The Destiny 2 Season of the Deep content update will be dropping today, but before it goes live there will be a significant period of maintenance.
The next major content update for Destiny 2 here, with the highly anticipated Season of the Deep (Season 21) update set to be released today on all platforms. The Season of the Deep start time is 6pm BST / 1pm EDT / 10am PDT today, but the pre-update maintenance will begin a few hours before this, from around 3pm BST / 10am EDT / 7am PDT, with the title set to go completely offline from 4.15pm BST / 11.15am EDT / 8.15am PDT.
Destiny 2 maintenance is due to end at 7pm BST / 2pm EDT / 11am PDT, around an hour after the update is rolled out, but as long as you've downloaded the patch, you can jump in an hour earlier when Season of the Deep goes live! But, it is worth noting that there's likely to be significant server queues if you try and launch the game as soon as the update goes live, as we saw with previous Destiny 2 content update roll outs including the recent Witch Queen and Lightfall updates.
Destiny 2 Season of the Deep early patch notes
Ahead of the Season of the Deep update going live, Bungie has shared some early patch notes on its blog about what players can expect following the patch.
Economy updates
Economy might sound boring at first, but when you start noticing how many things in the game depend on it... well, you start paying more attention to how it fluctuates. At the start of Season 21, we will have several updates to Destiny 2 economy. Here’s a recap of the major changes:
- Rahool Exotic Engram Focusing: you can decrypt or focus Exotic engrams, with Tier 1 and Tier 2 options.
- Weapon Deepsight activation: there’s a new currency called Deepsight Harmonizer.
- Changes to crafting costs: Legendary Shards are no longer required.
Weapon Sandbox Tuning
During Season 20, we introduced a lot of changes to weapons, as well as special reticles that better represent the perks and different firing patterns that some of them have. We are doubling down on that for Season 21, with more informative and more visible reticles at high field of view (FOV) for Fusion Rifles, Hand Cannons, Sidearms and Trace Rifles, as well as special ones for several Exotics, like Devil’s Ruin’s charged shot or Lumina’s Noble Rounds.
There are also some Exotic weapons buffs (Worldline Zero is back), reworks (Salvation’s Grip), some nerfs (Thunderlord was cheating a bit) and some damages fixes (Winterbite was scolded). And of course, there’s also adjustments to some Legendary archetypes and perks.
Abilities Tuning
For abilities, the best you can do is go and read the preview article we published on May 3. Lots of buffs for Supers on PvE, more Fragments slots for several Aspects, improved melees for Strand as well as lower cooldowns for Grapple, a few buffs to Stasis, and a long, very long etcetera.
Exotic Armor Tuning
Same story as with abilities. We have an in-depth article about the changes coming to more than 20 Exotic armor pieces. There are some big buffs in there, as well as complete reworks and a few nerfs to bring some outliers into line.
Quality of Life Improvements
We are also introducing several Quality of Life (QoL) updates in Season 21. Here's a list of them, with further details available in the May 4 TWAB.
- New Vanguard bounties.
- Finest Matterweave and Rainmaker can now be consumed to earn the associated material.
- Good Boy Protocol coming back to the Tower.
- Certain Triumphs now boost the raid Exotic drop rate in The Last Wish, Deepstone Crypt, Vow of the Disciple, Vault of Glass, and Kingsfall. And they are retroactive.
Crucible Titles
In addition to bringing the classic Meltdown PvP map into rotation, we are making several changes and updates to how Trials of Osiris will work in Season 21. Our intention is to make a more rewarding game mode without taking away the challenge.
- Flawless Pool is being replaced by the new Practice Pool and Challenger Pool.
- There’s a new Trials quest for new players.
- Some Trials passages have been adjusted to provide a better experience.
- Elimination is out and Dominion will be the core game mode for Trials.
- Gilding the Flawless Seal has new requirements.
Three new aspects
Just two weeks ago, we teased the new Aspects coming to Strand in Season 21 as part of a new quest in which Lightfall owners will learn more about the Veil in Neomuna and earn a new Legendary weapon. We felt like you wanted to see a bit more, so even though you will be able to test them by yourself in a few days, we recorded some short videos so you know what to expect and you can start thinking of new builds. Enjoy.
HUNTER: THREADED SPECTER
Activate your class ability to leave behind a decoy woven from Strand matter that draws the attention of nearby combatants. After taking significant damage or when combatants approach, the decoy detonates, dealing damage and releasing Threadlings that seek out and attack nearby foes.
TITAN: FLECHETTE STORM
While sliding, activate your charged melee ability to leap into the air, knocking nearby targets away and dealing damage. While airborne, activate your charged melee again to launch a cluster of damaging, unraveling projectiles. Repeatedly activating melee will chain additional throws.
WARLOCK: THE WANDERER
Tangles you throw attach to enemies and detonate into a suspending burst. Threadling final blows create a Tangle.
The refundable artifact is almost here
Are you ready to wield your new NPA Repulsor Regulator? That’s your new Seasonal Artifact, treat it well or Drifter might use you as bait.
Remember that the Seasonal Artifact has changed a bit recently. With Lightfall, mods from the Artifact changed into perks that are always on when unlocked and you don’t have to slot them into your armor pieces. Starting with Season of the Deep, another change is coming: you will have the option to refund perks from the Artifact individually, one by one, so adapting to each activity and crafting the most focused build will be a bit faster and easier than before.
But in order to make the most amazing builds, you need to know the perks. That’s an easy fix:
COLUMN 1
- Anti-Barrier Auto-Rifle: Your equipped Auto Rifle fires shield-piercing rounds and stun Barrier Champions. Additionally, Auto-Rifles are always overcharged when that modifier is active.
- Unstoppable Hand Cannon: Aiming down the sights of a Hand Cannon for a short time loads a powerful explosive payload that stuns unshielded combatants. Strong against Unstoppable Champions. Additionally, Hand Cannons are always overcharged when that modifier is active.
- Overload Scout Rifle: Landing consecutive hits on combatants with any Scout Rifle you are wielding causes disruption, delaying ability energy regeneration and lowering combatant damage output. Strong against Overload Champions. Additionally, Scout Rifles are always overcharged when that modifier is active.
- Overload Trace Rifle: Uninterrupted fire from your equipped Trace Rifles causes the beam to stun combatants, delaying ability energy regeneration and lowering their damage output. Strong against Overload Champions. Additionally, Trace Rifles are always overcharged when that modifier is active.
- Unstoppable Glaive: Glaives you wield fire a powerful explosive payload that stuns unshielded combatants. Strong against Unstoppable Champions. Additionally, Glaives are always overcharged when that modifier is active.
COLUMN 2
- Authorized Mods: Arc: The armor energy costs of all armor mods affecting your Arc weapons are significantly discounted.
- Authorized Mods: Void: The armor energy costs of all armor mods affecting your Void weapons are significantly discounted.
- Authorized Mods: Strand: The armor energy costs of all armor mods affecting your Strand weapons are significantly discounted.
- Authorized Mods: Melee: The armor energy costs of all armor mods affecting your melee are significantly discounted.
- Technicolor Siphon: Grants access to Helmet armor mods that combine the effects of the Strand Siphon and Arc Siphon mods.
COLUMN 3
- Improved Unraveling: Increases the amount of damage dealt by unraveling a target.
- Deeper Origins: Greatly improves the benefits provided by the Unsated Hunger, Nanotech Tracer Rockets, Harmonic Resonance, and Noble Deeds traits.
- Unto the Breach: Defeating a Void Debuffed targets creates a Void Breach while your Void subclass is equipped.
- Electric Armor: Stay amplified longer while your Arc subclass is equipped.
- Thunderous Retort: Grants bonus Arc Super damage if cast while critically wounded or while amplified. Lasts until the end of the Super activation.
COLUMN 4
- Strand Soldier: Your Strand weapons gain Unraveling Rounds whenever you gain Woven Mail while your Strand subclass is equipped.
- Overcharged Armory: Weapons with the Unsated Hunger, Nanotech Tracer Rockets, Harmonic Resonance, and Noble Deed traits are always overcharged weapons for you when that modifier is active.
- Protective Breach: Picking up a Void Breach gives you an overshield or refreshes your existing overshield.
- Counter Charge: Gain a stack of Armor Charge when you stun a Champion.
- Amped Up: Gain damage resistance while amplified.
COLUMN 5
- Conductive Cosmic Needle: Targets affected by Strand debuffs take increases damage from Arc and Void abilities.
- Shock and Awe: Arc final blows while you are amplified summon a burst of lightning that damages and jolts targets.
- Supernova: Picking up a Void Breach causes your next source of Void damage to create a large weakening pulse.
Squad Goals:
- Performing a finisher while you are amplified grants Amplified to nearby allies when your Arc subclass is equipped.
- Performing a finisher while you have Woven Mail grants Woven Mail to nearby allies when your Strand subclass is equipped.
- Performing a finisher while you have Devour grants Devour to nearby allies when your Void subclass is equipped.
- Lightning Strikes Twice: After throwing an Arc grenade, gain increased grenade recharge for a short time. Arc final blows extend the duration of this benefit.
Updates to Enemy Elemental Shields
We have one more update coming with Season of the Deep, one we haven't mentioned until today: we are changing how enemy shields look. To tell you all about it, here's the Destiny 2 Combat Team.
Destiny 2 Combat Team: "Over the past few years, the Destiny Dev team has introduced numerous changes to the core game experience as we’ve overhauled internal systems, as well as endeavoured to make the game more accessible to our audience. The change we are about to talk about touches on both of these topics.
"With the launch of Season of the Deep we’re introducing a change to most combatant shields that will update their visuals across the entire game. This update had the explicit goal of not affecting Destiny’s existing gameplay, so this will be a visual-only change.
"Given that the majority of these shields have been in service since 2017, the number of bespoke combatant shields has become more difficult to maintain as we’ve significantly expanded the number of enemy combatants in the game. To address this challenge, we’ve made a large backend shift to a new shield system that will be easier to maintain and improve upon. Which brings us to our next point: accessibility.
"When we decided to overhaul this system, we took the opportunity to create visuals that are more accessible for colorblind players and players with other visual impairments. As such, we’ve minimized visual information that is not relevant to gameplay in favor of bringing to the foreground more combat-relevant details. This primarily takes form in more clearly surfacing the unit’s shield element. Right now, the color of combatant shields are the only way a player can tell what the optimal element counter is. In the new system launching with Season of the Deep, we’ve included more visual artifacts with each shield type that indicates to players which elemental weapon types are best to use.
"As a final detail, we’d like to note that Immunity Shields (white shields) and shields for specific boss encounters will not be receiving this update. Due to their slightly-more-complicated nature, we’re avoiding making any broad changes which could unintentionally impact encounter mechanics, designs, etc."
Stabilising
And now, a note from the Engineering team: "As part of the work to prepare for Lightfall, we embarked on a large technical upgrade to improve our Destiny 2 services and hardware. This work included updating our services to use new technologies as well as preparing for hardware upgrades.
"In the long run, this investment in the back end of Destiny 2 should lead to a more stable and reliable experience for all players, and faster recovery in instances where service downtime does occur. The launch of Lightfall was a great example of this, with high stability and uptime for both launch day and the Root of Nightmares World First Race.
However, as millions of players have interacted with these services, we have discovered some issues that we are working on addressing. A prime example of this is our background service update system. Typically, several days before one of our Tuesday updates, we will “stage” the update on our servers.
"This upgrades our backend services to the new version and means that during the Tuesday patch, we only take a brief amount of downtime before letting players back into the game. However, with our new libraries and code, we’ve discovered cases where the background update has put our services into a bad state, forcing us to bring Destiny 2 offline for extended maintenance.
So, what are we doing about this? "We have a team focused on making corrections to our new services, so that we can safely perform background updates again. However, while we do that work, we also want to make sure your Destiny 2 experience is as predictable as possible.
"Therefore, starting with Season of the Deep's launch (Update 7.1.0), we are moving to a scheduled downtime model where we bring Destiny 2 offline for an expected 1.5 hours on our update days. This will allow us to do our “staging” and rollout on the same day and should make the experience more stable and reliable. In the meantime, we will continue to monitor performance, upgrade hardware, increase service reliability, and work to give you a great experience each time you play the game."
