‘Destiny’ Heroic Strikes Matchmaking Inbound, Plus Xur And Iron Banner Fixes

The Destiny 1.1.1 patch is shaping up to be full of significant changes for PlayStation and Xbox players. Bungie revealed more details Thursday that include a long-requested change to Weekly Heroic Strikes, plus updates to Xur, Agent of the Nine, Iron Banner, and more.

Bungie has already detailed the balance changes to weapons that include a fix to the Heavy Weapon ammo bug. There was also the news last week that it will be easier to check your reputation in-game. The upcoming changes to Destiny detailed in the latest Weekly Update may be the most exciting yet for patch 1.1.1.

Strike at the heart of the Weekly Update. https://t.co/ZipQSHrLhx pic.twitter.com/XezMbTFx3l

— Bungie (@Bungie) February 19, 2015

The ability to use matchmaking in the Weekly Heroic and Nightfall Strikes has been a requested feature since before Destiny launched. One out of two isn’t bad, as the Heroic Strikes will receive matchmaking in the next patch.

“We wanted the Weekly Heroics to be a challenge that pushed you and your buddies, but what we observed was that these strikes don’t demand the same cooperation of a cohesive pre-made group,” Design Lead M.E. Chung explained. “The overwhelming community response was such that many players didn’t have the numbers on their friends list to experience the activity on a weekly basis.”

You’ll still be able to group with friends in all three difficulty levels of the Weekly Heroic Strike, but you won’t be able to solo them now. This change doesn’t apply to Nightfall Strikes, however. The most difficult version of Strikes will still require gathering together friends from your list of online friends or using outside services like DestinyLFG, Reddit Fireteams, and others. The same also still holds true for Raids.

“We think good Raid sessions rely on groups of communicative players who are invested in each other, but we know that it’s challenging for many players to find groups for Raids and Nightfall today. We are thinking hard about how we can help make that an easier experience in future releases,” Chung said in regards to matchmaking and Raids.

Community Manager David “Deej” Dague also revealed the following additional changes with the Destiny 1.1.1 patch. All are items that the community has complained about repeatedly, which should make these updates all the more welcome.

• Xûr will stop forgetting to bring his Exotic engrams when he visits us from… wherever Xûr is from.
• Iron Banner will work as previously promised, with a greater variety of maps in rotation as well as a couple of new Bounties that give you more control over which weapon you can use to complete them – and we were hoping that one would have arrived before the current event.
• Strikes and Crucible Maps will be less likely to repeat themselves when you stay in a matchmaking playlist with your Fireteam.
• Grimoire Cards will drop when you expect them to.

There’s still no official release date for the Destiny 1.1.1 patch. Bungie is still aiming for the end of February, which has fewer than 10 days remaining.

[Images via Bungie]