Two Large ‘Destiny’ Updates Planned For 2016, Bungie Apologizes For 2.1 Update Confusion

Bungie finally put some clarity around its plans for Destiny Year Two on Thursday via the Bungie Weekly Update. This is after PlayStation and Xbox players have spent the better part of the last week rejoicing over the addition of the Sparrow Racing League, but scratching their heads over if the developer will provide new content beyond events leading into the release of Destiny 2.

By this time in Destiny Year One, players saw the release of the first DLC add-on, The Dark Below, that came with new story content, Strikes, and a Raid. While it was heavily criticized, it did provide new activities for players to grind through. The Taken King expansion has been close to a full sequel of the 2014 release and provided some much needed improvements to the game world and structure. However, vague comments from Bungie and reports from other outlets left Destiny debating on what to expect going forward.

As covered by Inquisitr, Community Manager David “Deej” Dague told IGN that the Live Team is “fully in charge” of Destiny Year Two. The additions made by the Live Team are free and supported by the sale of emotes and microtransactions, such as the $10 Sparrow Racing League Record Book.

Further confusion was added by Destiny Designer Derek Carroll telling Eurogamer that Bungie was moving to a more “event-based model.” That line actually suggested a lack of new world-building content in favor of Iron Banner, Sparrow Racing League, and Festival of the Lost-styled events.

Meanwhile, Kotaku sources on the development team reported that the two DLC releases every five months was unsustainable. While that showed in how House of Wolves and The Dark Below were received, it’s hard to argue the Destiny player base will hang around if they are stuck with the same core content that came with The Taken King.

Destiny Community Manager Eric “Urk” Osborne stepped in to help alleviate some of the ambiguity in his part of the Weekly Update.

This BWU recaps the arrival of the December Update. https://t.co/eHY8KoO4Xf pic.twitter.com/ZdCwYhetuO

— Bungie (@Bungie) December 10, 2015

“There’s a whiteboard in one of our meeting rooms filled with scribblings and sticky notes that represent the developments planned for Destiny’s not-so-distant future,” Osborne explained. “Events, activities, content, and features designed to keep you happy, entertained, and rewarded throughout the year to come: some events and some activities that will become additions to your Director.”

Osborne then provided the details Destiny players have been hoping to hear when it comes to expanding the current base of content. 2016 will start off with another smaller event before the first of significant content updates arrive.

“The first of these early 2016 experiences will be on a scale close to Festival of the Lost. The second will be far larger than anything you’ve seen since the release of The Taken King. There’s also another significant update to the world and sandbox planned in this same window,” Osborne revealed.

Whether this will be story content, Strikes, or Raids remains to be seen. The “significant update to the world” line suggests something on that order, but it is probably best to set expectations accordingly with the game being in uncharted territory.

In other Destiny news, the fallout from whatever mix up that happened with the weapon balancing as part of the 2.1 update continues. As covered by Inquisitr yesterday, the original patch notes listed nerfs and buffs in the whole number percentage range. A decimal point was misplaced though, making the changes even less impactful.

Senior Designer Jon Weisnewski took ownership of the weapon balancing mix-up and apologized for all of the confusion.

The 2.1 patch notes explaining the changes to Pulse Rifles and Auto Rifles have since been updated for a second time. There’s been no mention of players reporting different experiences with Fusion Rifle stability from what was listed, however.

[Image via Bungie]