Destiny Patch Notes - Update September 9th 2014

The first Destiny’s Patch Notes contains a number of changes to Weapons, Builds, Talents, Maps, Activities, Achievements, Progression, game stability and UI.

Classes – General

• Removed subclass locking from builds.
• Adjusted the unlock order for all subclass trees.
• Adjusted the cooldown ranges of armor stats (Intellect, Discipline, Strength).
• Agility now has more impact to move speed and acceleration.

TITAN

• General
  • Catapult no longer has screen effects
• Striker
  • Shoulder Charge now deals Arc damage instead of Kinetic
  • Lightning Grenade shock damage increased by 66% (base 60 to 100)
  • Amplify Super bonus-on-kill increased from 6% to 10%
  • Flashbang no longer disorients ultra combatants
  • Transfusion now has a 5-second cooldown before it can trigger again
  • Juggernaut shield is removed after jumping or sprinting for 6.5 seconds
• Defender
  • Ward of Dawn now immediately regenerates your health on activation

HUNTER

• Gunslinger
  • Golden Gun is now unable to overpenetrate through a Ward of Dawn shield
  • Incendiary Grenade detonation damage reduced by 18% (base 140 to 115)
  • Chain of Woe now grants an additional 5%, 10%, 15% bonus to reload speed
  • Gunslinger’s Trance buff duration increased from 10 to 15 seconds.
• Bladedancer
  • Arcbolt Grenade impact damage reduced by 17% (base 120 to 100)
  • Razor’s Edge distance traveled slowed and reduced
  • Quickdraw now no longer requires a melee hit
  • Blink now cancels invisibility when used

WARLOCK

• Voidwalker
  • Nova Bomb Vortex duration reduced from 5 to 3.5 seconds.
  • Nova Bomb Vortex effects now has displays for its victims.
  • Energy Drain impact damage increased by 10% (base 100 to 110)
  • Soul Rip super bonus on kill increased from 6% to 10% bonus
  • Vortex Grenade linger damage reduced by 50% (base 15 to 10) per tick
  • Surge now grants a bonus to reload and weapon-ready speed
  • Surge now activates when doing damage to an enemy instead of killing blow
  • Surge agility buff increased by 33% (base 10 to 13)
• Sunsinger
  • Firebolt Grenade impact damage reduced by 20% (base 100 to 80)
  • Flame Shield now activates when doing damage to an enemy instead of killing blow
  • Flame Shield now provides a small overshield
  • Solar Grenade linger damage reduced by 50% (base 15 to 10) per tick

Weapons

• Removed weapon speed penalties from extended sprinting
• Capped inventory to 999 rounds
• Fixed several weapons that would display an incorrect magazine size
• Swapping weapons from inventory now only takes 50% of the ammo in PvE

Perks

• Return to Sender now procs more frequently by 15%
• Range Finder bonus reduced by 4%
• High Caliber Rounds damage to combatants increased by 67%

Assault Rifles

• Reduced the base Damage of all Assault Rifles by 7%
• Reduced the base Accuracy ranges by [14% to 25%], modified by weapon stat
• Reduced the base Stability ranges by [8% to 80%], modified by weapon stat

Pulse Rifles

• Increased the base Damage per bullet range by [2% to 17%], modified by weapon stat
• Increased the base Stability range by [8% to 25%], modified by weapon stat
• Reduced the base Rate of Fire by [8% to 19], modified by weapon stat

Scout Rifles

• Reduced the base Damage of all Scout Rifles by 8%
• Fixed an issue that broke the fx for explosive rounds

Hand Cannons

• Increased the base Zoom of all Hand Cannons by 20%
• Increased the base Damage per bullet range by [4% to 15%], modified by weapon stat
• Increased the base Magazine size range by [8% to 20%], modified by weapon stat
• Reduced the base Accuracy range by [75% to 100%], modified by weapon stat

Sniper Rifles

• Increased the base Stability range by [6% to 100%], modified by weapon stat

Fusion Rifles

• Fusion Rifle charging is now more reliable.

Shotguns

• Improved Shotgun damage falloff networking.
• Reduced base Damage per bullet range by [2% to 5%], modified by weapon stat
• Reduced base Shotgun range by [1% to 7%], modified by weapon stat

HMGs

• Improved HMG projectile networking.

Vehicles

• Fixed audio dropouts from vehicles for local player.

Sparrow

• Dodging while boosting is now easier to execute.

Cabal Interceptor

• Reduced Rocket Rate of Fire from 1 to 1.5666 seconds per shot.
• Reduced Rocket damage blast radius from 7 to 6 meters.
• Reduced Rocket damage falloff curves so they are less effective at long rangers
• Reduced Arming shape from 1 to 0.6 meters.

PVP

• Crucible Marks drop rate increased from 2 to 3 for wins, 1 to 2 for losses.
• Match completion XP and Glimmer awards increased.
• Match completion can now award Engrams.
• Playlists now unlock sequentially instead of based on character level.
• Health numbers are now normalized at a 200 base value (up from 175) to be easier for players to calculate.
• Ghost ammo collection disabled in all playlists.
• ‘Crushing’ voice-overs now plays properly when the game has 0:30 and 0:10 seconds remaining

Medals

• Mark of the Unbroken minimum threshold increased from 7 to 15
• Back in Action death streak threshold increased from 3 to 5
• Heating Up medal removed to avoid spam and player confusion
• Domination now only fires only once per domination zone per player
• Domination medal score increased from 40 to 125

Game Types

• Salvage Zones now do not return to the most recent salvaged relic locations
• Fixed a bug with Salvage probe offense points being given out incorrectly
• Fixed spawn policy content that caused bad behavior on (PS3 only)

Maps

First Light

• Pike spawns reduced from 4 to 3.
• Interceptor spawns reduced from 2 to 1.
• Interceptor spawn times reduced to 2 minutes.
• Interceptor timer now does not start incrementing until after the game has started.

Blind Watch

• Windmill now pumps approximately 14% less liters of waters per match from 3.5L to 3L.

Rusted Lands

• Line-of-sight spawn influencers changed to reduce spawning near enemies.
• Level-of-detail volumes adjusted for better performance on slower platforms.

Shores of Time

• Playable space volumes adjusted to remove exploit zones
• Level-of-detail volumes adjusted for better performance on slower platforms.

The Anomaly

• Fixed a hole that let players see out of environment in the lower tunnel.

Bastion

• Pike spawns reduced from 4 to 3.
• Interceptor spawns reduced from 2 to 1.
• Interceptor spawn timers reduced to 2 minutes.
• Interceptor timer now does not start incrementing until after the game has started.

Exodus Blue

• Added physics volume to keep players from getting on top of the giant hose reel near Control Zone A

Activities

Missions

• Fixed an issue with Ishtar Collective Venus mission to enable the Vex Turret to drop Mind Cores for assisting players, instead of only killing blow players.

Strikes

• Strikes now award increasingly more Vanguard Marks at higher levels.
• Strikes now award significantly better Gear at lower levels.
• Fixed an exploit using Ward of Dawn against Sepiks Prime

Raids

• Raid condensed to two difficulty tiers, in order to get straight to the punishment.
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  Levels adjusted.
• Flawless Raider achievement cut, then un-cut, then cut, then un-cut, then declared immune to further cutting.

Destinations

World

• Patrols award increased Vanguard reputation but no longer award Vanguard Marks.
• Patrol VIP objectives brought in-line with other objectives, but still award additional reputation.
• Treasure chest glimmer drop rate reduced, but added Materials to loot table.
• Treasure chests now have a small chance to award large drops of additional Glimmer, Materials, Engrams, and Consumables.
• Fixed various bugs where combatants were spawning in front of players
• Fixed bugs where too many combatants were spawning during some instances of the Vex Block event

Combatants

• Removed spurious XP bonuses for Fallen Captains, Hive Knights and Wizards, Vex Minotaurs, Cabal Centurions
• Stealth Vandals should award XP now.
• Acyclic Geometer’s name now display properly.
• Fixed Hydras to reward the correct loot for Patrol missions on Venus
• Spidertank leg health reduced by 16% (base 3000 to 2520) per leg.

Vendors

• Bounty introduction unlock moved from Level 6 to Level 4.
• Bounty Leads will be sent to characters upon reaching various milestones.
• Engram and Package tooltips now indicate what they can contain.
• Packages earned from Faction reputation rewards now contain Glimmer instead of awarding XP.
• Cryptarch reputation requirements to reach Rank 2 increased.
• Cryptarch reputation earned from purchasing Engrams are greatly reduced.
• Vanguard and Crucible Marks are now accruable beginning at Level 18.

Technical

• Fixed an issue with skill distribution that caused convergence to take much too long.
• Fixed an issue where players’ skill rating was too often shifting negatively causing less than ideal matches.