Bungie Weekly Update - May 7 at 10:39:10 PM

This week at Bungie, we learned the true meaning of doing hard time.

But, before we revisit the Prison of Elders, let us share a number...

400,000

That's a mighty statistic. Can you guess what it measures? It's not the unique viewers who tuned into our live reveal yesterday. It's not the number of Guardians who are patrolling the wild frontiers of Destiny at this moment. It's not the full inbox count of messages that were sent to special guests who recently visited our studio. That number represents how much money you (the community) raised to support disaster recovery in Nepal in just one week. In fact, you exceeded that milestone.

The beneficiary of your collective sense of charity will be Direct Relief, who will be delivering medical treatment and healthy commodities to the Nepalese. What can you accomplish during Week Two? Between now and next Wednesday, 5/13, at 11:59pm PST, the Bungie Foundation will match an additional $15 for every shirt sold, up to $50,000, for a total of $100,000 in new funds raised.

We know you have questions about shaders and shipping options and other things. Consult our FAQ to learn more about this initiative. Thank you, Guardians!

Let's go to Prison. Again.

Respect your elders, they say. The cold, hard fact is that they won't always respect you back. That's what we learned yesterday during the Prison of Elders reveal. Three Guardians who had never played Destiny together took on one of the most challenging activities that you'll experience in House of Wolves.

The results were amazing. Our enemies cowered in fear as we swept each cell clean. We emerged victorious to enjoy a shower of riches. We're working on an archive if you did not witness the glory and the danger. We'll sound off when it's ready.

Correction: Okay, we got our asses kicked. Think you can do better in the new endgame? You're invited to go serve your own sentence after May 19th.

Bungie.net has kept pace with this reveal calendar since it began. Check out the new Prison of Elders event page. Along with the House of Wolves portion of our site, it details challenges you have yet to meet and treasures you have yet to earn.

We've shown you the door. Your chance to walk through it will come soon enough, but only after you've completed the missions available to you in the Reef. We'd recommend you commit to Prison of Elders from the safety of a comfy chair with some teammates who complement your fighting style. They can even join in progress right up to the final boss round. Or, if you need allies, take advantage of matchmaking in the base activity.

It's your turn to show us up. You always do.

The Rundown on the Downloads

We interrupted Destiny services yesterday to prepare you and your trusty console for the arrival of new content. As usual, the population rebounded with a vengeance as soon as the work as done. We see you when you wake up in the morning and when you finally succumb to the lures of sleep - and we love the way you bounce back after we deploy updates.

There will be two more updates that will prepare your world for hunting season. Here's the weather report for the next few weeks:

Update 1.2.0
Tuesday, May 12th
Sometime after 10AM PST
Final preparation and world changes

Update 1.2.0.1
Tuesday, May 19th 
Sometime after 10AM PST
Final delivery and activation of Expansion II

As always, keep an eye out for official Patch Notes. The last word on game updates will be brought to you by the Destiny Dev Team. Accept no substitutes!

Won't You Please Please Help Me

The Destiny Player Support team has a short story to tell about some light housekeeping this week.

DPS: We have expanded our Digital Upgrade Program to include Expansion II in this free next-gen upgrade. For more information on our Digital Upgrade Program please see this Help article.

Numerous error code Help articles have been updated in our effort to keep monitoring and improving the Destiny experience. If you find yourself hitting specific error codes, be sure to visit help.bungie.net and search for the error code; you may just find your solution to staying connected.

Along with the Mentors who work with them in lock step, they're on the prowl for Guardians in need. Tell them your tale on the #Help forum, and they'll try to write you a happy ending.

No Talking. No Texting. No Blade Dancing.

Let's celebrate an inventive soul. Community anointed. Bungie approved.

WINNER: For putting the Gunsmith to shame.

Hey @Bungie @DestinyTheGame I made some tweaks to the MIDA Multi-Tool in my latest video: https://t.co/4zANnpgY7T #DestinyMOTW

— Tim (@timlagz) May 5, 2015

That's not the last video we'll invite you to watch this week. Tomorrow, you'll want to keep an eye on Bungie.net, or any of our off-world social outposts. There are more secrets from the Reef to share.

Thanks for reading this. Thanks for watching our reveal events. We've had a great time sketching out the House of Wolves floorplan before live audiences. As fun as the conversation has been, we hope the gameplay is even better. We're excited for the talking to end and the shooting to begin. Soon.

DeeJ, out.