Destiny 2 embarks on its 21st season, Season of the Deep, today, bringing the long-standing game closer to its climactic Light and Darkness finale known as “The Final Shape,” which is slated for Q1 2024.
As is customary, players should anticipate the temporary shutdown of Destiny 2 servers for maintenance prior to the launch of Season of the Deep. It’s worth noting that although the downtime is expectedto last approximately three hours, players can actually immerse themselves in the new season before the scheduled maintenance concludes. By downloading and installing the Season 21 update, you can log in and start playing Season of the Deep even before Destiny 2 maintenance comes to an end.
The release time for Destiny 2 Season of the Deep set at 6pm BST / 1pm EDT / 10am PDT. This is when you can log back in after downloading and installing the Season of the Deep update. Destiny 2 maintenance will commence at 3pm BST / 10am EDT / 7am PDT and conclude at 7pm BST / 2pm EDT / 11am PDT. Players will be disconnected from the servers at 4.15pm BST / 11.15am EDT / 8.15am PDT.
Bungie advises console players who encounter issues after downloading Destiny 2 update 7.1.0 to restart their consoles and attempt to download the hotfix.
Destiny 2 Season of the Deep: Season Pass
Specific details regarding Season of the Deep are scarce at the moment, but one significant aspect, outside of gameplay, that we do know is that the cost of the Destiny 2 season pass will increase following update 7.1.0. While Bungie mentions that this price hike is relatively minor, it will require players to purchase two Silver bundles instead of one.
Previously, the price of the Destiny 2 season pass stood at 1,000 Silver, which was covered by the 1,100 Silver bundle priced at £8.49 / $10 / AU$14.95. The new price for the Destiny 2 season pass will be 1,200 Silver, pushing it beyond the threshold of a single Silver bundle. The smallest available Silver bundle is 500, priced at £4.79 / $5 / AU$7.95, so you will need to purchase that in addition. Not an ideal situation.
Destiny 2 Season of the Deep: Weapon Changes
In terms of gameplay, Bungie has provided us with insights into both Season 21 weapon changes and Season 21 tuning abilities through their blog. The mid-season update 7.0.5 introduced changes that the developer was testing for Season 21 but decided to bring forward, focusing largely on PvP adjustments. Consequently, Destiny 2 Season 21 weapon changes will have a stronger PvE focus, including a “substantial number of changes” to hip-fire reticles, Exotic weapons, and more.
Reticles for fusion rifles, hand cannons, sidearms, and trace rifles have redesigned to have more noticeable movement at high FOV while still accurately conveying the weapon’s current state. Other weapon reticles will receive the same treatment in a future update. Shotgun reticles will also scale with FOV to ensure they align with pellet spread regardless of the selected FOV.
The fusion rifle charge and Sword guard energy’s hip fire reticles will updated to display the charge meter and current Sword guard energy, eliminating the need for players to rely solely on audio/visual cues. Additionally, Shayura’s Wrath will feature an aim-down-sights reticle post-update. As for Exotics, reticle elements have added to indicate relevant perks or states for players.
In terms of accessibility, Bungie is introducing full auto melee settings for melee weapons, including swords and glaives. This means that as long as you hold down the melee or fire button (depending on the melee attack type), you will continue to attack with your fist.
Destiny 2 Season of the Deep: Abilities Tuning
Bungie has outlined several “high-level goals” for ability tuning in Season of the Deep:
- Increase the viability of roaming Supers in high-difficulty PvE content.
- Incorporate subclass keywords into a selection of Light subclass Supers.
- Reduce the amount of unlimited uptime mobility available in the Crucible.
- Enhance the buildcrafting capabilities of a selection of Stasis and Light subclass Aspects.
Fragment slot allocation will increase from a single slot to two, and all Supers will have a 20% increase in PvE damage resistance. Additionally, some Hunter, Titan, and Warlock Supers will undergo fine-tuning. Destiny 2 Season of the Deep: Everything Else
As always, players can expect new cosmetics, weapons, and armor in the Destiny 2 Season of the Deep update, as well as a new dungeon. Hopefully, there will be significant narrative progression, and Bungie has confirmed that “most combatant shields” will receive a visual update, as they have remained unchanged since 2017.
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