It’s been over four months since Bungie unleashed Destiny 2 on the world, and it’s fair to say that the response from fans has been a mixed bag. While there was significant praise for the much-anticipated sequel at launch, the game has struggled to keep its audience engaged since then — but now the studio has detailed some of the changes that are in store for 2018.
Game director Christopher Barrett begins a blog post detailing Bungie’s future plans with an explanation of how content will be split between free updates and paid DLC. Seasons are free content drops that will be available to all players, while Expansions will bring new story content, destinations, and gear, alongside new additions to the Crucible, new Strikes, and new Raid Lair content for a price.
Barrett then dives into some upcoming tweaks to the Eververse system, which he describes as never having been intended as a substitute for endgame rewards. Content that could previously only be obtained via Bright Engrams will now be added to achievement reward pools, and there’s set to be new methods of earning Bright Engrams via gameplay.
The way that Destiny 2 players earn XP is also set to change, in light of recent controversies. Barrett acknowledges that a previous attempt to do so was “unworkably buggy” and pledges that the next attempt will speed up leveling and remove some of the grind that’s currently present.
The post also details a wealth of new features that are set to drop over coming months. Private matches are coming, as well as two new ranking systems that will help give Crucible matches some long-term progression, new playlists and events, an expansion of the Masterwork system to include armor, and plenty more.
There’s certainly a lot for Destiny 2 players to look forward to in terms of changes to the current game, and Barrett also promises a forthcoming look at the game’s second expansion, which will apparently be unveiled sooner rather than later. The point of this communication is transparency, which is something that the game’s fanbase has spoken out about in the past, but it needs to come to fruition for players to stick around. As Barrett notes in the opening paragraph of the post, everything he’s saying is subject to change.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.