The Final Shape Developer Preview Tuesday. |UP|Destiny 2: The Final Shape First Gameplay Revealed.

[Vertigo]

Bungie will be hosting a 30 min developer preview/walkthu of Destiny 2: The Final Shape tomorrow at 9:30 PDT just before the massive “into the light” free update that goes live. This will be the first showing of TFS since its initial reveal last spring.



The community is pretty hyped for tomorrow’s launch. And thus the cycle goes on… Watch Aztec’s vid below for a summary of what’s to come.

“Into the light” introduces a new horde mode, brings back remixed versions of the two very best exotic missions they’ve ever made for craftable versions of Whisper and Outbreak Perfected, returning fan favorite weapons that will be enhanceable, and later on will give us 3 new PvP maps and a Raid Boss Rush mode called Pantheon


Roadmap:

 

[Jim Ryan]

Greatest Sony acquisition

 

[panda-zebra]

As someone with an obscene amount of hours in Destiny/2, and who swore off ever playing again until Final Shape is at least dirt cheap or free, they've done a very typically Bungie thing here in making it seem impossible to ignore for vet players with all that FOMO-wrapped nostalgia and celebrating the giving back of stuff they took away.

Maybe this time it'll be different, maybe this time it'll live up to the greatness the core mechanics deserve...

Where was this effort and enthusiasm to at least make it seem compelling for the past 2+ years? Why were they just turning the handle and churning out generic seasons and the shittiest expansion of all in Lightfall with all the shit that dragged along with it?

This pre-expansion-season-thing is just a huge, cynical bribe designed to get us back on board so we can go spend money 8 weeks from today. But nah, for me no point going back for some dusted-down, tarted-up stuff even if it actually looks better than the last load of junk the sold me on. No intention to get back on that same old treadmill of "progress" that gets you nowhere (or nerfed hard should it dare to seep through the cracks). Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt (and the socks, and the rest).

Destiny has only ever truly been fun when it's been broken in some way. The wider game will forever be held back by 2 things: the enjoyment of PvE left deep in the dirt beneath the boot of a dogshit PvP hardly anybody gives two fucks about, in the name of "balance". That's the first, the illusion of progress being a close second. Both add up to zero actual joy in play, instead it's a menu of mundane routine interspersed with dopamine micro-doses to keep you ticking over. It's also been a PC-first game for many years now as they only have an ear for that crowd and their influencers/streamers so, nah, I'm good thanks, Bungie.

 

[John Elden Ring]

Bungie is hosting the Destiny 2: The Final Shape Developer Gameplay Preview on April 9 at 9:30 a.m. PT / 12:30 p.m. ET.

You will be able to watch it on YouTube, Twitch, and TikTok.

The broadcast will share an update on what Bungie has been building for Destiny 2 expansion “The Final Shape.”


If you watch on Twitch you get some exclusive drops:

• Those Held Dear, unlocked by watching 60 minutes (1 hour) across any of the Into the Light streams and this one
• Echo Diamond, unlocked by watching 180 minutes (3 hours) across any of the Into the Light streams and this one
• Tigris Fati, unlocked by watching 15 minutes during this stream specifically

 

[Vertigo]

Kinda blown away. Didn’t know WTF I was seeing at first. Dark n light subclass mixups lols. Looks completely broken .

 

[Gamernyc78]

Destiny 2: The Final Shape | Gameplay Trailer​

 

[Evilnemesis8]

Destiny has only ever truly been fun when it's been broken in some way.

Truthfully, this is true for so many games.
Even competitive focused games and their playerbase(s) say they want a "balanced" game experience are lying to themselves.
Just look at any competitive game and how people will start to complain if the meta stays the same for more than a few weeks, they all start to get bored and complain about inane things just for the sake of finding something negative about the game. This is why so many GaaS games have quite frequent balance patches and content updates because they keep things fresh and you're constantly trying the new FotM thing.

No player wants to be told that the game is in a great place but unfortunately the reason they're not progressing to X goal is that they just plain suck lmao.

 

[panda-zebra]

Kinda blown away. Didn’t know WTF I was seeing at first. Dark n light subclass mixups lols. Looks completely broken .

They always want us to think everything is broken until enough people have spent on it and the nerfs come rolling in like clockwork. They're not dumb enough to put out something that looks weak and boring and f they're masters of anything it's bringing the hype and making players think they're getting something finally worth their time finally. Never quite seems work out that way.

I step back and see a load of old jumbled together stuff and thrown at the wall under the guise of being new and innovative. Yet more recycling from Bungie. But oh! How interesting it will be too see how people put builds together, says the dev... FFS... even saying "it's a little game-breaking"... "it opens the doors for really unexpected really wild stuff...". If there's anything properly broken it'll get insta-nerfed as usual. Showing all that stuff vs tons of trash-tier enemies for the most part (ignore whatever those bars were saying, it was almost all weak as piss vs player level) after what they did with Lightfall difficulty, too. When they do finally show the new enemies and aren't trying to show how great old stuff is they're less of a cakewalk.

They're basically forcing the game to be, once again, very streamer-friendly, with huge potential for near endless content creation and discussion because it's all such a mish-mash of possibilities. On the back of remixing some old fan favourite missions for feel good pre-launch, get those pre-orders in at last and all the usual suspects get to feast on clicks as they speak glowingly about how great Destiny is once again, convincing everyone to spend, spend, spend.

It's as cynical as it is predictable. I'm not falling for it 'cause I know exactly how it'll play out, lol.

 

[AllBizness]

Luke Smith pretty much hinted at Destiny 3, I hope they add space flight and combat to Destiny 3. I want to actually fly my ship rather then just look at it on loading screens.

 

[Vertigo]

Luke Smith pretty much hinted at Destiny 3, I hope they add space flight and combat to Destiny 3. I want to actually fly my ship rather then just look at it on loading screens.

I think they’ll launch it within D2 eventually sunsetting older campaigns. The engine parity with Marathon is a what’s happening. The leaks say it’s launching in 2026 after Episode 6.

Do I think they will call it Destiny 3 when it launches in 2026? Yea. It’s a new saga. Same difference.

And lol new enemies too

Would’ve liked a story trailer just so I can see Cayde in action but that was pretty incredible. Blown away honestly. The mixed subclass stuff is awesome and looking forward to terrorising crucible with it. Not a fan of any subclasses not Void or Arc so being able to mix stuff with all the stuff that does fit my play style … like whoa.

I’m having fun reading the community completely freaking out over this. People are indeed happy.

 

[Gods&Monsters]

I hope this is like a renaissance for Destiny. They really need it after the fake outrage in the last year.

I'm downloading the update

 

[Vertigo]

The horde mode for the free update is whatever. It’s fine. Don’t care about it much to be honest aside chasing down the rolls I want. It’s still a time gated rollout with both weapons and activities. More interested in the PvP maps coming in May and the raid boss rush.

They’re gonna detail the prismatic subclass a bit more in the weekly blog tomorrow.

And the D3 rumors come from this leak now proven legit with yesterday’s reveal. Does not mean “new game” or fresh start.

As more reliable leaks begin to trickle out it seems very much like their next saga will start in 2026. No expansion next year but a 10th anniversary DLC. 6 episodes will be launch up until then with the new service model in play. Last gen consoles will be abandoned with yet another major engine overhaul coming with Marathon.

Was good to see Luke Smith. Looks like him and Noseworthy are still the bosses for the IP.

 

[Vertigo]

Bungie blog post has elaborated on how the new mixed subclass works. Prismatic subclass will IMMEDIATELY available upon starting The Final Shape. Strand wasn’t available until Lightfall’s completion so this is a huge correction from gating off new content like they did last year with Strand and two years prior with Stasis.

Bungie.net

www.bungie.net

Here’s a live read of the blog from one of my favorite PVP content creators Fallout. The blog post was lengthy so I suggest a listen if curious.

Now on the subject of leaks. The leaker updated his initial leak. They do not seem to be at Bungie any longer and haven’t been for quite some time. And elaborated on the codename “payback.”

Expect the mixed subclasses to be the way the game is played moving forward.

 

[Yurinka]

Seems that the Into the Light content and The Final Shape preview basically doubled the Destiny 2 Steam CCUs:

Destiny 2 is now top 9 (top 8 if not counting Steam Deck) in the Steam top sellers ranking (was top 13/12 last week):

https://www.windowscentral.com/gami...ht-the-final-shapes-prismatic-subclass-reveal

Context since its October 2019 release on Steam: pretty steady since then, even if being 7 years old apparently entering its sunseting stage (under performed a bit earlier this year), the two post launch 300K CCU peaks are the Witch Queen and Lightfall releases and may get a third one with The Final Shape release.

 

[Vertigo]

Seems that the Into the Light content and The Final Shape preview basically doubled the Destiny 2 Steam CCUs:

Destiny 2 is now top 9 (top 8 if not counting Steam Deck) in the Steam top sellers ranking (was top 13/12 last week):

https://www.windowscentral.com/gami...ht-the-final-shapes-prismatic-subclass-reveal

Context since its October 2019 release on Steam: pretty steady since then, even if being 7 years old apparently entering its sunseting stage (under performed a bit earlier this year), the two post launch 300K CCU peaks are the Witch Queen and Lightfall releases and may get a third one with The Final Shape release.

It’s back up to numbers close to one million logins a day. I reported on it over the weekend https://icon-era.com/threads/destiny-playerbase-surges-with-latest-update.11280/

 

[Yurinka]

It’s back up to numbers close to one million logins a day. I reported on it over the weekend https://icon-era.com/threads/destiny-playerbase-surges-with-latest-update.11280/

Not sure if accurate looking at the PC numbers, but in case they are moderately accurate (I assume it's the case) that's really impressive, thanks for sharing.

 

[Vertigo]

Not sure if accurate looking at the PC numbers, but in case they are moderately accurate (I assume it's the case) that's really impressive, thanks for sharing.

Should be the most accurate available. Not BS like mmotracker. Bungie shares its api data. But the PC numbers listed as “online currently” is just steam concurrent and not including windows or epic.

Because of this … destiny is actually an excellent barometer for a fully multiplatform release as its console split is public information (in 3hr windows) at warmind.io… and seeing that split helps with those pesky steam concurrent vs total users estimates.

 

[Yurinka]

Should be the most accurate available. Not BS like mmotracker. Bungie shares its api data. But the PC numbers listed as “online currently” is just steam concurrent and not including windows or epic.

Because of this … destiny is actually an excellent barometer for a fully multiplatform release as its console split is public information (in 3hr windows) at warmind.io… and seeing that split helps with those pesky steam concurrent vs total users estimates.

I understand that Steam might be most of the Bungie PC market but not its enterity, and that like other AAA games they may have a big majority of their userbase and revenue in consoles. But I doesn't seem very realistic to me to see Steam being around 10% of the total userbase/revenue.

Specially when Sony said they did $439.24M during FY22 in PC + non-PS consoles (counting Bungie for the whole FY), being of it $250M from PC (only counting Bungie since they completed the acquisition in summer). It's fair to assume MLB doesn't sell a ton on Xbox (specially being in GP) and Switch, so Destiny must do a big part of the remaining $189.2M and part of the $250M.

Meaning, pretty likely Destiny 2 does over $100M, probably even over $200M in PC+Xbox, being most of it from PC and most of the PC numbers from Steam. That is a shit ton of money for a 7 years old game, specilly considering that pretty likely they are making even more money on PS. But it's hard to believe for me that Destiny 2 does over $400M/year in all platforms. If Steam would be around 10% of it and makes around $100M/year on Steam, then they'd be making arround $1B/year in all platforms, which doesn't seem realistic to me.

 

[John Elden Ring]

Journey into The Pale Heart of the Traveler, where paradise has been twisted into corruption.

Stop the Witness before it's too late. The Final Shape // June 4, 2024