Destiny 2 Hotfix Patch Notes Confirm Improved Exotic Drops…

With Destiny 2's latest server maintenance now over, Bungie has released patch notes detailing a variety of changes made in its new hotfix, including one pertaining to Exotic drops. The hotfix covers a lot of ground, making changes to the Destiny 2 Player Journey, armor, weapons, and abilities, and some substantial adjustments to Guardian Ranks. There aren't more than 25 changes in total, but Destiny 2 players will be happy to see that Bungie is already tackling feedback regarding the gameplay changes it made in Lightfall.Bungie announced on Wednesday, March 15 that it would be taking Destiny 2 servers down on Thursday, March 16, giving players a full day of warning before it moved forward. Servers were taken down just before 8:00 AM PDT for both Destiny 1 and Destiny 2, with an expected downtime of four hours. The maintenance was eventually extended by Bungie with no explanation provided, and the servers were brought up around 2:00 PM PDT. Patch notes for the hotfix issued during maintenance were released shortly after.RELATED: Destiny 2 Taking Steps to Eliminate Easy Artifice Armor Farming There were many interesting changes made in the hotfix, but one of the most exciting improvements is with regard to Lost Sector loot. Bungie has improved the drop rate for Exotic armor in Legend and Master-difficulty Lost Sectors when playing solo. Lost Sectors have always offered Exotic armor drops in the past, but Lightfall seemingly made these drops incredibly rare. Lightfall players will hopefully begin to see increased rewards going forward, and more substantive reasons for doing Lost Sectors, as a result.

Some robust ability changes were also made in the hotfix, with Strand being a key focus. The Thread of Ascent Fragment was even nerfed, now triggering every four seconds instead of two. Several fixes were also made. The Berserker's Into the Fray Aspect will now correctly activate when grappling to Tangles, the Broodweaver's Mindspun Invocation Aspect should now correctly stun Untoppable Champions, and the Thread of Generation Fragment should continue functioning after a Silkstrike Super deactivation.

Guardian Ranks have been a frequent frustration for Destiny 2 players in Lightfall, and Bungie appears to have been listening to feedback. First, Bungie has reduced the number of Commendations required to progress across all Guardian Ranks. Second, Rank-8 objectives now require tier-3 difficulty or higher and not tier-4. These changes should make it easier to progress for all players.

There are many other important changes made in this hotfix that should benefit most Destiny 2 players. Some nerfs were also made, however. The Winterbite Exotic glaive had its damage nerfed via a fix, as have the Exotic Synthoceps. The Jotunn also had its odd ammo-boosting glitch fixed, and will be returning to PvP. There are still plenty of glitches in Destiny 2 yet to be fixed, of course. Look forward to future changes in the weeks to come.

DESTINY 2 HOTFIX 7.0.0.5

SEASONAL EXOTIC ACTIVITY
- Animation changes made to the Data Collection boss encounter in The Variable Exotic mission that had the potential to cause issues with photosensitive players.
PLAYER JOURNEY
- Increased drop rate for Exotic armor in Legend and Master Lost Sectors when playing solo.
- Fixed an issue that prevented the “Vex Incursion Countermeasures” weekly bounty from resetting at rest.
- Fixed an issue where players on their alternate characters could not progress the Hall of Heroes intro quest after interacting with the statues early.
  - Any players who ran into this issue may now progress normally.
UI/UX
- Made an adjustment to how the Return to Orbit option is triggered after completing a specific Battleground.
  - Previous implementation enabled mistakenly skipping end-of-mission cinematics when returning to orbit from the Commendations screen.
ARMOR
- Fixed an issue where some Artifact mods were not properly proccing Anti-Barrier capabilities.
- Hunters: Fixed an issue where Volatile Rounds granted by the Gyrfalcon's Hauberk exotic chest were not providing Void weapons with anti-barrier capabilities.
- Armor Scavenger Mod: Fixed an issue where Jötunn would get an unintentional boost in ammo, particularly in PvP, with the Solar Scavenger mod equipped on a player’s chest armor.
  - Put. The toaster. Down.
WEAPONS
- Fixed an issue where the Winterbite Exotic Glaive was doing more damage than intended to targets.
- Titans: The bonus to Glaive melee damage granted by Exotic Synthoceps gauntlets has been reduced against both combatants and enemy Guardians.
- Fixed an issue where the Lightfall versions of The Inquisitor and Mindbender’s Ambition Shotguns had the incorrect magazine perks.
- Fixed an issue where Grand Overture’s blinding effect applied to other sources of splash damage.
ABILITIES
- Strand: Increased the internal cooldown of the Thread of Ascent Fragment from two seconds to four seconds.
- Strand: Fixed an issue where after a player grappled to a thrown Tangle, the Berserker’s Into the Fray Aspect would fail to activate on further Tangle detonations.
- Strand: Fixed an issue where the suspending detonation from the Broodweaver’s Mindspun Invocation Aspect was not properly stunning Unstoppable Champions.
- Solar: Fixed an issue where the radiant effect was not increasing the damage of Strand weapons.
- Strand: Fixed an issue where the Thread of Generation Fragment would stop functioning after a Silkstrike Super deactivation when either the Shackle or Threadling Grenade is equipped.
POWER AND PROGRESSION
- Guardian Ranks: To more closely match the goals of Guardian Ranks, we have reduced the required Commendations score to complete objectives across all Guardian Ranks.
- Guardian Ranks: Rank-8 objectives require tier-3 difficulty or higher.
  - Fixed an issue where only tier-4 or higher applied towards Rank progression.
- Commendations: Players can no longer offer Commendations to others following a failed mission activity.
GENERAL
- Fixed an issue where Guardians and their weapons were not rendering properly, effectively making them appear as “invisible” when in-game.
- Twitch Gift Sub Bounty reward now correctly appears in the Cryptarch.