This Week At Bungie – 4/22/2021

Apr 22, 2021 - A_dmg04

This week at Bungie, Ada-1 is prepping for Armor Synthesis.

There’s quite a bit going on this week. The Guardian Games have begun! Hunters, Titans, and Warlocks throughout the system have begun competing for gold placement each day of the Games. A few of us here at the studio have pledged to help Warlocks as they attempt to prevent a sweeping win by Titans for the second year in a row. Hunters are already showing promise with some early wins. Maybe they learned from last year that they’ll need to compete for more than a single day to win the trophy. Who will take the win? Only time will tell!

[Editor's Note: Hunters will prevail!]

[Editor’s Editor’s Note: You misspelled “Titans”]

[DMG’s Note: Warlocks may actually have a chance this year. Calm down everyone. Let’s get back to the TWAB.]

If you’re looking for an additional challenge during the Games, the final Grandmaster Nightfalls required for the Gilded Conqueror title are now available. If you’ve been procrastinating a bit, all featured strikes of the Season are available at Grandmaster difficulty.

Before we move on to some juicy details about Armor Synthesis, we want to give a quick Public Service Announcement about the future of Nightfall weapons. Next Season, three new Legendary weapons will be added to Nightfall rotation, which will also receive Adept treatment when Grandmasters become available. As such, Palindrome, Shadow Price, and The S.W.A.R.M. will be taking a hiatus for the first half of the Season. When they return, all three will be available as potential post-game rewards when completing Nightfalls on featured weeks.

So, if you’re looking to farm some Palindromes, this week will be your last chance to do so for a bit until they return! Stay tuned for a future TWAB where we show off next Season’s hotness, coming soon to a Nightfall near you.

Armor Synthesis & Guardian Appearance

Since the launch of Destiny 1, we’ve seen requests for a transmog system. After some development time, buckets of sweat, and a few happy tears, we’re happy to introduce Armor Synthesis to Destiny 2. Ada-1 will be returning to the Tower to help Guardians customize their appearance in a brand-new way. Today, we'll be explaining how this feature will work, and how you can work your way towards your favorite looks. Quick note, many of the following screenshots were from test builds, so some things may look slightly different when released!

Before we get too deep, here’s a quick list of steps that players will take to convert their armor appearance into Universal Armor Ornaments:

Defeat enemies to earn Synthstrand.
Spend Synthstrand on bounties to earn Synthcord.
Convert Synthcord at the Loom in the Tower into Synthweave.
Use Synthweave to convert an unlocked armor appearance (Legendary quality or lower) from Collections into a Universal Armor Ornament.

To start, players will begin earning Synthstrand when defeating enemies in Destiny 2. After earning 150 Synthstrand , players may visit Ada-1 in the Tower to acquire class-specific bounties, which will reward Synthcord.

When developing this feature, an early goal was to ensure players could earn Synthweave through numerous activities in Destiny 2. That way, players who spend most of their time in the Crucible could continue to do so and still engage with Armor Synthesis. There will be five categories of Armor Synthesis bounties: Vanguard, Crucible, Gambit, Destinations, or Raids and Dungeons. Here are a few examples of bounties that you will see:

Vanguard

Complete playlists strikes using specific subclasses.
Accumulate points in Nightfall strikes.

Crucible

Capture zones in Crucible Control matches.
Complete Crucible matches and defeat opponents using specific damage types as a team.

Gambit

Send and defeat blockers in Gambit.
Defeat Primeval Envoys, high value targets and Primevals in Gambit.

Destinations

Defeat Nightmares on any destination or in Nightmare Hunts.
Defeat bosses while defending the Blind Well within the Dreaming City.

Raids and Dungeons

Complete the final encounter of any Raid or Dungeon.
Generate Orbs of Power in raids or dungeons.

If you pick up the wrong bounty, some of the Synthstrands will be refunded if you choose to abandon it. But not the full amount, so think carefully before abandoning!

How many of these can you earn?

Players may earn up to ten Synthweave per class, per Season. Except in Season of [REDACTED]...

To celebrate the introduction of Armor Synthesis, in Season of [REDACTED], players may earn ten additional Synthweave per class through the introductory experience. In total, during Season of [REDACTED] players may earn up to 20 Synthweave per class, which can either be used to convert four full sets to ornaments, or 20 specific items.

As a quick example for the Hunters out there, that could mean you unlock four armor pieces, plus sixteen individual cloaks to swap between depending on your mood.

Please Note: Some exceptions apply.

Universal Ornaments may only be applied to Legendary armor pieces. Exotic armor pieces cannot take the appearance of alternate armor, as we want to maintain their appearance for players to quickly identify and understand what Exotic perks a player may have in all activities.

There will also be a few exceptions at launch for Year-1 Armor Ornaments due to technical constraints, but we are currently working on solutions for a future Season. These exceptions include:

Year-1 Armor Ornaments

Vanguard
Crucible
Iron Banner
Faction Rallies
Prestige Raids
Trials of the Nine

Ornaments can still be applied if the base armor piece is from an activity that the ornament originates. As an example, if a player owns Crucible ornaments from Curse of Osiris, they may be applied to Crucible armor pieces at no cost. However, these ornaments cannot be applied to Seasonal armor.

Additionally, all base armor appearances from 2018 and 2019 Solstice of Heroes events will be available for Armor Synthesis. However, due to an issue where 2018 and 2019 glows cannot be socketed alongside armor appearances in the new Guardian Appearance system, the glows will not be supported. Solstice 2020 armor glows were developed with the Guardian Appearance system in mind, and players will retain the white armor glow if it was earned during the event. Subclass based glows will continue to function on their Universal Ornaments as well.

Eververse

Eververse will also offer Synthweave Templates for direct purchase through the Guardian Appearance screen. Players may either purchase a single Synthweave, or they may purchase a five-piece bundle.

Item	Silver Cost
Synthweave Template (1 Token)	300
Synthweave Template Bundle (5 Tokens)	1000

For reference, Universal Armor Ornament Bundles cost 1500 Silver.

To avoid mistaken purchases, Synthweave Templates from Eververse can be applied to any class.

Let’s talk Shaders

Through the Guardian Appearances screen, we took an opportunity to improve the shader experience. Currently, shaders are one-time use consumables that must be repurchased from Collections for Glimmer or Legendary Shards.

Starting next Season, all unlocked shaders will be visible on the Guardian Appearance screen when hovering over the shader bucket. Players may apply shaders for 500 Glimmer per armor piece. Additionally, we’ve added the often requested “apply all” button for shaders, which will cost 2500 Glimmer total. This is the same Glimmer cost to purchase shaders right now, but we’ve done away with the Legendary Shards requirement.

Shaders will continue to be earned through various activities in Destiny 2 or can be purchased using Bright Dust or Silver from Eververse. With the update to shaders, we’ll be increasing their cost from 40 Bright Dust to 300 Bright Dust. This will continue to be a one-time purchase and will appear in the Guardian Appearance menu when unlocked. In celebration of Armor Synthesis, a Year-1 Eververse shader bundle will also be available in the Eververse for Glimmer, no Silver required!

And there you have it. We’re excited for the addition of Armor Synthesis starting in just a few short weeks.

Spicy Prime Ramen Rewards

This week wasn’t just the start of Guardian Games, but a fresh month of Prime Rewards! Taking center stage, the Spicy Ramen emote is back! This colorful emote packs a wonderful punch with each bite.

Hungry yet? Head over to the Prime Gaming portal and make sure your Bungie.net account is linked! Once you’ve gone through all the steps, you’ll find the following rewards at Amanda Holliday in the Tower’s Hangar:

Spicy Ramen Exotic Emote
Ikora's Resolve Exotic Ship
Future Perfect Shell Exotic Ghost
Jagged Darksun Legendary Sparrow

Questions? Concerns? Excitement? However you’re feeling, you can find additional information on our Prime Gaming Support Article.

Fair Game

Over the last few days, we’ve been tracking some interesting issues that were introduced with Guardian Games. Titans having invisible arms, Contender Cards taking up two slots in quest inventory, and a few other things. We’ve deployed some fixes, but are still tracking a few known issues.

This is their report.

SEASON OF THE CHOSEN SEAL PURCHASE

Acquisition of all the scannables in the Presage mission is required for the Season of the Chosen Seal. The scannables are collected over a period of three weeks – players need to collect all the scannables in each week and claim the associated Triumph before the weekly reset. With the following weekly reset, the next set of scannables will be available in the Presage mission.

Because a period of three weeks is required to collect all the scannables, players have until the weekly reset on April 27 to collect the first week’s scannables and claim the associated Triumph if they want to be able to purchase the Season of the Chosen Seal from the Bungie Store.

Additionally, players must also begin purchasing Chosen mods from the War Table before the weekly reset on April 27 if they want to purchase the Seal because there are six mods total that must be acquired.

WEEKLY KNOWN ISSUES

While we continue investigating various known issues, here is a list of the latest issues that were reported to us in our #Help Forum:

The Titan Contender Eververse Armor set makes the player's body invisible in first person.
Certain shaders may erroneously remove the glow from the Eververse Warlock Guardian Games Universal Ornament set.
The One Fell Strike Triumph must be completed in Vanguard or Nightfall Strike Playlists and claimed before a strike ends. We’re working to allow it to complete in the Guardian Games Playlist.
Contender Cards are no longer taking up extra space in player Quest inventories. Players may need to visit the Tower and return to Orbit for their inventory to update.
Zero Hour's SCRAP CF-717-91 Exotic ship no longer fires its middle four engines.
The Festival of the Lost Hunter Chthonic Grips shows the ornament glow when inspecting the hand, but it doesn't appear when running around.
Ophidian Aspect's ornament, Coaxial Bonds, no longer displays SIVA particles on the Warlock's right arm.
Metropolitan Frigate ship wing animation displays poorly when warping to a destination.
The Quick Charge mod doesn't increase the ready speed of Shotguns at all.
Mida Mini-Tool doesn't show Kill Tracking column when Masterworked.
The Region Chest in Trostland in the EDZ shows as unclaimed even when associated Region Chest Triumph is complete.

For a full list of emergent issues in Destiny 2, players can review our Known Issues article. Players who observe other issues should report them to our #Help forum.

Let the Games Begin!

I don’t think I know a single Titan that can’t stop reminding me of their win last year. Know what? It’s well deserved. Everyone underestimated them before the 2020 Games began, and they showed up in force. Will this year be different? We’ll just have to wait and see. Until then, we can still appreciate their pure, fist-first approach to any challenge that makes the mistake of getting in their way.

Movie of the Week: Guardian Games 2021 Fan Trailer

Movie of the Week: Guardian Bowl LV

Movie of the Week: Why Titans “will” win Guardian Games

Have some hype videos for Hunters or Warlocks? Looking to snag a MOTW win before the end of the Season? Make sure to tag your video with #MOTW, include the Bungie.net profiles of all participants in the description of your video, and upload your content to the Creations page right here on Bungie.net

Good Luck, Guardians!

With every event in Destiny 2, we see many community artists hop into the fray with new pieces to celebrate! Guardian Games is always a fun time, seeing class representation highlighted throughout the community.

Art of the Week: Guardian Games

Guardian Games!!#Destiny2 #Destiny2Art pic.twitter.com/vHi7GHpUIC
— ねじ (@neji_210) April 20, 2021

Art of the Week: Good Luck, Guardians

Good luck, Guardians
—
—
Except Titans #Destiny2Art #teamwarlock #destiny2 #guardiangames #GuardianGames2021 @A_dmg04 @Cozmo23 #DestinyArtBread @rDESTNYCREATION pic.twitter.com/dhLMS1B1Ao
— Jbae (@JchanTM_) April 20, 2021

Art of the Week: Winning Fashion

#Destiny2 #아렌낛
워록들
Warlocks pic.twitter.com/zuLKYbe3Ve
— 렌또레기 / Lediaren (@Ren_Lda011) April 18, 2021

Cheers to all who were featured this week. We’ll be snagging class-centric art throughout the event, so get ready for some more sweet pieces highlighting the beauty of Hunters, Titans, and Warlocks throughout the community!

Thanks to a silly Twitter poll, my allegiance has been pledged to Warlocks for Guardian Games this year. Hunters, I’m sorry, but it may actually be nice lobbing Nova Bombs for the duration of the event. I don’t think you’ll need my help snagging the win, so long as you all show up. If a potential Titan loss isn’t enough to get everyone out of bed, maybe the conversation around Armor Synthesis will be motivation to hop through some activities to round out our fashion collections. I’ve already started poking through quite a few armor sets, planning out my looks for the start of next Season.

Good luck to all, no matter which class you’re playing. Hope you enjoy the games, and we’ll see you out there in the wild.

Cheers,

-dmg04