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In its customary “This Week at Bungie” update, the developer outlined some substantial quality of life changes coming to Destiny in its 30th anniversary event next week. Alongside some tantalizing images from the official Destiny 2 Twitter account and the Steam page teasing the paid elements of the release, for many players one of the most exciting changes will be to the way armor management works.
Until now changing your Guardian’s loadout has been an extremely cumbersome process, requiring you to swap out stat-altering mods one by one at the cost of in-game currency. With the update coming next Tuesday, this process will no longer demand the Glimmer currency. As a result, third-party item managers will thereafter be able to swap armor mods, select weapon perks, gear shaders and even cosmetic ornaments, enabling substantially greater control of your Guardians via desktop and mobile apps.
This change to the API looks certain to enable gear managing tools, such as the brilliant Destiny Item Manager, to expand on existing loadout functionality, enabling almost every aspect to be changed without the horrendous faff currently involved. It looks to be a massive bump in convenience that brings Destiny more in line with other contemporary MMOs.
“While this may not be a solution to every build craft feedback item, it is a step forward as the team looks to dialing in build crafting and loadout opportunities for Destiny 2 in the future,” wrote Bungie. “The team will also be looking at Artifact mod resets and costs in the future, but general armor mod swapping is a great first step.”
Bungie did not go into any more specifics on the content of the 30th Anniversary event, but the few screenshots available paint a pretty exciting picture of the new three-player dungeon coming to the game.
In an image from the official Destiny 2 Twitter account, we can see erstwhile alien gun vendor Xur in the company of a celestial horse (previously seen at the conclusion of 2019’s Invitations of the Nine). They appear to be in an interior area in the Nine Realms, the same setting as the Prophecy dungeon and the old Reckoning six-person event. There is also a large wheel with the symbols of various Destiny factions on the spokes.
In the above screenshots, you can see Guardians on either side of a gateway to a vast treasure horde, also seemingly in the Nine Realms. Xur can be made out in the image of Guardians entering the vault, and the celestial horse appears again in the image of Guardians already in the area.
This final screenshot shows the interior of a cave in the Cosmodrome, with cosmetic, background versions of Destiny’s iconic engrams strewn about.
“Plunder the new three-player dungeon inspired by famed Cosmodrome loot caves of yore,” reads the Steam page’s description of the Grasp of Avarice dungeon. “Reveal a tale of riches and regret as you follow an adventurer who traded his humanity for treasure.”
I was initially unsure whether these screenshots were of the upcoming dungeon, the free matchmade “Dares of Eternity” activity that is also coming, or a mix of the two. At this point, I’m pretty confident that the screenshots are all depicting Grasp rather than Dares. Previous preview material on the dungeon referred to it as a “pirate-themed” celebration of Destiny 1’s legendary loot cave. You can make out a huge ship’s cannon and anchor in the treasure horde, leading me to conclude that these images are screenshots of the dungeon, and that it will see you go from the Cosmodrome to the extra-dimensional Nine Realms.
Xur’s presence, as well as the mention of an “adventurer who traded his humanity” leads me and others to speculate that Grasp of Avarice may finally reveal the mysterious vendor’s backstory, a point of speculation since Destiny’s release way back in 2014. We’ll have to wait for December 7 when the anniversary event starts to know for sure, as well as to find out just what is going on with “Dares of Eternity.” One thing we do know for certain is that the iconic exotic rocket launcher Gjallarhorn will be returning as part of the event, and based on the hints Bungie devs have been dropping, I’m expecting a pretty spicy comeback.
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