After a tumultuous few weeks for Future 2 followers — simply forward of Bungie’s huge reveal of The Ultimate Form enlargement on Aug. 22 — recreation director Joe Blackburn has come to the rescue.
On Tuesday, Blackburn posted a video of himself speaking on his private Twitter, which is a format the studio has by no means used earlier than. On this 16-minute video, Blackburn talks concerning the State of the Sport article from just a few weeks in the past, what went mistaken with it, how Bungie is fixing the ache factors sooner or later, and what gamers can count on in subsequent week’s reveal.
The majority of Blackburn’s time within the video is about PvP, which has been a ache level locally for years. In keeping with Blackburn, Bungie now believes that placing out one map a yr isn’t nice for the sport — counter to what the State of the Sport article had urged. As an alternative, Bungie will work to launch a number of Crucible maps annually in a single map pack.
Blackburn additionally spoke about making a “PvP Strike Group” whose job might be to brainstorm fixes, talk them to the group, after which implement them in a short time. Bungie has used this sort of tactic earlier than when the sport was in a nasty state between the Curse of Osiris and Warmind expansions again in 2018.
On the subject of armor, Blackburn spoke about a number of various kinds of armor within the recreation, and the way Bungie has chosen to draw back from armor that gamers don’t use a lot, just like the units discovered within the ritual playlists (Strikes, Crucible, and Gambit). That is technically going again on a promise that Bungie made years in the past, to ship one new ritual armor set every enlargement. Bungie failed to speak this shift away from new ritual units earlier than Lightfall, and gamers have been making a stink about it for the reason that enlargement’s launch earlier this yr.
To compensate for the lacking armor set from Lightfall, Bungie will transfer a real-money-only set initially slated for Season 22 over to the ritual playlist pool subsequent season. Nevertheless, Blackburn was clear that that is an apology for the miscommunication, and that gamers shouldn’t essentially count on a yearly ritual armor set going ahead after The Ultimate Form.
Lastly, Blackburn did supply some teases for The Ultimate Form reveal. He informed gamers to not count on any main system adjustments to seem within the showcase, and that it’s as a substitute centered for a wider viewers. Whereas doing this, nonetheless, he dropped some information that Xur might be getting a significant overhaul subsequent enlargement (together with the reintroduction of Unusual Cash), and gamers will get a reworked HUD that higher shows buffs and debuffs.
All of those adjustments appear to be going over effectively locally, and Blackburn made it clear he intends to maintain up the communication headed into The Ultimate Form with streams of himself taking part in the sport and addressing group suggestions.