The promised Destiny 2.1 update for December arrived Tuesday for PlayStation and Xbox consoles. The update included promised changes such as the new Sparrow Racing League event , weapon balancing , Titan re-balancing , plus a slew of new Exotic armor and weapons previously covered by Inquisitr . Bungie managed to sneak in a few new surprises as well, however, including a return of Nightfall reputation, expanding the use of Three of Coins, and sort of fixing a long-standing sprint issue.
The Bungie patch notes for the Destiny 2.1 update is extremely lengthy, so please head there if you wish to review them all. This article will focus on changes that weren’t previously covered.
Three of Coins
Three of Coins, the consumable that increases the chance of receiving an Exotic drop, was previously limited to PVE activities. The update released today makes it available for Crucible too. This includes the just-released Sparrow Racing event.
The best time to activate a Three of Coins is during entry of a Crucible activity. Players will have to complete a match to receive the chance of receiving an Exotic engram. As suggested in the guide posted to Inquisitr previously, it is best to activate the Three of Coins once every three matches to maximize the chance of receiving an Engram and not waste any of the consumable.
This is a boon to Destiny players who prefer to spend their time playing Crucible over PVE activities like Strikes. It also gives more reason to spend those Strange Coins with Xur every weekend. Note though that the text of the Three of Coins has been updated to state that a win is necessary to receive an Exotic. Destiny players in the Crucible Playbook Reddit group are reporting receiving Exotics after losses though.
Nightfall and Strikes
Meanwhile, Nightfall players will now receive a significant Faction reputation boost once again. Changes made to the high-end activity with the release of The Taken King brought the possible reputation earnings down to a paltry handful. Now it is back to 500 reputation points from completing a Nightfall.
In other Strike news, the Will of Crota Strike is now part of the Vanguard Heroic Strikes and Vanguard Strikes playlists. Destiny players will want to not use a Three of Coins during this Strike, however, as Omnigul does not drop an Exotic.
Sprinting
Sprinting has been a pain for Destiny players due to a cooldown period that can hit at inopportune times. Bungie didn’t address this in the 2.1 update but did fix a glitch that caused players to move at walking pace when they should have been sprinting.
Exotic Changes
In terms of weapon changes not covered, the Dragon’s Breath Exotic Rocket Launcher was significantly altered in today’s Destiny update. The weapon was originally considered a lower tier weapon, but was just given a Year Two upgrade. The uniqueness of the changes may make it a more desirable weapon as it is closer to the Fallen Scorch Cannon.
- Remove Pyromancer and Tripod perks
- Replaced with Surplus and Who’s Next
- Add intrinsic perk Napalm: Rocket fires on a remote detonation trigger
- Hold to trigger to fire, release trigger to detonate
- Detonation drops a Solar Damage napalm canister
- Reduced projectile speed to help timing of the trigger release. Reduce detonation radius of initial rocket. Reduce mag size to 1, increase Inventory
Those that purchased the Destiny: The Taken King Collector’s Edition for the in-game items can actually use the Exotic class item now. Bungie has fixed it so the Collector’s Edition Class Item can be Infused to a higher Light level. The Frontier Ghost Shell obtained from the original Destiny Collector’s Edition can now also be infused.
Here are tweaks made to other Exotic armor pieces.
Taikonaut
- No longer turns off tracking for rocket launchers that have tracking
ATS/8 Tarantella
- Arc Damage Reduction applies to vehicles
Achlyophage Symbiote
- Time you can have golden gun active is reduced
Nothing Manacles
- Slightly turned down the tracking on the scatter grenade
No Backup Plans
- Shotgun activating force barrier only works for defender titans
Skull of Dire Ahamkara
- Has been added to the Exotic Blueprint Collection
Crucible and Faction Changes
Some Crucible maps have been tweaked, but nothing significant. The weapon-balance changes bring the biggest PVP impacts to Destiny . However, players can now turn in planetary materials to Faction vendors and Eris Morn for reputation. Additionally, Petra is now accepting Etheric Light in exchange for reputation.
What do you think of the changes made with the Destiny 2.1 update? Sound off in the comments section below.
[Image via Bungie ]