Topics this week.
With Act 3 starting on August 27, we wanted to give a quick recap of everything we’ve experienced since the start of Echoes. If you haven’t played through all story missions up through Act 2, be warned, there are spoilers below. Skip on down to the next section if you have yet to play!
The Story So Far
Following the death of the Witness, a strange aurora spread from the portal in the Traveler. An object, called an “Echo,” manifested within the aurora and fell onto Nessus. Almost immediately the Vanguard received an urgent distress call: a panicked Failsafe was reporting a huge surge in hostile activity.
Guardians were sent to Nessus to investigate, alongside Vex experts Osiris and Saint-14. Upon arrival, Failsafe explained that a Vex signal emerged which was different and that the Vex were changing. Delving into Nessus, we began to investigate the changing landscape and Vex. As the investigation continued, Saint-14 was lured away by a command he could not resist and went missing.
As we searched the Nessus caves, we approached Saint’s location where we could hear snippets of his conversation with an unheard second party. We eventually found Saint kneeling in his Ward of Dawn, confused and questioning the authenticity of his own existence, saying that he was not the real Saint. After breaking from the confusion, he said a voice spoke to him, connecting to his mind and commanding him. It called itself the Conductor.
Though freed from the Conductor’s influence, the questions it posed still weigh on him. He began to question if he was simply a copy of the Exo he claims to be and wondered if our world would be better off without him. Ikora revealed that Failsafe may be able to locate the Conductor, but she would need an extensive set of Vex data; data available only from the original Saint-14’s mind which lay in the Infinite Forest.
Unable to visit the Infinite Forest, we delved into the core of Nessus, where an archival version of his tomb exists. At the tomb, Saint-14 reobtained the memories of the original Saint and was emboldened by the experience. With this new data now available, Failsafe located the proper coordinates and created a portal. Entering through the portal we came face to face with the Conductor.
We learned that the Conductor is Maya Sundaresh, and she used the Echo of Command to take control of a cohort of Vex while attempting to awaken the planet of Nessus itself. Her plan? Spread her radiolaria throughout the system and bring about a new Golden Age. She tried to control Saint-14 again, forcing him to his knees, but this time he resisted. The team was quickly transported, escaping the encounter, now left to consider this new revelation and plan next steps.
We’ve only got one week left for Solstice. Make sure to grab your fireteam and make the most of the time remaining. A few reminders of what you might want to put on your checklist this final week.
Complete set of Sublime armor and glows
If you haven’t gotten a full set of armor yet, grab those Solstice Forge bounties and complete your set. If you’re struggling with any bounties, remember you can spend Silver Leaves to reroll the set of bounties for a specific piece of armor. If you enjoy doing GM Nightfalls, make sure to grab bounties that require GM completion. As a higher tier bounty, you can earn a ton of alloy through those quests.
Get Solstice weapons god rolls
If you were looking to farm other Solstice weapons, now is your last chance to jump into Bonfire Bash and get those god rolls.
Max out on Solstice keepsake mementos
With the recent changes in The Final Shape, you can now hold up to three mementos at a time. So, if you can’t decide which weapons you want to use your mementos on yet, make sure to grab as many as you can hold before the Solstice keepsake goes away for the year.
Finish all Solstice Triumphs and Title
If you’re chasing any specific Triumphs or the Solstice Title, now is your last chance to get them done. This includes our overall event Title, Reveler, which requires completion of Solstice Event Card challenges.
Hopefully you’re already on your way to getting everything you were after. If not, you have until the start of maintenance on August 27 to do so.
It’s time to shake up those well-crafted builds with some new Artifact perks coming with Act 3. This new row of Artifact perks focuses on Auto Rifles. These new perks not only give another option for dealing with Overload Champions, but you also have options for improving damage resistance and weapon damage. Also, in the final column we have a perk to help to make your Arc builds even more destructive.
Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 | Column 4 | Column 5 |
Overload Auto Rifle Uninterrupted fire from your equipped Auto Rifles grants bullets that stun combatants, delaying ability energy regeneration and lowering combatant damage output. Strong against Overload Champions. Additionally, Auto Rifles are always overcharged when this modifier is active. | Authorized Mod: Charged Up The energy cost of the Charged Up mod is significantly discounted. | Sustained Fire Continuously damaging combatants with an Auto Rifle grants you damage resistance. | Targeting Autoloader While you have an Auto Rifle equipped, defeating combatants reloads your equipped weapon and temporarily increases weapon damage. Awards bonus progress when dealing final blows while surrounded. | Shock and Awe When you have an Arc or Prismatic subclass equipped, Arc final blows while you are amplified summon a burst of lightning that damages and jolts targets. |
Echoes has brought several powerful new weapons that have become a mainstay in many loadouts. Act 1 brought nine new seasonal weapons, including Breachlight, Lost Signal, and Timeworn Wayfarer. In Act 2 we added three new weapons with Aberrant Action, Corrasion, and Perfect Paradox. And now in Act 3 we have three more weapons for you to add to your arsenal – Speleologist and Chronophage rounding out the set of Vex Mythoclast-inspired seasonal weapons, and the reprised, beloved Martyr’s Retribution.
We don’t have many Solar Machine Guns, and this one’s an add-clear monster, using the deep magazine and reserves of Rapid-Fire Machine Guns to fuel combos like Stats for All + Incandescent, or Deconstruct + Killing Tally.
This is only the second Legendary Void Trace Rifle in the game, and it’s a strong one, including the potent combination of Repulsor Brace + Destabilizing Rounds alongside other strong options.
The first wave frame Grenade Launcher we shipped, back in Season of Dawn, this was a player favorite at the time and returns with a selection of its original perks alongside some newer buildcrafting options, with options for Solar subclass tie-ins and ability-focused builds.
Earlier this week, we had a few communication beats come from our Destiny 2 Teams accounts across social media and Discord. We know some of you aren’t following us just yet, so we wanted to make sure to bring you up to speed on what news we’ve shared this week, and where to find us!
Over the last few weeks, we’ve been talking to you all about some plans to address feedback surrounding Exotic Class Items. At this time, players can earn them first by completing Dual Destiny, then by completing subsequent Dual Destiny activities or through Overthrow Chests in the Pale Heart. While we’re still noodling on additional sources, we’re also working on attunement options to help slim down how many Exotic perks are competing for placement on your drops. We’ll have more information in the coming weeks, but here’s a sneak preview that we shared on Monday through our D2Teams accounts:
Please note, this is a screenshot from our development build. Things can change between now and ship, but we wanted to pull back the curtain as we work on this new feature. Additionally, those little “$$” notations are simply for development purposes. Attunement won’t cost you silver or Bright Dust. This is just a way for our teams to know what text still needs editorial passes and testing.
Earlier this week, we updated our Restriction and Ban policies to cover AFK Macros. The TL;DR: We’d love you to play our game, rather than having an automated macro earning rewards for you while you sleep. We understand that some reward paths in our game can feel rough, but we’d rather take on the feedback and address problems than have players attempt to circumvent issues with tools meant for accessibility.
You can find more within our Destiny 2 Restriction and Ban Policy page, and the comms we issued here:
We’d love to hear where you most frequently look for gaming news on the internet. Feel free to sound off with suggestions!
As a final note, if you happen to join our Discord server, don’t forget to hit the “follow” button at the bottom of each category. We’ll be shipping more Destiny2Team and BungieHelp messages through the server and hitting that Follow button can automatically drop our future content directly to your own private servers.
Pardon our dust as we continue to spin up, but we’re looking forward to providing more comms for you in the future.
Cheers!
