Big changes are coming to Destiny, even for players who don't plan on picking up The Taken King any time soon. While most of these changes are tied to content in the expansion pack, many of the improvements will be applied to the vanilla version of the game.
Posting on the official Bungie blog, the developer wrote about some of the new content coming in Destiny's "Year Two" update, which releases on September 8, a week in advance of The Taken King's release.
First up, you'll want to try out the new Crucible content, which Bungie plans to preview. Changes will be coming to leveling and economy, and auto-rifles will be getting a massive boost. Additionally, there will be new things to do at the tower.
Here's what's in store:
Character
- Character Level Cap for all players will be raised to 34
- Level Cap for The Taken King will be 40
- You will be able to level up by gaining XP alone
- Character Level and Light are now separate statistics
- Your Character Level will be grandfathered into your highest possible
- Light Level from all gear in your inventory and vault
- Attack and Defense ratings for armor and weapons will be translated to the new systems – their power levels will be unchanged
- Grimoire Score has been moved from the Character Nameplate and now displays in the Character Screen
Quests
- A Quest Screen will be added to your Menu
- Tracks all active Quests
- Abandoned Quests can be recovered in the Hall of Guardians
- Year One Activities have been converted to the Quest system
Bounties
- Bounty slots will be increased to 16
- Incomplete Year One Bounties will be auto-abandoned on 09/08 in preparation for launch of The Taken King
- Incomplete Year One Exotic Bounties are auto-completed with their respective Vendors
- Year One bounties issues by Eris will be retired
- Reputation with Crota’s Bane can continue to be earned by completing Quests in The Taken King
Tower
- Collections have been added to the Tower
- Emblems/Shaders can be found near Eva Lavante
- Ships can be found near Amanda Holliday
- Exotic Armor and Weapon Blueprint added to the Tower
- You will now have the Blueprint for all Exotics you own in your Collection
- Report to the Vanguard in the Hall of Guardians
Inventory
- Motes of Light will be used to grant XP to Weapons and Armor
- Class-specific Armor materials will be deprecated in favor of a unified Armor Material
- Vanguard Quartermaster, Roni-9940, will exchange old materials for armor material [Update: This change takes effect on 09/15]
Weapons & Armor
- Revised Sandbox balance will be in effect, based on our previous analysis
World
- Fallen Wolf Hunt Patrols will retreat in anticipation of the arrival of Oryx in your solar system
With the addition of these new features, some elements of the original game will be left behind when you download the 2.0 update.
Vanguard & Crucible Marks: Activities where you previously earned Vanguard/Crucible marks will now grant Legendary Marks. On Tuesday, your current Vanguard/Crucible marks will converted into faction commendations. [Update: This change takes effect on 09/15]
The Elder Cipher will no longer drop upon completion of the Skolas Challenge Arena in the Prison of Elders. The Exotic items offered with the Elder Cipher will now have a chance to drop from the Prison of Elders Treasure Chest.
