Everything we know about Bungie’s 30th Anniversary in Destiny 2
Bungie’s 30th Anniversary is coming up starting on 7th December. We’ve got a new six-person matchmade activity, Gjallarhorn returning, Thorn armour sets, Destiny 1 weapons returning, plus a whole bunch of Bungie-themed celebratory items to get in the game. Today I’m going to comb through all the information we have related to Bungie’s 30th Anniversary, so you can make an informed decision whether to buy or not.
Bungie was formed in 1991, so this year is their 30th birthday and Bungie is celebrating big time inside of Destiny 2. The 30th Anniversary pack is going to have free and paid elements, plus there’s going to be a whole load of loot for us to collect. You can either pick up the 30th-anniversary pack alongside your order with Witch Queen as I did, or you can purchase the 30th Anniversary pack for a stand-alone fee of $25. As well as the loot we get as part of the event we’ve got a significant sandbox update coming, which is going to switch things up in the current meta.
Bungie has a website dedicated to the 30th Anniversary and it gives us clues as to what is free and what’s paid for.
30th anniversary new content
First of all, let’s have a look at the free elements of the 30th Anniversary. At the top section, there’s a headline saying “Everyone’s invited”, so it’s relatively safe to assume we all get this.
New 6-player matchmade activity
Weapons to collect – we don’t yet know if we’re going to get weapons that are thematically related to the event, or they are D1 weapons.
New secrets to unravel – This could refer to story elements, but it’s unlikely this is going to be related to Season of the Lost’s story, therefore it could be its own self-contained story (much like we had recently with Festival of the Lost).
Collectible Rewards – Bungie says we can all get “collectible rewards that commemorate our long and storied history”.
As well as these free activities, secrets, and items, there’s also the sandbox update, which I’ll go into in a little bit.
Next, let’s have a look at the paid content
New Dungeon – A new Dungeon inspired by famed Cosmodrome loot caves of yore has drawn the interest of many a treasure hunter. Spelunk into the unknown, earn the new Thorn armor set and watch your step as you hunt for lost relics. This is leaning pretty hard into the loot cave meme of years gone by.
Gjallarhorn – Bungie says “Complete a quest to unlock the classic Exotic Rocket Launcher and use it to plunder the new Dungeon. Then charge the catalyst and face the power that has made this iconic weapon stand the test of time”.
More loot – Iconic weapons, armor, ornaments, emotes, Sparrows, Ghost Shells, and more. The phrasing of iconic weapons makes me think the D1 weapons are going in here, like Eysluna (Hand Cannon) and 1000 Yard Stare (Sniper Rifle). We don’t yet know how many total weapons are coming back from Destiny 1, but there are also weapons based on other games like the Claymore from Myth, also the Shotgun from Marathon.
Ornament Sets – Unlock the Marathon-inspired ornament set as well as the 30th Anniversary streetwear-inspired ornament set.
There’s plenty of content in here to be excited about. We haven’t had a new Dungeon in the game since prophecy, arguably the game’s best Dungeon to date. This Dungeon looks like it’s going to be loot-themed, which makes sense in the context of a celebration event. I’m looking forward to seeing what the team has come up with regarding the Dungeon design as they keep getting better over time. If you haven’t dived into the Dungeon’s in the game then there’s the Shattered Throne on Dreaming City, Pit of Heresy on the Moon, and the Prophecy Dungeon in the Tower.
Of course, I am looking forward to Gjallarhorn coming back too. Bungie weapons design lead recently guested on DCP Live, the Destiny Community Podcast, and did say that Gjallarhorn was changed, so maybe don’t expect it to be all-powerful as it was back at the end of Year 1 Destiny 1. I remember those LFG posts “Must have Gjallarhorn…” – we don’t want to see those again (although Gjallarnhorn has been replaced with 1k this season).
I don’t mind paying for the content, given I am a massive Bungie fan. Not only Destiny but also Halo. Hopefully, they’ll be able to sneak some Halo into Destiny, but given Microsoft owns the Halo rights, it may be a stretch to see a Destiny and Halo crossover. Leaks in the past pointed to the Pistol from Halo making it into the game, but we’ve only had confirmed the Claymore from Myth and the Shotgun from Marathon.
Sandbox update
We’ve talked about the loot, but we’re getting a pretty significant sandbox update too. I’m going to go through the changes to Archetypes, perks and mods here. I did a specific video on the exotic changes, you can check that out on the channel if you want to know more. The TLDR on the Exotic changes are you will probably want to pick up Sleeper Simulant and Whisper of the Worm before the sandbox upate, as both are going to be ‘monsters of DPS’ in the not-too-distant future.
Archetypes
Shotguns – In Season 11 we wanted to see if slugs could be viable in PvE with a high enough reward for the risk of being close and the time it takes to aim at a head. Good news, they’re viable! However, they currently outclass pellet Shotguns and many other Special ammo options (not to mention being part of a dominant boss-melt tactic), we’d like to equalize this a bit. However, since pellet Shotguns are easier to use than slug Shotguns they don’t need as large a bump.
Reduced slug Shotgun PvE damage bonus from 30% to 20%.
Gave pellet Shotguns a 10% PvE damage bonus.
Linear Fusion Rifles – In Season 14 we bumped these up but believe that while their potential damage output competes numerically, and they’re extra hot right now because of the sweet Particle Deconstruction artifact mod, they can’t compete with the ease of use of other damage options. Last time they got a precision damage buff, this time it’s a flat damage buff.
Increased PvE damage by 10%.
Caster Swords – We shipped this with a high Heavy attack ammo cost to offset a great melee weapon that also has a good ranged attack, but now believe it’s safe to reduce the ammo cost.
Reduced Heavy attack ammo cost from 8 to 5.
Bows – In Season 11 we bumped Bow damage up 10% vs rank-and-file enemies, having seen this in-game for a few Seasons it seems safe to nudge them up again.
Increased damage vs rank-and-file enemies by ~10%.
Sidearms and Fusion Rifles – Due to an ancient data entry error, Sidearm and Fusion Rifle projectiles were non-hitscan. Behind the scenes, the engine does math converting a projectile from non-hitscan to hitscan if it would cover a specific distance in one frame, so this would only occur running at 60fps or higher – shoutout to a specific community that provided us with evidence on this issue, you know who you are.
Increased Sidearm and Fusion Rifle projectile speed from 999 to 9999 (which makes them hitscan regardless of framerate).
Perks
Adrenaline Junkie – This perk wasn’t performing as well as intended, and the path of least resistance was making it live up to its dev name (grenadebuckler).
Eliminations with the weapon can add single damage stacks or extend existing ones.
Grenade eliminations boost the stacks immediately to x5.
Lowered the duration to compensate for weapon activation.
Vorpal Weapon – A perk that grants 15% bonus damage against all targets I’m going to use my Heavy weapon on? This was a non-choice and sucked the air out of the room for other damage perks. At the same time, it was failing its original role: giving players a reason to run a primary weapon against tough targets.
Was 15% damage on all weapons.
Now 10% on heavy weapons, 15% on special, 20% on the primary.
No change to damage vs players in Super.
Whirlwind Blade – This was too obviously the best Sword damage perk around, so while we’re fine with it being good at sustained damage, we’ve pulled it back for shorter flights.
Increased number of stacks needed to hit maximum damage from 5 to 10.
Pulse Monitor – What if instead of activating on what feels like a fail state, this activated on a state you’ll be in almost every encounter, even if you’re winning?
The changed threshold for activation from 90% health to 30% shield (i.e., this now requires much less damage to trigger).
Mods
Quick Access Sling – The usage on this mod is very telling — it’s extensively used on Bows and breech Grenade Launchers, and barely used at all on other weapons. At the same time, we’ve pulled down some options players had for improving their swap speed, and wanted to make an option available for building towards that on all Legendary weapons.
We’ll be watching how this feels in the wild and may revisit it later.
Functionality changed:
Was: +100 handling, 0.9 * ready/stow/aim down sights time for 0.4s after running out of ammo.
Now: 0.9 * ready/stow time all the time.
This change also applies to the Swap Mag perk, as they use the same perk behind the scenes.
Full Auto Retrofit – We’ve seen plenty of requests for an accessibility option allowing full-auto fire, particularly on fast-firing semiautomatic weapons. We have a settings option in the works for a season after The Witch Queen launches but decided to put in a stopgap to help players until we are able to ship it. Please keep these types of suggestions coming!
Added a Full Auto Retrofit weapon mod that enables full auto while the trigger is held, usable on Legendary Hand Cannons, Sidearms, Scout Rifles, and Pulse Rifles.
This is unlocked by default for all players.
Let me know what you think of Bungie’s 30th Anniversary celebration and let me know what you are looking forward to!
That’s it for this look at everything we know about Bungie’s 30th Anniversary Event in Destiny 2. For more Destiny 2 content like this check out This Week In Video Games on YouTube and subscribe today.