Honestly, if I had a dollar for every time I've been launched into a hard surface and atomised in Destiny 2 I'd probably have enough money to buy Bungie. Or at least the boss design department. Since the series' inception, Destiny has been rife with bosses—and lesser enemies, hello Cabal Phalanx shields—that can fire you across the room like a Hellfire missile filled with moonshine. A foot stomp at the wrong time inevitably leads to instadeath and the guardian's perennial lament:
"Guys, I got physics-ed."
Soon, that frustration may be no more. As part of a now daily fusillade of new info (check out my interview with the developers), Bungie just announced that deaths from physics should be a thing of the past when the next expansion launches on February 28.
"Starting in Lightfall, physics collision damage will no longer be lethal to Guardians. Fall damage will still be lethal when Lightfall launches, but we plan to also make that nonlethal in a mid-Season update. You’ll still take damage from physics collisions, but it will generally leave you at 1HP instead of outright splattering you."
Aside from boss stomps, I assume this change will also provide us with some protection from the humourless dolts who think it's hilarious to slam their own teammates into walls using the Eager Edge perk on swords. They should all spend a little bit of time in prison.
Aside from this crucial quality of life improvement, the article's main focus is on reworks coming to the Light subclasses, all of which have now been moved to the modular 3.0 system of Aspects and Fragments. Bungie says it's planning to rework a number of existing fragments, and add a few new ones. The article has all the nitty gritty detail, but let's highlight the new fragments:
- [Void] Echo of Cessation
Finisher final blows create a burst of Void damage that causes nearby enemies to become Volatile. Defeating Volatile targets creates a Void Breach. - [Void] Echo of Vigilance
Defeating a target when your shields are depleted grants you a temporary Void Overshield. - [Solar] Ember of Resolve
Solar grenade final blows Cure you. - [Solar] Ember of Mercy
When you revive an ally, you and other nearby allies gain Restoration. Picking up a Firesprite grants Restoration. - [Arc] Spark of Instinct
When critically wounded, taking damage from nearby enemies emits a burst of damaging Arc energy that Jolts targets. - [Arc] Spark of Haste
You have greatly increased resilience, recovery, and mobility while sprinting.
There's definitely some powerful stuff that I want to experiment with here. In particular, being able to trigger Cure from Solar grenade kills should add a ton of survivability to Warlock Starfire Protocol builds. The other reworked fragments mostly include ways to generate the Solar Firesprites and Void Breeches, which are the new ability regen pickups being added to those classes in Lightfall.
There's also a breakdown of a rework coming to the cooldown rates from your Discipline, Intellect and Strength stats, which includes a revert of the nerf that Hunter's dodge abilities got in Hotfix 6.3.0.5.
A number of supers are being touched too, with all roaming supers getting the improved orb generation that Eric Smith hinted at when I spoke to him. Other standouts include Daybreak getting a 25% damage buff in PvE, plus a cooldown reduction. Also now on shorter timers are Spectral Blades and Hammer of Sol, while Fists of Havoc receives a 20% damage improvement in PvE.
See you again tomorrow, when Bungie no doubt drops another info bomb into my lunchbreak.
