‘Destiny’ Patches Nightfall Rewards But Is It Enough? Nightstalker No Longer Glitched

Bungie deployed a Destiny hotfix patch 2.0.1.2 on Tuesday to fix a couple of pressing issues with Nightstalker Hunters and Nightfall rewards, while also preparing for the launch of the new King’s Fall Hard Mode Raid. PlayStation and Xbox players can look forward to an improved loot table for both Nightfall and the weekly bounties offered by Lord Shaxx in the Tower.

The Destiny 2.0.1.2 hotfix patch is relatively tiny, at only 1.54 MB. It should be a quick download for players, though, so they can hop in quickly to the game.

Update is live! Nightfall rewards are better. Nightstalkers no longer have unlimited power. https://t.co/OHvbknANvI pic.twitter.com/N4zo27SeuT

— Bungie (@Bungie) October 20, 2015

Nightstalker Hunters will no longer be able to take an infinite number of shots from their Shadowshot super ability with the “Quiver” perk. That is because Bungie has temporarily disabled the perk altogether. It will return once a permanent solution has been put in place.

Bungie delayed the restart of Trials of Osiris due to the Nightstalker glitch. We are awaiting word on if the competitive multiplayer mode will debut this week or the following week.

As I previously covered as one of the six things Destiny needs to fix, the weekly Nightfall during Year One was a must-do challenge for players to tackle to earn loot and get an experience boost. The combination of modifiers plus potential to be kicked to orbit and made to start over from the beginning when everyone on a Fireteam dies made it a tense, white-knuckle exercise at times, and a glorious damage dealing romp at others.

The Year Two change of no longer being forced back into orbit on a wipe is welcome, but the Nightfall has lost some of the risk / reward. The loot drops at the end are a mixed bag, sometimes rewarding Engrams that produce weapons and gear at less than 280 Light. The activity also no longer gives an experience boost, which was a major reason for completing it every week. Additionally, the 500 reputation bonus for completing the Nightfall has been dropped to a paltry handful of Vanguard and Faction reputation points.

Bungie’s solution to these complaints is to raise the Attack and Defense rating for Legendary Nightfall rewards by 10 points from 280 to 290, while also increasing the chance of a Legendary drop from 50 percent to 60 percent, and the total number of Strange Coins awarded. Additionally, Ghost Shells have been added to the Nightfall loot table, while Antiquated runes have been removed. All of these changes to the Nightfall loot are also applicable to the completion of all five of Lord Shaxx’s weekly bounties.

It appears that the 290 Attack and Defense rating for Legendary loot in Nightfall is just the starting point. Destiny players in the game’s Reddit group are reporting receiving Legendary items over a Light Level of 300. It’s possible this is dependent on if a player is above or below a 300 Light level.

Somewhat confusingly, the Strike boss will no longer drop Legendary engrams, according to the patch notes. Any Legendary loot will drop during the course of the mission. Players should still have the chance at an Exotic drop, though, especially with an active Three of Coins boost.

Unfortunately, there’s been no change to the reputation bonus for Nightfall, unless it is simply not mentioned in the patch notes, and still nothing has changed with the experience booster. Going from 500 reputation points from completion to only a dozen or so has been point of contention for those trying to rank up with the various Factions to receive rewards.

Finally, King’s Fall Hard Mode is still on track to launch Friday, October 23, at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT. The one major change listed by Bungie so far is defeating Oryx guarantees a Raid item loot drop without the use of Mouldering Shards. Additionally, Mouldering Shards will drop in Hard Mode only if a player hasn’t completed Normal mode.

The complete patch notes for the Destiny 2.0.1.2 hotfix patch are below.

Classes

Nightstalker Hunter

• Temporarily removed the extra shots from Quiver to avoid unlimited Shadowshots
  • This is a temporary fix, and the node will be restored in a fixed state in an upcoming patch

Activities

Daily Heroic Story

• Removed deprecated Quest requirements from “Siege of the Warmind”
• Removed deprecated Quest requirements from “The Wakening”

Weekly Nightfall Strike

• Increased the base level of Nightfall Legendary rewards by 10 Attack/Defense
• Increased the chance of Legendary rewards by 10% (from 50% to 60%)
• Increased the number of Strange Coins or Three of Coins awards
• Ghosts have been added to the Legendary reward loot table
• Legendary Engrams no longer drop from Nightfall Strike boss kills
  • They will continue to drop their unique Legendary items
• Removed Antiquated Runes from the loot tables

King’s Fall

• King’s Fall Hard Mode will be available at 10 a.m. on 10/23
• Recommended Light is 310
• King’s Fall Hard Mode has the following changes:
  • King’s Fall Hard Mode rewards will drop up to 320 Light
  • Oryx in Hard Mode will guarantee a Raid item drop each week, without requiring Moldering Shards
  • Oryx in Normal mode will still require Moldering Shards
  • Moldering Shards can drop in King’s Fall Hard Mode, but only if a character hasn’t cleared King’s Fall Normal for the week

Crucible

Weekly Crucible Bounty

• Increased base level of Weekly Crucible Bounty Legendary rewards by 10 Attack
• Increased number of Strange Coins awarded
• Ghosts have been added to the Legendary reward loot table

[Image via Bungie]