The most interesting change slipping into Destiny 2’s Season of the Drifter patch notes are the changes made to reserve ammo for two of the game’s most popular heavy weapons, the Sleeper Simulant and the Whisper of the Worm. Sleeper Simulant drops from 13 to a max of 9 without perks or the Masterwork, while Whisper of the Worm reserve ammo dramatically falls from a maximum of 20 down to 9 without perks.
Bungie didn’t stop with a couple of exotics, whoever. Most weapon types were either buffed or nerfed with regards to PvE. Shotguns, Trace Rifles, Grenade Launchers, Rocket Launchers, Linear Fusion Rifles, and several Exotic weapons all had their damage buffed by significant percentages. Meanwhile, Submachine Guns had their precision damage dropped slightly and Machine Guns were sideswiped with a 21% cut to their boss and miniboss damage. Bungie wants all weapons to feel powerful, but everything has its limit, apparently.
Several other significant changes have also gone through for the start of Season of the Drifter. As previously announced, Bungie has changed Armor so now Year 2 drops will feature a random stat package for either Heavy, Restorative, or Mobile. Clan Perks have changed for Season 6, with the Level 6 Perk unlocking an additional weekly bounty from Hawthorne. And Hawthorne’s bounties have been reworked, as well, split into three categories: PvE, PvP, and raid.
Tower
The Tower Annex Landing Zone is now available to all players The Drifter has relocated to the Annex in the Tower
Clans
Daily clan bounties have been removed Once again, clan XP in Season 6 can be earned simply by completing activities Clan weekly bounties have been renamed to “Hawthorne’s Bounties” to differentiate them from the raid challenges that are also in Hawthorne’s inventory These Hawthorne Bounties are organized into 3 fixed categories: PvE, PvP, and raid Raid challenge bounties will continue to be available on Hawthorne for the Last Wish and Scourge of the Past raids Some new clan perks have been added for Season 6, and some old clan perks have returned Level 2 Perk: Increased public event rewards Level 3 Perk: Completing a weekly Hawthorne bounty awards mod components Level 4 Perk: Completing a clan vendor challenge awards enhancement core Level 5 Perk: Increases the drop rate of Crucible and strike catalysts when playing with clanmates Level 6 Perk: Unlocks an additional weekly bounty for Hawthorne
Sandbox
Weapons
Shotguns Full Auto Trigger System rate-of-fire bonus reduced from 100% to 10% Full Auto Trigger System no longer increases Shotgun pellet spread All Shotguns received a damage multiplier in PvE, effectively doubling their damage (with the exception of Legend of Acrius) Reserve ammunition for Shotguns has been reevaluated to compensate for the increased damage Reduced base damage for Shotguns across the board to align with their new rates of fire on a per sub-archetype basis Rate-of-fire values have been tuned Aggressive Frame is now 55 RPM, up from 45 RPM Precision Frame is now 65 RPM, up from 55 RPM Lightweight Frame remains 80 RPM (tooltip erroneously stated 90 RPM previously) Rapid-Fire Frame is 140 RPM (including intrinsic full auto), down from 200 RPM (they were previously 100 RPM, but due to the intrinsic full auto, actually had 200 RPM) The Chaperone is now 70 RPM, up from 60 RPM Tractor Cannon is 80 RPM (tooltip erroneously stated 84 RPM previously) Legend of Acrius is now 55 RPM, up from 45 RPM
Rewards
Activities
Eververse
UI/UX
Alongside the new Annual Pass content is a new one-round Gambit Prime mode and a new mode called Reckoning. More Season of the Drifter content is planned to follow, week after week, between now and May. Which means it’s now the perfect time to speculate about what comes next, as part of the Season of Opulence.
Destiny 2 is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
