Destiny Update 2.0 Has Me Hooked Again

Destiny update 2.0 guardians

Destiny has been something of a ride. The first year has had its share of ups and downs, but I can definitively say that there is no game that I have more hours in than Destiny. Not all of those are hours are good hours. Hell, some are downright awful, but some have also been the most fun that I have had in games, and this is a game that has been out for one year. I’ve made a ton of great friends through Destiny, and learned new skills in working with other people. That’s why it was bittersweet to eject that disc a few months ago in favor of putting more of my time elsewhere, specifically into other games that needed playing and reviewing.

When I got home from work yesterday, the Destiny icon was different. Update 2.0 had just finished installing, and the looming silhouette of Oryx, Hive god and Taken king, was peering out at me from behind the Destiny logo. My trophy completion for the game had dropped from 100% to 84% as the new Taken King trophies were added. It was then that I did a crazy thing. I ejected Metal Gear Solid V and put Destiny back into my PS4. The next few hours of my night were filled with a surge of nostalgia of the last year of the game, and exploring all of the new 2.0 update changes in complete awe.

Destiny update 2.0 shoot

Keep in mind that I am not talking about The Taken King expansion here. That doesn’t launch until September 15, and I’m sure I’ll have plenty more to say about the expansion when it does drop. I am just talking about update 2.0 which is available to all Destiny players, whether you plan on purchasing The Taken King or not. Destiny update 2.0 does a whole lot right. And what I intended to be just sometime spent fiddling around and checking out new features turned into those hours of me delving into what 2.0 brought to the Vanguard war table.

Leveling the Playing Field

The biggest change immediately noticeable is the change to leveling, and the separation of character level and light level. Your characters can now level organically to 34 (40 after The Taken King releases), using nothing but experience gained from quests and killing enemies. That’s right! No more hoping for the right pair of boots to drop just to be the proper level to run Prison of Elders on hard. You can now get there strictly through leveling. Light level still has a place, but it is a separate number that averages the levels of your main ten pieces of gear, meaning that no singular piece of gear is essential to you being at the proper level for endgame activities.

The light level also ranges into the hundreds, rather than stacking 14 levels on top of your characters organic 20, so the curve from level to level is much more gradual than Destiny’s previous cliffs between light level. These cliffs impeded far too many players that weren’t lucky enough or didn’t spend enough time grinding out the right gear, and effectively segregated the player base into those that had Raid tier weapons and armor and those that didn’t.

destiny update 2.0 quests

What Is Your Quest?

Questification. Verb. To turn previous Destiny content into the quest-based system coming in The Taken King. And yes, you can go back through it all again to earn additional reputation and experience, or maybe you just want to hear how Nolan North sounds as Ghost. I didn’t think I would want to go through the old story quests again, but the quest based system makes it feel a lot more like an RPG-styled game now, with quests and bounties able to be tracked (up to four at a time) when you pull up your Ghost with the touch pad. This way you can easily see the number of Titan kills you have left in the crucible, or the number of Hive majors that need to meet the business end of your fusion rifle.

In addition, bounties (which have increased to 16 slots) can now be turned in directly from the menu without having to go back to the bounty-bot in the Tower. Talk about efficiency! I also noticed that plenty of the bounties were new objectives, and felt much more organic to playing the game rather than the arbitrary checklist of things that “have” to get done.

While leveling and questification are the biggest changes in this update, there have been plenty of other tweaks to 2.0 that make the experience well worth checking out again if you have fallen out of sorts with Destiny, but are looking for that excuse to get back in. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone if you want to take a peek.

You can find more features that Destiny update 2.0 brings and my impressions in the gallery below.

If you want the nitty gritty details on every change in Destiny update 2.0, you can check out this post on the Bungie blog. So how about it? Is this enough to bring you into the Destiny fold, either as a returning player, or a fledgling newcomer? Let us know what you think of update 2.0 in the comments below, and stay tuned for further coverage of Destiny as we near the release of The Taken King.

Essential Reading:

Destiny update 2.0 changes

Destiny Update 2.0 Changes

Destiny update 2.0 is out ahead of The Taken King's release, and there are a ton of changes that you ought to know about. Despite the awesome picture, a flaming hammer is not one of them.
Ghost is Nolan North

Like it or not, Ghost is now voiced by Nolan North, even if you go back and play through old quest lines. All of the dialogue has been re-recorded, and you can listen to the comparisons between Dinklage and North here.
Exotic, Shader, and Emblem Collections

No need to worry about hanging on to shaders, emblems, exotics, or even ships anymore! There are now consoles in a few locations in the tower that let you see the collection of what you have earned, and you can acquire them from the collection even if you've broken them down. There's no more holding on to crappy shaders or emblems just because you feel like you can't get them again, and being able to get multiple exotics for your characters off of one unlock is a nice change.
Pledge to Your Faction

Remember that silly faction class item that you didn't want to wear around, but had to if you wanted to gain reputation with them? You no longer are tied to that class item as you can now pledge your allegiance to a faction for a small fee of 2500 glimmer. Faction reputation will also stack, so you've got very little excuse not to pledge with a faction and begin earning the goodies each time you rank up.
Universal Armor Materials

Remember those really annoying armor materials that were specific to each character, meaning that you had to break down a ton of armor with characters you didn't care about just to upgrade the armor you actually wanted to use? Those pesky class specific armor materials are gone in favor of a new universal armor material called "armor materials." Catchy, eh?
Field Test Weapons

Reputation can be gained with the weapon vendor Banshee-44 by field testing his weapons, which essentially gives you a test weapon and asks you to complete a series of tasks with it. Reputation levels then grant you the ability to custom order weapons through Banshee, which will be delivered on each "weapon Wednesday."
Weapon Nerfs, Buffs, and Adjustments

There are a number of changes to weapons both buffing and nerfing, and generally adjusting their usability. It should make it interesting to see what comes out as the new king of weapons after the relative nerfs to a couple of fan favorite exotics.
Strength, Discipline, and Intellect Values

If you were like me, you looked at the random numbers for strength, intellect, and discipline and didn't give them much thought. Alright, so they affect your cooldowns, but how? Now you know exactly how much they affect your cooldowns in a tier-based system, so you'll want to pay more attention to these values on your armor in the future.
Exotics Affected by Shaders

Alright, it's stupid and it's cosmetic, but I was always so aggravated that an awesome look for my guardian could be ruined so completely by one exotic piece of gear not being colored by shaders. Owners of the Glasshouse need to worry no longer! Glowhoo isn't the only thing that will go with it anymore as shaders impact exotic gear now, and it looks awesome.
Strike Updates

Strikes have had a couple of updates, including rewarding players who play continuously in the playlist with additional reputation an bonus loot. It also penalizes those who jump into playlists and AFK, requiring you to participate in the battle to get the rewards. It does nerf the burn from 3x damage to 2x damage though (keeping enemies at 3x), so there's a bit more of a challenge headed your way.
Questification

Everything has been questified! Or rather, everything has been given quest lines to follow that appear in your menu. It's a small change that makes a huge difference to how the quests are perceived and feels like it gives a real meaning and story flow behind each mission, as opposed to the more haphazard nature that used to be in play.

This questification also includes brand new quest lines for your guardians' subclasses, such as one for the Titan Striker, or Hunter Bladedancer, which provide a lot more meaning and lore to each subclass.
New Leveling System

Forget about that weird stacking light level system. It's gone. Done. Characters now level organically to 34 through experience alone, and light level is an entirely separate stat that is governed by the average value of all of your gear. It should make the curve and road bumps much smoother, allowing for many more people to not hit that leveling wall, as no one piece of gear significantly impacts your level anymore.
Everything Else

Of course there's the usual run of tweaks and fixes to characters, classes, and general balancing to make sure the game works and plays fair and fun. The navigator menu has been rearranged to make room for the Dreadnaught. Oh, and those cinematics you've seen a million times after re-running the same missions to farm hive kills? They can be skipped.