Next month, The Final Shape will be hitting one of its most critical internal milestones: a ritual we call the End-to-End playtest.
This ritual has been a key part of development since Forsaken.
It’s multiple days of consecutive internal playtesting that not only generates incredibly valuable closing feedback on everything coming this summer, but also spiritually kicks off a shift towards bug fixing and polish work.
Heading into this milestone, I've gotten to play 100s of hours of The Final Shape, and what the world-class talent here at Bungie has created has quickly become of the things I'm most proud to have worked on throughout my career.
This ritual will be especially meaningful to me personally, as it will also serve as a moment to pass the torch of Destiny 2 Game Director to the next era of leadership as I head on a new adventure outside the walls of Bungie.
As we hit End-to-End next month, Tyson Green will take the reins as D2 Game Director. If you’ve followed Bungie for any length of time, you've heard his name. From Halo PvP to the creation of Exotic weapons in D1, Tyson has been a critical part of Bungie's legacy since Myth II.
As a deeply invested Guardian before starting here at Bungie, getting to be a part of the Destiny 2 team has been the privilege of a lifetime.
I am and will forever remain a lifelong Bungie fan and believer in what the teams within its walls are capable of.
I've still got some time before I pass the torch, but as I look forward to taking a big break from social media, I know I'll see yall around the Tower. It is going to be great to play Destiny alongside all of you.
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It's me, Joe, your local Destiny 2 Game Director, wading into the waters of the internet to talk about increasing the base difficulty of the Vanguard Ops playlist.
This content specifically has unintentionally become less engaging compared to our Guardians' power over time over the last few seasons, and we want to course correct that in Lightfall.
While we still have a lot of reward tweaks planned throughout this whole year, when we ask Guardians to play Vanguard Ops for pinnacles or weekly challenges next season, we want to make sure that content has kept up with the player power increases over the years.
I just wanted to step in and say: Heard loud and clear on the feedback with our current seasonal backbones. The team is excited to put some more creative risk in seasonal progressions, but there will be some time before the feedback catches up with the dev cycle. Preview:
Coming up next is Lightfall and Season 20. While Guardian Ranks and Neomuna destination pursuits are going to shake things up- on the seasonal pursuit side our major focus is reducing complexity and improving the synergy between your seasonal pursuits and the rest of the game.
Season 21 is at the halfway mark of development, and the team is currently looking at ways to differentiate progression aside from having a more novel activity setup in the works.
The team's been playing a lot of Witch Queen. Wanted to give some quick updates on where our head is at with some week 1 reactions. [1/13]
First, aren't super happy with how unpredictable it can be to complete Report: Relic Data for the Evidence Board quest chain. [2/13]
We're still monitoring the time commitment for unlocking and upgrading crafted weapons, but the drop rates and unlock requirements for the Wellspring Throne World weapons are currently going to gate off too many players from being able to earn their exotic glaives. [3/13]
So with a few sleepless nights before launch, I just wanted to take a moment and talk about how proud I am to be a part of the Destiny team.
It’s become a meme at this point, but making video games is hard. Anyone that ships ANYTHING should be proud. But one thing we don’t often talk about is how unfair it can feel.
From small teams to AAA juggernauts, everyone has this distinct set of advantages and challenges that make each team’s perilous journey to launch different.
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.