Destiny's major 2.1 update is now live, here are all the details

Destiny developer Bungie just rolled out the game's December update, bringing the game to version 2.1 and introducing a whole bunch of changes and new features. Here are all the details, courtesy of the studio's patch notes.

Update 2.1 marks the debut of the Sparrow Racing League, the new limited-time event that Bungie announced over the weekend at PlayStation Experience. Guardians can compete in six-player Sparrow races on two courses, Infinite Descent (Venus) and Campus Martius (Mars), and buy additional items such as SRL-exclusive emotes from Tess Everis in the Tower. The Sparrow Racing League requires Destiny: The Taken King, and will be available until Dec. 29. Talk to Amanda Holliday, the Shipwright, to get going.

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Bungie provided a lot of details about update 2.1 in the lead-up to the patch's arrival. The studio spent entire blog posts detailing changes to weapon balance (such as a boost to auto rifle damage and a reduction in pulse rifle damage) and tweaks to Titans (like a much-needed nerf to the Sunbreaker subclass), and revealed a slate of new Year Two exotic items on Instagram.

You can peruse Bungie's full patch notes for the 2.1 update, but we'll single out a few important items here. First off, if you've got tons of extra planetary materials lying around, you can now trade them in for faction reputation with Dead Orbit, New Monarchy, Future War Cult and Eris Morn. Players with a surplus of Etheric Light, a now-deprecated upgrade material that debuted in Destiny: House of Wolves, can turn it in for Queen's Wrath rep with Petra Venj.

It's now possible to infuse the exotic class items that came with the Collector's Edition of The Taken King, and those items now have the Life Exotic perk, which allows Guardians to equip them and another exotic armor piece simultaneously. And if you've cursed your thumbs for accidentally discarding an exotic shard, fear not: You'll now have to hold down the button longer in order to get rid of one.

For more on The Taken King, which will continue to focus on microtransaction-supported events like the Sparrow Racing League instead of larger paid expansions, read our review.