Today Bungie (hey guys, can we stop calling the website bnet? We already have a bnet, thanks) released an update to its hit hybrid, Destiny, exciting players by the truckload. Something tells me that today's patch will make people happier than your average weekly patch for Destiny. In a nutshell, Destiny now has Exotics, easier farming, more chances for Legendary Engrams, and plenty other fun to get the masses ready for The Dark Below. Not sure what The Dark Below is? Well, if you're playing Destiny, it's kind of the next big thing (trademark pending) to happen in the game. Just a few short days away on December 9, Destiny's latest DLC – a new expansion entitled The Dark Below – will be available to players.

The Dark Below can currently be pre-ordered for Destiny, which will bring a level cap increase to 32, a new 6-man raid, three new story missions and other quests, three new maps for the Crucible for competitive arenas to battle players in, a new co-op strike, and Hive lore. There's also a Hellmouth on the moon, which I can only hope will be something like Buffy in Space. Maybe a little Once More, With Feeling from a Guardian's perspective? I hope there's a Josh Sweden running around this dystopian future right now, waiting for a chance to shine. The Dark Below will be Destiny's very first expansion, which looks to be running about $35 USD (and also includes the second expansion, as well) at select retailers.

Expand your Destiny adventure with a wealth of weapons, armor, and gear earned in new story quests and missions, three new competitive multiplayer arenas, and a new Strike and Raid. Beneath the surface of the Moon, a long-forgotten enemy stirs. Survive the true depths of the Hellmouth, and stop its dark army from invading Earth.

In order to be prepared for The Dark Below, now is your chance to work on farming Exotics over the next week. This now includes Exotic weapon buffs, which Bungie states that they “hope these weapons challenge the way players think about their loadouts.” Ascendant Materials are no longer necessary to upgrade, but Exotic Shards are. These shards can be obtained by either dismantling unwanted Exotics or by purchasing them from Xur for 7 Strange Coins. As an outsider looking in, though, I must say that my favorite line from the patch notes is this one:

Super Good Advice

  • Stability increased

Don't worry, we're not all clueless newbs around here. A few of the folks on the TTH staff play and write about Destiny often. I'm sure at least Boomjack will be writing about Destiny a bunch in the weeks to come. If you don't want to head over to the official site for today's notes, they are copied below for convenience. Are you playing Destiny? Will you be purchasing the first expansion?


1.1 : The one about Exotics. And the Raid!

Today's patch includes the long-awaited arrival of Exotics weapon buffs, additional acquisition paths for destination upgrade materials, along with additional changes to exotic gear node upgrading in preparation for the soon-to-be-released expansion, The Dark Below. We're also correcting issues induced by our more recent update to the Raid.

Weapons

Exotics

Exotic Weapons are designed to look, feel, and sound overpowered. At the same time, they are not supposed to break the balance of the game. We hope these weapons challenge the way players think about their loadouts. Exotics will be a constant work in-progress!

General

In preparation for the Dark Below, Exotic Armor and Weapons no longer require Ascendant Materials to upgrade

  • The final upgrade node of all Exotic Gear will require an Exotic Shard
  • Exotic Shards can be obtained by one of the following means:
    • Dismantling unwanted Exotics
    • Purchased from Xur for 7 Strange Coins
  • Exotics now start at a higher base Attack value and have a narrowed upgrade range to compensate
Thorn
  • Projectiles now briefly highlight targets on impact
  • Mark of the Devourer DoT (damage-over-time) upgrade increased against PvE enemy targets
  • Reload Speed increased
  • Magazine Size increased
  • Ammo inventory size increased
  • Stability and Weapon Handling increased
Bad Juju
  • Magazine Size increased to 8 bursts (was 5)
  • Ammo inventory size increased
  • String of Curses now also decreases the cooldown of your Super on kill
  • Adjusted effects to not block first person reticle
Hard Light
  • Stability increased
  • Perfect Balance upgrade replaced by Fitted Stock (increases maximum possible weapon Stability)
Suros Regime
  • Lowered total damage at the end of the mag on SUROS Regime upgrade to be more in line with the Glass Half Full perk on Legendary Auto Rifles
Monte Carlo
  • Stability increased
  • Range slightly decreased
  • Monte Carlo Method upgrade now also has a chance to fully charge melee ability on kill
MIDA Multi-Tool
  • MIDA rounds now have increased knockback against targets in both PvE and PvP
Hawkmoon
  • Send It upgrade (which was redundant) replaced by Speed Reload
Red Death
  • Rate of Fire increased slightly, but Burst Damage reduced to compensate
Plan C
  • Weapon Handling speed increased
  • Player Speed increased while Plan C is in hand
Pocket Infinity
  • Speed Reload upgrade replaced by Extended Clip which allows the option to increase magazine size (5 bursts)
Vex Mythoclast
  • Attack Power increased to 323 (from 300)
  • Base Damage increased, fixing bug we introduced in previous patch
  • Enhanced Battery upgrade by Extended Mag (this change still allows for a significant upgrade to Magazine Size, but less than before)
Invective
  • Reload Speed increased significantly, auto fires slightly slower
Ice Breaker
  • Send It upgrade replaced by Lightweight (which was redundant as Icebreaker already had maximum range)
  • New effects for enemies killed by Ice Breaker upgrade
Patience and Time
  • Snapshot upgrade replaced by Custom Optics (provides a lower zoom option)
Super Good Advice
  • Stability increased
Truth
  • Magazine Size increased to 3 (was 1)

Activities

Raid
  • Fixed an issue we introduced in a previous patch, in which Atheon did not correctly send 3 players through the time gates
  • Fixed an exploit where the Templar could be forced off its platform
Daily Heroic Story
  • Destination Materials now drop from completing the Daily Heroic
Bounties
  • Removed the ‘Relic Hunter’ Bounty
  • Destination Materials now drop from completing the Daily Patrol Bounty

Vendors

  • Reduced Cryptarch reputation gain from Engrams, but reputation reward packages now have an increased chance for Legendary Engrams
  • Players will now be able to use Vanguard Marks and Crucible Marks to purchase Spinmetal, Relic Iron, Spirit Bloom, and Helium Filaments from the Vanguard and Crucible Quartermasters in the Tower
  • Xur now sells a new material, Exotic Shards, to upgrade the final node of Exotics for 7 Strange Coins
  • Faction Class Items (ex: FWC Cloak, Dead Orbit Mark, etc.) are now replaced by Faction Emblems in the rank-up reward packages from Faction Vendors

Technical

  • Networking fixes, which should reduce the instance of the Bee family of KTOs
  • Fixed an issue in which using Xbox One party chat induced a slower frame rate

To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Destiny Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Vendolyn's been playing MMOs since 1999, although Vendolyn in-game often becomes a long-term shelved alt. When she's not gaming, she's likely marathoning some questionable TV show or babbling about music to no end. She really likes goats.

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