Thread by @joegoroth

Ahead of the showcase this month, I wanted to take a little time to talk about Destiny PVP.

Competitive modes are part of what makes this game special. I can’t imagine a version of Destiny 2 that doesn’t involve getting a sweet new gun and taking it for a spin in the crucible.

This year the team has spent a lot of our future facing effort on plussing up the current crucible experience. You’ve seen some of this already in Stasis balancing, reputation updates, and shifting weapon metas.

Next season, you’ll continue to see this effort with not only changes to 3-peaking but also what the team has been planning for the revamp of Trials of Osiris (tune in 8/24 for more info).

We’ve gotta keep our foot on the gas when it comes to revitalizing pvp pursuits and keeping gameplay metas fresh. This isn’t something we’ll ever be “done” with. But we know we also have room to grow when it comes to new maps and modes.

The first half of 2021 we’ve been working on the foundation, but now we’re spinning up teams on new maps and modes.

We believe in this investment, but it is going to take some time before you start seeing results in game.

The ultimate goal here is consistency. If you play pvp, the team wants you to understand that you will be getting new maps and modes every year, and that the cadence of those coming out feels predictable.

But in order to get to predictable, we need to open the faucet again.

New maps take time to get right, so to open the faucet for S16, the team is working on porting two vaulted Destiny 2 maps to be compatible with our engine updates.

When we upgraded our engine with Beyond Light it means we had to hand port all of our Destiny 2 maps and modes. So, while it may seem from the outside like we’re just pushing a button there’s a significant lift from the team to get more of this content back in rotation.

After reprised maps in season 16, season 17 will come with a brand-new map. There are a bunch of new environments in Destiny 2, and we’re excited to start bringing them into the crucible.

Finally, after those 3 maps are added to the rotation in 16 and 17, we will be remastering a Destiny 1 map and bringing it to Destiny 2 for the first time in season 18.

All this effort is going to be done in parallel with the team looking to fund the far future with a predictable roadmap of maps in Lightfall and beyond.

But maps are just part of the recipe here, we also know we need to support modes.

There are three main efforts going on behind the scenes here.

First, the team is investigating getting Rift in Destiny 2 next year. It’s been too long since we’ve dunked on some guardians. The Destiny Sandbox has sped up in Destiny 2, so right now the team is validating that the mode still holds up with our new gameplay.

Second, the team is working on multiple brand-new modes for 2022. We aren’t quite ready to spoil these yet, but we’re excited to offer new twists and rules to the ways you can make shaxx proud.

Finally, after the dust settles on the Trials update in s15, we want to look at what other broad systemic improvements the PVP ecosystem needs. We want to provide something on the scale of this trials rework to players every year.

So, this tweet thread has turned into a tweet novel, but I wanted to make sure we shed some light to what’s going on behind the scenes here. Overall, we’re still very interested in growing the amount of Destiny we make every year.

One way to hold me accountable by looking at our careers page. We’re looking for env artists, gameplay designers, lighting artists, and more to help improve our pvp output. We know you want more Destiny and we are committed to growing the team that’s going to make that possible.

It’s always risky to talk about what’s in the oven as dates and specifics might change, but it's been a while since we’ve talked pvp and we want players to know that we’re working on content for all those guardians who like to spend time with Shaxx and the Redjacks.