Bungie says it’s scaling back Eververse in Destiny 2 content roadmap

Bungie says it’s making big changes to Destiny 2, in terms of how players earn rewards, how the game’s Eververse microtransaction economy works and other aspects of the game that have elicited vocal dissatisfaction from the game’s playerbase, in a far-reaching development update.

Today, game director Christopher Barrett outlined Bungie’s plans for Destiny 2 for the full year in a post on the developer’s website.

Destiny players who were rightfully unhappy with the game’s recent holiday event, The Dawning, will be heartened to hear that Bungie plans to scale back the importance of Eververse. Barrett said that the in-game store, which primarily sells cosmetic items, will be changing in upcoming seasons of Destiny 2.

“We recognize that the scales are tipped too far towards Tess at the moment, and Eververse was never intended to be a substitute for end game content and rewards,” Barrett said. “So, we’ll be making three changes for upcoming Seasons:

• “We’re shifting the balance of new content in favor of activity rewards over Bright Engrams. This includes adding Ghosts, Sparrows, and ships (to date found only in Bright Engrams) to achievement reward pools.
• “We’ll provide a gameplay path to earn Bright Engrams and all contained rewards (including Event Engrams).
• “We’ll give players more direct purchase options and make adjustments to Bright Engrams to allow players to get the items they want more often.”

Bungie is also bringing back the original Destiny’s well-received Strike Scoring system.

“Strike Scoring is coming to Nightfall [Strikes] and replacing the current time limit mechanic,” Barrett said. “The scoring is similar to the Destiny 1 system but with adjustments to emphasize competitive execution of Strike objectives and support for player selectable score modifiers. In February, Nightfall High Scores will be exposed in-game via new emblems and will unlock rewards. We also have plans for Clan and Community High Scores in the works.”

Over the course of 2018, Bungie plans to release updates and new content for all players, Barrett said, not just those who pay for expansions. Those include new ranking features in Crucible, the game’s competitive multiplayer mode, private matches and a 6-versus-6 playlist (an increase from the current 4v4 limit in competitive games). Bungie is also adding Masterwork versions of armor and reevaluating how gear mods work, Barrett said.

In more opaque terms, Barrett said Bungie plans to offer updates on the following features and improvement by fall 2018:

• Item Collections and Records
• Weapon Slot and Archetype Improvements
• Additional Crucible Playlists (e.g. Rumble)
• Better Clan Rewards
• Masterwork Exotics
• Pinnacle Weapon and Gear Improvements
• Trials of the Nine improvements
• Shaders and dismantling
• The Future of Guided Games
• Address Solo Vs Fireteam matching

It also sounds like Bungie is taking some extra development time on the game’s second paid expansion — which could indicate a delay — after lukewarm response to December’s Curse of Osiris.

“We’re taking the time we need in development of Expansion 2 that will allow us to react to player feedback from Curse of Osiris,” Barrett said. “In the coming months, we’ll talk to you more about what you can expect to find in Destiny 2’s next story. The team is eager to show you what they’ve been working on.”

Check out the full post a Bungie.net for more on Bungie’s development roadmap.