Destiny 2: Into The Light Info Released and Sandbox Overhaul

In this month of March, Destiny 2 has seen some new changes that have shaken up not only the sandbox for PvE and PvP but also recently shown us the brand-new activity that will arrive with the content update: Into The Light. Teased a few months back, Into The Light is Bungie’s attempt at bridging the gap between new and veteran players by providing a free activity with its own reward pool. Just a few hours ago, Bungie released a devstream detailing what the activity is about, and in the next 2 weeks, there will be 2 more streams going into further detail on the rewards and peripheral systems.

Into The Light New Activity

This new activity has been requested by fans for a while after Destiny 2’s launch, given Bungie’s previous success with a certain game mode found in Halo 3: ODST and Halo Reach. Into The Light’s Onslaught Mode is Destiny’s attempt at a Firefight-styled horde mode where Guardians defend an objective against increasingly difficult waves of enemies.

From the gameplay shown in the stream, the activity is set in a slightly modified version of the Midtown PvP map. In this game mode, Guardians must defend an objective called the ADU, which incoming enemies will prioritize destroying first. Enemies within the circle will damage it. Certain enemies will drop an object called an ADU Battery, which can be thrown at the objective to repair it.  Defensive structures like turrets, tripwires, and decoys can be purchased mid-mission with a temporary currency called Scrap, which is earned by killing enemies and clearing waves. Every 10 waves, Guardians will head inside the Pyramid ship and defeat a boss stationed inside to claim that wave’s rewards.

Lord Shaxx, the handler for the Crucible PvP mode, will be the main vendor for Onslaught mode and will be responsible for handing rewards for this activity.

Bungie has stated that this activity will come with difficulty options up to Legendary, with the rewards scaling appropriately to the difficulty set in Onslaught Mode. As seen in the footage, this game mode will have 50 waves at maximum. The livestream is but the first of a three-part stream for Into The Light.

Community reception for this update has been mixed. Some players believe that Onslaught mode is a step forward for the game and has the potential to be fun, while others in the community say that this update will not have much staying power in the game. The overall sentiment for this game is at an all-time low, and player apathy for Destiny 2 is high. While there isn’t much to glean from 30 minutes of gameplay of this mode, time will tell if this content update will be enough to tide players over while waiting for The Final Shape release.

Reprising Old Relics

One of the players showcasing Onslaught mode is using an old Vanilla Destiny 2 raid hand cannon called Midnight Coup, found only in the vaulted Leviathan raid. Players have speculated that other famous weapons from vaulted content will return to the current game, like the beloved Black Armory guns from Season of the Forge, as the game has already seen other reprised seasonal weapons from Season of the Undying. Currently, the developers said that this mode will see the return of old Crucible weapons, so it’s likely that the infamous Recluse submachine gun may return again.

PvP Sandbox Overhaul and Trials Changes

Bungie has significantly changed up the PvP sandbox, overhauling the core gameplay idea to make it more focused on gunplay and rewarding pure aiming skill. The biggest change to the game is that health values have been increased across the board, with all classes gaining 30 extra health on top of the base 100, which further extends the time to kill. The next big change to PvP is the reduction of body shot damage to most weapons, especially hand cannons while increasing headshot damage for all weapons. Special ammo has also been tuned so that players do not respawn with special ammo after dying. Bungie has intended for Crucible players to hit as many headshots as possible to get an optimal time to kill and wants players to master their primary weapons. Ability damage and cooldowns have been adjusted so that ability spam is less likely to occur.

As for Trials of Osiris, there have been a few new Passages to make getting Adept weapons and Flawless a little easier for most players. For one, the Passage of Persistence is one of the best ways for any player to get Adept weapons without getting Flawless. To elaborate on how Passage of Persistence works, getting 7 wins, even when Flawed, will guarantee an Adept weapon drop. However, losing a match will take away one win. Losing a win will count the card as Flawed but will still give out the Adept as if you had gone Flawless.

Another new Passage added to the game that makes reaching the Lighthouse easier is the Passage of Ferocity. This Passage states that getting 3 wins in a row will prevent your card from ever becoming Flawed, as losses beyond the 4th win will reset the card to 3 wins instead. With this card, all you need now is 4 wins in a row to reach the Lighthouse and claim your Adept weapon for the week.