenbreaker are unaffected.
- Reduced damage vs. Champions, minibosses, bosses, and vehicles by 15%.
- Machine Guns
- Increased damage by 10%.
- Increased reserve ammo by 50% at 0 inventory stat and 20% at 100 inventory stat.
- Heavy Grenade Launchers
- Increased damage vs. Champions, minibosses, bosses, and vehicles by 20%, minors by 40%.
- Improved projectile collision, making it slightly easier to land hits.
- Increased blast radius by 1m.
- Parasite is unaffected.
- Shotguns
- Shotgun reticles now change in size proportional to spread angle.
- Related note: The Legend of Acrius hip-fire reticle is now a bit more representative of its (very large) spread angle.
- Kinetic Weapons
- Kinetic Primary weapon damage multiplier against unshielded combatants increased from 1.05 to 1.1.
- Kinetic Special weapon damage multiplier against unshielded combatants increased from 1.05 to 1.15.
- Kinetic slot Stasis weapons no longer have the 5% damage bonus versus unshielded targets in PvE.
- Exotics
- The Queenbreaker
- Now uses Arc 3.0 blind.
- Shot now chains to multiple nearby enemies.
- Ruinous Effigy
- Transmutation sphere slam attack now suppresses.
- Leviathan’s Breath
- Now applies volatile on perfect draw impact.
- Increased damage from 396 to 442. This allows it to once again one-hit kill all Supers in PvP.
- Increased damage vs. Champions by 30%.
- One Thousand Voices
- Each explosion now applies 10 + 5 (with Ember of Ashes) scorch stacks.
- Sunshot
- Explosion on kill now applies 10 + 5 scorch stacks.
- Polaris Lance
- Perfect Fifth shots now apply 40 + 20 scorch stacks instead of a custom burn.
- Two-Tailed Fox
- Solar rocket now applies 60 + 30 scorch stacks instead of burn.
- Prometheus Lens
- Added the Incandescent perk to the catalyst.
- Grand Overture
- Switched the catalyst to use Arc blind.
- The Manticore
- Added a hip-fire reticle element to showing current stacks of Antigrav Repulsor.
- Tractor Cannon
- Fixed a crash when Tractor Cannon was fired at large groups of Stasis crystals.
- The Fourth Horseman
- Fixed an issue where this weapon had received an unintended 20% damage nerf.
- Thunderlord
- Fixed an issue where this weapon’s lightning strikes could disrupt you or your teammates.
- The Queenbreaker
- Perks
- These perks have been updated to work with Strand:
- Osmosis
- Golden Tricorn
- Elemental Capacitor
- Grants +20 airborne effectiveness (+25 for the enhanced perk).
- Rewind rounds
- Rebuilt to work on non-Vault of Glass weapons.
- Eager Edge
- No longer deactivates when moving faster than 35m/s.
- Deactivates correctly after a single melee swing.
- Reduced the base lunge distance buff from 2 to 1.8.
- Reduced airborne lunge distance penalty from 25% to 20%.
- The enhanced perk now increases lunge distance slightly, back up to 2.
- Blinding grenades
- Renamed to “Disorienting Grenades”.
- Veist Stinger
- This was typically a full reload when the perk activated, it now reloads 25% of the magazine.
- Zen Moment
- Now also reduces incoming flinch.
- The perk has been branched so that shots from different archetypes ramp up the effect more quickly.
- 1x for Submachine Guns, Auto Rifles, and Machine Guns.
- 1.5x for Pulse Rifles and Sidearms.
- 2x for Hand Cannons and Scout Rifles.
- Danger Zone
- Updated the description to include that, while active, the perk also reduces self-damage from the weapon.
- Wellspring
- Fixed an issue where this perk was not rewarding the correct amount of energy.
- Now works with abilities that have multiple charges.
- For abilities with multiple charges, once the ability has one full charge it is considered “charged” and will divert excess energy into the other abilities while giving the “charged” ability the least amount.
- The fix for the enhanced version of this trait is coming in a future patch.
- Cascade Point
- No longer triggers off of non-precision damage against weakened targets.
- These perks have been updated to work with Strand:
ABILITIES
- Rescaled the efficacy of Discipline, Strength, and each class ability stat on grenade, melee, and class ability regeneration rates:
- In general, Tier 10 stat is roughly equivalent to Tier 8 in the previous system.
- Each increase in Tier now provides a more consistent benefit to the ability’s cooldown reduction, rather than spiking heavily at low tiers.
- Hunter
- Supers
- Arc Staff
- Increased the maximum number of Orbs that can be created via defeating targets from 5 to 7.
- Golden Gun: Marksman
- Increased the maximum number of Orbs that can be created via defeating targets from 5 to 7.
- Golden Gun: Deadshot
- Increased the maximum number of Orbs that can be created via defeating targets from 5 to 7.
- Spectral Blades
- Increased the maximum number of Orbs that can be created via defeating targets from 5 to 7.
- Reduced base cooldown time from 10m25s to 9m16s.
- Gathering Storm
- Decreased the maximum number of Orbs that can be created via defeating targets from 7 to 5.
- Silence and Squall
- Decreased the maximum number of Orbs that can be created via defeating targets from 7 to 5.
- Blade Barrage
- Decreased the maximum number of Orbs that can be created via defeating targets from 7 to 5.
- Arc Staff
- Class Abilities
- Marksman’s Dodge
- Reduced base cooldown time from 34s to 29s.
- Gambler’s Dodge
- Reduced base cooldown time from 46s to 38s.
- Marksman’s Dodge
- Melees
- Weighted Throwing Knife
- Increased base cooldown time from 109s to 137s.
- Lightweight Knife
- Increased base cooldown time from 90s to 100s.
- Proximity Explosive Knife
- Increased base cooldown time from 100s to 111s.
- Withering Blade
- Reduced base cooldown time from 113s to 100s.
- Weighted Throwing Knife
- Supers
- Titan
- Supers
- Fists of Havoc
- Increased the maximum number of Orbs that can be created via defeating targets from 5 to 7.
- Increased PVE damage by 20%.
- Glacial Quake
- Increased the maximum number of Orbs that can be created via defeating targets from 5 to 7.
- Hammer of Sol
- Increased the maximum number of Orbs that can be created via defeating targets from 5 to 7.
- Reduced base cooldown time from 10m25s to 9m16s.
- Burning Maul
- Increased the maximum number of Orbs that can be created via defeating targets from 5 to 7.
- Sentinel Shield
- Increased the maximum number of Orbs that can be created via defeating targets from 5 to 7.
- Thundercrash
- Decreased the maximum number of Orbs that can be created via defeating targets from 7 to 5.
- Reduced maximum flight time from 5 seconds to 4.5 seconds.
- Reduced size of the damaging volume around the player and pushed it further forward in front of the player to make drive-by disintegrations more intentional.
- Reduced detonation size vs. players by ~20%; unchanged vs. PVE combatants.
- Downward vertical influence now begins earlier in flight.
- Ward of Dawn
- Ward maximum health reduced from 13500 to 8000.
- Rescaled PVE combatant damage vs. the Ward to compensate; in general, Ward of Dawn’s effective HP against PvE combatants should not meaningfully change.
- Standardized the damage dealt by each type of Kinetic and Energy weapon against the Ward. Previously, Energy weapons did 2.5x damage to Ward of Dawn and Kinetic weapons did 1x damage. Now regardless of damage type, weapons do 1.5x damage to the Ward.
- Armor of Light has been updated to reduce its potency in PVP:
- Maximum health reduced from 425 to 300.
- Now inherits Void Overshield’s 50% PvE damage resistance to compensate.
- No longer negates precision damage.
- Fists of Havoc
- Melees
- Ballistic Slam
- Now suppresses the attacking player’s base melee for 0.9s after landing, so a follow-up melee cannot be performed until the player returns to first person.
- Increased base cooldown time from 90s to 114s.
- Shield Bash
- Increased base cooldown time from 90s to 114s.
- Seismic Strike
- Increased base cooldown time from 90s to 101s.
- Hammer Strike
- Increased base cooldown time from 90s to 101s.
- Shield Toss
- Reduced base cooldown time from 100s to 91s.
- Ballistic Slam
- Aspects
- Knockout
- Reduced basic melee damage bonus vs. players from 60% to 50%.
- Reduced full body melee damage bonus vs. players from 25% to 20%.
- Knockout
- Supers
- Warlock
- Supers
- Stormtrance
- Increased the maximum number of Orbs that can be created via defeating targets from 5 to 7.
- Nova Warp
- Increased the maximum number of Orbs that can be created via defeating targets from 5 to 7.
- Winter’s Wrath
- Increased the maximum number of Orbs that can be created via defeating targets from 5 to 7.
- Daybreak
- Increased the maximum number of Orbs that can be created via defeating targets from 5 to 7.
- Throw cost reduced from 10% to 6.5% per swing.
- Increased damage vs. PvE combatants by 25%.
- Reduced base cooldown time from 10m25s to 9m16s.
- Chaos Reach
- Decreased the maximum number of Orbs that can be created via defeating targets from 7 to 5.
- Nova Bomb
- Decreased the maximum number of Orbs that can be created via defeating targets from 7 to 5.
- Stormtrance
- Class Abilities
- Phoenix Dive
- Reduced base cooldown time from 82s to 55s.
- While Daybreak is active Phoenix Dive’s cooldown is significantly reduced, allowing for rapid reactivations.
- While Daybreak is active, Phoenix Dive’s detonation damage increased from 40/80 min/max to 100/220.
- Restoration duration when activated while Heat Rises is active increased from 1s to 3s.
- Phoenix Dive
- Melees
- Celestial Fire
- Increased base cooldown time from 100s to 112s.
- Incinerator Snap
- Reduced base cooldown time from 90s to 83s.
- Penumbral Blast
- Reduced base cooldown time from 114s to 101s.
- Celestial Fire
- Aspects
- Heat Rises
- Split the airborne effectiveness bonus previously granted by consuming your grenade between a passive and active benefit:
- Previously, granted 70 airborne effectiveness when Heat Rises was active after consuming a grenade.
- Now grants 20 airborne effectiveness passively while Heat Rises is equipped, and an additional 50 airborne effectiveness while Heat Rises is active, for the same total of 70 airborne effectiveness.
- Split the airborne effectiveness bonus previously granted by consuming your grenade between a passive and active benefit:
- Heat Rises
- Grenades
- Arc
- Lightning grenade
- Increased base cooldown time from 121s to 152s.
- Increased PvE damage by 20%.
- Storm grenade
- Increased base cooldown time from 105s to 121s.
- Flux grenade
- Reduced base cooldown time from 182s to 152s.
- Pulse grenade
- Increased PvE damage by 20%.
- Lightning grenade
- Solar
- Healing grenade
- Increased base cooldown time from 82s to 91s.
- Tripmine grenade
- Increased base cooldown time from 91s to 121s.
- Solar grenade
- Increased base cooldown time from 121s to 152s.
- Increased PvE damage by 20%.
- Thermite grenade
- Increased base cooldown time from 105s to 121s.
- Increased PvE damage by 20%.
- Incendiary grenade
- Reduced base cooldown time from 121s to 105s.
- Healing grenade
- Void
- Void Spike grenade:
- Increased base cooldown time from 91s to 121s.
- Increased PvE damage by 20%.
- Voidwall grenade
- Increased base cooldown time from 105s to 152s.
- Increased PVE damage by 20%.
- Vortex Grenade
- Increased base cooldown time from 121s to 152s.
- Increased PvE damage by 20%.
- Magnetic grenade
- Reduced base cooldown time from 121s to 105s.
- Scatter grenade
- Reduced base cooldown time from 121s to 105s.
- Void Spike grenade:
- Stasis
- Duskfield grenade
- Increased base cooldown time from 64s to 91s.
- Duskfield grenade
- Arc
- Added new elemental pickups to the Void and Solar subclasses:
- Void Breach
- Void Breaches are created by a selection of new and existing Void fragments, and grant class ability energy on pickup.
- Firesprite
- Firesprites are created by a suite of new and existing Solar fragments, and grant grenade energy on pickup.
- Void Breach
- Fragments
- Arc
- Spark of Resistance
- Increased nearby enemy count requirement for activation from 2 to 3.
- Reduced linger time after you’re no longer surrounded from 4 seconds to 2 seconds.
- Spark of Instinct (New!)
- When critically wounded, taking damage from nearby enemies emits a burst of damaging Arc energy that jolts targets.
- Spark of Haste (New!)
- You have greatly increased Resilience, Recovery, and Mobility while sprinting.
- Spark of Resistance
- Solar
- Ember of Tempering
- Now creates a Firesprite on Solar weapon kills while active, in addition to its original effects.
- Ember of Combustion
- Now creates a Firesprite on Solar Super defeats, in addition to its original effects.
- Ember of Searing
- Now creates a Firesprite when defeating scorched targets, in addition to its original effects.
- Ember of Mercy (New!)
- When you revive an ally, you and other nearby allies gain Restoration. Picking up a Solar Flare grants Restoration.
- Ember of Resolve (New!)
- Solar grenade final blows heal you.
- Ember of Tempering
- Void
- Echo of Domineering
- Now creates a Void breach when defeating suppressed targets, in addition to its original effects.
- Echo of Harvest
- Now creates a Void breach when defeating weakened targets with precision damage, in addition to its original effects.
- Echo of Starvation
- Now grants devour on picking up a Void Breach, in addition to its original effects.
- Now allows Orb of Power pickup with full Super energy.
- Echo of Cessation (New!)
- Finisher final blows create a burst of Void damage that causes nearby enemies to become volatile. Defeating volatile targets creates a Void breach.
- Echo of Vigilance (New!)
- Defeating a target when your shields are depleted, grants you a temporary Void overshield.
- Echo of Domineering
- Arc
- Subclass Keywords
- Arc
- Jolt
- Jolt lightning damage now stuns Overload Champions.
- Blind
- Blinding Unstoppable Champions now stuns them.
- Jolt
- Solar
- Radiant
- While radiant, your weapons now also pierce Barrier Champion shields and stuns them.
- Note: Weapons that already have an existing anti-Champion behavior (i.e. an Artifact mod, an intrinsic anti-Champion capability, or the ability to apply another subclass keyword that stuns a Champion type) will not be granted the anti-barrier behavior from being radiant.
- Ignition
- Ignition damage now stuns Unstoppable Champions.
- Radiant
- Void
- Volatile Rounds
- While you have volatile rounds, your Void weapons now also pierce Barrier Champion shields and stuns them.
- Note: Weapons that already have an existing anti-Champion behavior (i.e. an Artifact mod, an intrinsic anti-Champion capability, or the ability to apply another subclass keyword that stuns a Champion type) will not be granted the anti-barrier behavior from volatile rounds.
- Suppression
- Suppressing Overload Champions now stuns them.
- Volatile Rounds
- Stasis
- Slow
- Slowing Overload Champions now stuns them.
- Shatter
- Shatter damage now stuns Unstoppable Champions.
- Slow
- Arc
- Supers
COMBATANTS
- Champions now correctly stun even when they’re playing another animation, such as a spawn-in.
- This was a tricky one, so thank you for your patience!
- Champion stun time is now consistent across all Champions.
- This used to be dependent on the animation length, leading to slightly different times between combatants.
- Champions can now be stunned with various elemental verbs:
- Barrier Champions are weak to:
- Shots from a player with the Solar radiant buff
- Void volatile rounds
- Strand unraveling rounds
- Overload Champions are weak to:
- Arc jolt
- Void suppression
- Stasis slow
- Unstoppable Champions are weak to:
- Arc blind
- Solar ignition
- Stasis shatter
- Strand suspend
- Barrier Champions are weak to:
FINISHERS
- All subclass-agnostic finishers now support Strand coloration when using a Strand subclass.
- Updated the VFX for Stasis finishers to fix a coloration issue.
EMOTES
- The “Ghost Fist Bump” Exotic emote now supports Strand coloration when using a Strand subclass.
POWER AND PROGRESSION
- Weekly powerful rewards have been removed from Throne World and added to Neomuna.
SEASONAL UPDATES: ENGRAMS, ENERGY, FOCUSING, CHESTS, AND KEYS
- Umbral engrams are no longer used to focus seasonal weapons and armor and will no longer drop from the game.
- As a result, there will no longer be Seasonal umbral energy.
- Seasonal engrams are a new type of engram.
- You can visit the seasonal vendor to open them.
- Or you can spend multiple seasonal engrams to focus into specific weapons or armor.
- Seasonal focusing is now a separate screen and can be accessed at the vendor by pressing the button next to upgrades.
- If you focused Crucible engrams in Season 19 at Shaxx, you’ll be familiar with this system.
- Seasonal engrams are stored at the vendor and do not require inventory space.
- There is a wallet item you can acquire by visiting the seasonal vendor. Hovering over this item in your inventory will show you how many engrams you have for each vendor. If you delete this item, you can reacquire it from the vendor.
- Owners of a season will now periodically be rewarded with a seasonal engram and/or a seasonal key upon completing activities throughout the game.
- These are known as defiant engrams and defiant keys for Season of Defiance.
- Playlist versions of the seasonal battlegrounds have one chest at the end of the activity.
- If you DO NOT have a seasonal key when you open that chest, you will receive a seasonal weapon or armor.
- If you DO have a seasonal key, it will be consumed and you will receive the following:
- EITHER a seasonal weapon with Deepsight resonance that you have not completed the crafting pattern for OR a high stat piece of seasonal armor.
- AND a seasonal engram.
- Make sure you open the chest at the end of the activity!
- World pool weapons and armor no longer drop at the end of the playlist version of seasonal activities.
- Direct launch versions of the seasonal battlegrounds will not have chests and instead award world pool weapons and armor.
PLATFORMS AND SYSTEMS
PC PLATFORMS
- Added support and in-game setting to toggle NVIDIA Reflex (on supported PC hardware).
- Fixed various minor QoL issues regarding the Controller settings menus on PC.
GENERAL
- Collision damage is no longer lethal against Guardians.
- Ghost projections that changed color based on your subclass now support Strand coloration when using a Strand Subclass.
LOCALIZATION
- Players now have access to full Mandarin audio localization across all new Lightfall content, the accompanying Season, and core game modes covering Crucible, Gambit, and strikes.
- Ikora for German has been re-cast.
The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors.
GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.
Tech
Take-Two Interactive to Acquire 'Borderlands' Developer Gearbox From Embracer Group for $460 Million – Yahoo Canada Sports
Take-Two Interactive has acquired video game developer Gearbox, the maker of the “Borderlands” franchise, from Embracer Group for $460 million.
Per Take Two, the company “expects the transaction to deepen its successful relationship with Gearbox Entertainment and to provide increased financial benefits through a fully integrated operational structure.”
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As part of the deal, Take-Two will acquire Gearbox IP, including “Borderlands” and “Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands” franchises, games published by Take-Two’s 2K Games, as well as “Homeworld,” “Risk of Rain,” “Brothers in Arms” and “Duke Nukem.”
Currently, Gearbox has six “key interactive entertainment projects in various stages of development,” per Take-Two, which includes five sequels, two from “Borderlands” and “Homeworld” universes, and at least one “exciting new intellectual property,” all of which have been acquired in the sale.
Take-Two’s purchase of Gearbox is expected to close in June, pending regulatory approval. Upon completion, Gearbox will operate as a studio within 2K, continuing to be led by Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford and his management team.
Former Gearbox owner Embracer, a Swedish gaming conglomerate who snapped up the rights to “Lord of the Rings” two years ago, has undergone a severe restructuring program over the past year, which has seen the company shut down or dispose of dozens of games studios and titles and lay off hundreds of staff, resulting in aftershocks that have reverberated throughout the games industry.
The sale of Gearbox marks the latest insistence of Embracer unloading assets, following the company divesting Saber Interactive.
“Our acquisition of Gearbox is an exciting moment for Take-Two and will strengthen our industry-leading creative talent and portfolio of owned intellectual property, including the iconic Borderlands franchise,” Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said. “This combination enhances the financial profile of our existing projects with Gearbox and unlocks the opportunity for us to drive increased long-term growth by leveraging the full resources of Take-Two across all of Gearbox’s exciting initiatives.”
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Tech
An OLED iPad Pro and the first big-screen iPad Air will reportedly arrive in May – Engadget
Apple will finally launch new iPads in early May, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Expected are a new iPad Pro with an OLED display and a faster iPad Air, including a 12.9-inch model for the first time in that lineup. The details of the upcoming iPad models have been consistent, circulating through the rumor mill since last year.
The new iPad Pro models will reportedly add OLED displays (offering deeper blacks and richer colors) and run on the new M3 chip, already found in several Macs. The new tablets are said to launch alongside a redesigned Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard. Other than a white color option, the latter has remained unchanged since its arrival four years ago.
Meanwhile, the iPad Air will supposedly run on a new processor. Bloomberg didn’t specify which, but — considering the current model uses the M1, and Apple likely wants to reserve the M3 for the more expensive Pro — the M2 sounds like a safe bet. The 12.9-inch screen option would mark the first time the iPad Air line has offered a display larger than 10.9 inches. Although Apple will charge more for that model than the smaller sibling expected alongside it, that would be the cheapest way yet to get a supersized iPad screen.
Gurman said early this month that the new tablets would launch alongside the M3 MacBook Air, but the laptop arrived without any iPads in tow. He now reports that Apple’s release schedule was pushed back to finish working on the devices’ software and ironing out the kinks from the “complex new manufacturing techniques” they require.
Tech
Ashleigh Oakridge offers boutique-style condos with concrete construction – Vancouver Sun
Peterson Group’s latest project will be chock-full of amenities and have timeless interiors
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It may not sound exciting to say the big selling points for a new condominium project are that it’s concrete construction and four storeys. But start thinking in terms of getting all the benefits of concrete-tower construction in a sophisticated, boutique-style building of only 34 to 35 units, chock-full of amenities, situated on a quiet, tree-lined Vancouver street and the appeal is obvious—especially to those downsizing in the neighbourhood.
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“That on its own really sets it apart because if you want to be in a boutique setting, you don’t love the idea of highrises, and you want a concrete home type, there aren’t many options. It’s highly unique,” explains Barrett Sprowson, vice-president of sales and project marketing at Peterson Group, the developer of the Ashleigh Oakridge project, which will be composed of three buildings when completed.
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Two of the three buildings, the Berkley and the Alma, will be constructed first, with the Cambridge following later. Each one will have its own curb appeal, but all are designed to integrate into the neighbourhood, hence the plan to maintain the existing trees. The wellness amenities of sauna, steam room, cold and hot plunge pools and fully-equipped fitness room are centrally located in the Berkley for all the residents’ use. All three buildings have their own rooftop amenities that feature an indoor-outdoor flow from an expansive entertainment and co-workspace to patio lounging, dining, fire pits, communal gardens and children’s play area.
The interiors of the homes, which Sprowson says offer generous, well-laid-out floorplans, feature numerous elevated design details that complement a classic esthetic. His personal favourite is the pot filler over the gas cooktop in the kitchen. “There’s not too many times you run into that, and there’s a little feature that’s practical, helpful and useful but is also tricky and expensive to do,” he says.
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The interior design team at Ste. Marie Studio framed their overall concept around the idea of classic styling accented with design-forward touches.
“We looked at it through the lens of a single-family home and wanting it to feel really timeless,” says Craig Stanghetta, founder and creative director of Ste. Marie Studio. “We don’t want it to feel that it doesn’t have a little bit of risk. There’s a little bit of risk in terms of some brushed metal accents.”
Their use of a bold marble for the kitchen backsplashes makes a dramatic visual statement, but though striking, the pattern is a classic marble, not one heavily veined, and one that would be at home in a Paris apartment or a New York brownstone, Stanghetta observes. In the larger homes, they’ve used it to wrap the islands. “They become a big feature, but in some of these other ones, we’re using the manufactured stone in those areas and letting the backsplash be the big design gesture,” Stanghetta says.
In the smaller units where the backsplashes are marble, but quartz is used on the counter and island surfaces, the team introduced a dining table-island combination that works for multiple uses—kitchen prep, home office or dining—and the generous bank of wall storage available in the L-shaped configuration allowed for this unique style of island.
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“I think we just acknowledged that sometimes people are prioritizing different things, and if you’re in a one-bedroom living scenario, then we want the flexibility to choose your own adventure with that piece of furniture,” Stanghetta explains.
The appliance package is Miele and features built-in coffee makers, gas ranges, speed ovens, wall ovens and, in some units, wine fridges. There are also sleek can lights over the islands and open shelving for personalizing the space. Sprowson notes that the full-height pantries also boost the kitchens’ functionality and that, though expected when downsizing from a single-family home, they’re often not an option in condo living.
“It’s also a striking kitchen. You look at the marble backsplash and the marble countertop with the waterfall edge, and you’ve got all the functionality, but it’s also, dare I say, very pretty to look at,” he says.
The bathrooms reflect that same mix of functionality and sophisticated styling, with details like flattering sconce lighting and wall-mount toilets. Stanghetta says the floating shelf under the medicine cabinet creates a “nice balance of high-functional storage but then these clean lines that also give you a more fully designed and realized space.”
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He notes that the double vanities in the larger bathrooms have an oversized countertop, a beautiful detail that works with the timeless design concept: attention to detail that will last. The combination of timelessness with contemporary accents creates interiors that reflect the project’s overall vision.
The development is ideally situated to allow residents to be central to everything while enjoying a quiet location.
“This is a viable option for anyone who wants concrete, a good amount of space, decent amenities, all the walkability and proximity to Oakridge and all the cool stuff that’s on the Cambie corridor,” Stanghetta observes.
Ashleigh Oakridge
Project Address: 5080 Ash Street, Vancouver
Project Scope: A development of three, four-storey, concrete, boutique buildings offering one, two and three-bedroom homes that range from 590 to 1,800 square feet. Each building features rooftop amenities and a shared wellness and fitness centre in the Berkley building.
Developers: Peterson Group
Architects: GBL Architects
Prices: Starting in the low $800,000s
Sales centre: Ashleigh PC 2094 W 43rd Ave, Vancouver
Sales centre hours: Open daily (Except Friday), noon to 5 p.m.
Sales phone: 604-476-429
Website: ashleighoakridge.com
Occupancy date: Estimated completion summer 2028
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