In a massive State of the Game blog post, Bungie Game Director Joe Blackburn detailed some of the significant changes coming to Destiny 2 during Lightfall and its first two seasons: Season of Defiance and Season of the Deep, as well as updates coming afterward.
One of the most notable was a further explanation about the crafting overhaul coming to the game that attempts to address some of the biggest community pain points with weapon crafting.
Crafted and Dropped Weapons Can Get Enhanced Perks
Crafted weapons in Destiny 2 are better than randomly dropped ones because of the ability to equip Enhanced Perks, upgraded versions of base Perks with additional benefits and utilities. Come Lightfall and the year that follows, some big changes are coming to help equalize the two disparate loot pools.
First, Bungie is reducing the number of craftable weapons, though those already available aren’t going anywhere. In their place, more weapons will be available via “long-term sources,” likely including Raids, Dungeons, ritual activities, and year-long Seasonal offerings.
Second, specific non-craftable weapons will have the ability to have Enhanced Perks of their own. You’ll be limited to enhancing only perks currently on the weapon, but rather than dismantling every roll that isn’t immediately useful for crafting or going after specific activity-dropped loot, you can now invest in them through leveling up, adding mementos, etc.
Deepsight weapons are also going the way of the Dodo (kind of). While you will still see them as potential loot sources, they’ll only appear when they have an extractable pattern. That is, when you can use or dismantle them to progress toward making a craftable version. They gave no timeline for this particular change.
Bungie also hopes to bring the ability to add Deepsight to any craftable weapon that drops, but you don’t yet have the pattern for. Put another way: if you get a basic version of a gun you can progress the pattern for, you would be able to add a red border to it by some means, allowing you to more deterministically move toward crafting it. Bungie hopes this update is coming in Season of Deep, but they make no promises.
Those are about the width and breadth of crafting changes coming to Destiny 2 during the Lightfall expansion year. Crafting has long been a sticking point for the more hardcore members of the community, and while these solutions won’t please everyone, they hopefully strike an agreeable middle ground. For more on Destiny 2 content across its many years, check out our guides hub.
