Destiny 2’s PvP community has been up in arms for months. Between rampant cheating in the pinnacle Trials of Osiris game mode and their frustration at a lack of new maps, players focused on the Crucible have felt ignored for quite some time. But ahead of Bungie’s Destiny 2 showcase on Aug. 24 — which will show off season 15 and next year’s Witch Queen expansion — assistant game director Joe Blackburn took to Twitter to announce some planned PvP improvements.
First, Blackburn revealed that Trials of Osiris is getting a revamp in season 15, which starts later this month. He didn’t go into detail on what this revamp will improve, but promised players will get more information in the showcase on Aug. 24. Blackburn doesn’t mention anti-cheat anywhere in his thread, so it’s unclear if the cheating issue will play into the company’s upcoming announcement.
According to Blackburn, Bungie spent the past year working to build its team for the expressed purpose of creating more Destiny, and PvP players should start to see the fruit of their labor in 2022. Ideally for Blackburn, PvP players should be able to predict when the next new map or mode will come into the game, rather than counting the days since the last new addition. Next year will feature new and returning maps and modes to help breathe life back into the Crucible.
In an effort to get new-ish toys into players’ hands quickly, Bungie will unvault two Crucible maps in season 16. These will be maps that went away last year in Destiny 2: Beyond Light, when Bungie shifted the game’s engine. Because of that technical improvement, getting them back into the game takes more work than players might expect.
The following season, season 17, will feature Destiny 2’s first new map in years. Blackburn hinted that it’ll take place in one of Destiny’s new locations, which suggests either Europa from Beyond Light or whatever the new location is for Witch Queen — likely Old Chicago. Season 18 will feature a reprised map from the original Destiny, but one that’s never made the leap to Destiny 2. These kinds additions will hopefully continue through Destiny 2’s life.
In addition to maps, the Crucible team is looking into Rift — the original Destiny’s beloved Capture the Flag-type mode. Because of the new pace of Destiny 2, it’s unclear if Rift will actually translate one-to-one from the original game, so Blackburn isn’t able to guarantee its return to the series. The Destiny 2 Crucible team is also working on other new modes outside of Rift, but Blackburn wouldn’t offer any details yet.
Blackburn followed up his collection of PvP tweets with a brief tweet about Gambit. The team will start working on new maps soon, but the current focus is on play-testing some larger changes ahead of season 16.
Most of these changes are pretty far out, and players will need to wait months — likely until the Witch Queen expansion next year — to see any different maps in the Crucible rotation. But PvP players seem pleased that Bungie is even acknowledging their existence. With the showcase coming later this month and a revamp for Trials of Osiris in the next season, all different kinds of Destiny 2 players should have some hope for the future.
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