I'm sure everyone has already read the latest Bungie Weekly Update (Still a better name than This Week at Bungie, damnit), but INSANEdrive was slacking this week and didn't start a thread. (:

They start with some Bungie Foundation stuff, we all probably know the drill there. Donate for a good cause, get some swag, both physical and digital.

The real meat comes next with talk about subclasses. No new Darkness subclass this year (though one is in the works for later). Instead, they've decided to focus on bringing the Light subclasses up to snuff with Fragments and Aspects, like Stasis. First up is Void. I won't attempt to summarize it here, just go read it.

I will point out a few things I think are notable, mainly, the verbs and statuses they refer to in regards to class building. Stasis has Slow, Freeze, and Shatter. The new Void classes will focus on a few more things:

Negative effects will be applied to enemies:

• Suppression – The target is knocked out of any active abilities and can’t activate any abilities/movement modes as long as Suppression persists. Afflicted enemy AI combatants can’t shoot their weapons.
  
• Weaken – The target takes increased damage and has their movement slowed. Enemy AI combatants fire their weapons with decreased accuracy.
  
• Volatile – The target is afflicted with unstable Void energy and will explode upon taking additional damage or on death.

And positive effects to yourself and allies:

• Void Overshield – A protective barrier of Void Light which reduces damage taken from combatants.
  
• Invisibility – You vanish from sight and do not appear on enemy radar.
  
• Devour – You feast on the energy of your foes. Kills restore you to full health, grant grenade energy, and extend Devour.

They also highlight some potential fragments and aspects afterwards. I think this all sounds fascinating and like a great change for the game.

I must say, though, that I do hope unlocking fragments and aspects wont' be as annoying as it has been with Stasis, but I think we all know how that'll turn out.

I'm sure everyone has already read the latest Bungie Weekly Update (Still a better name than This Week at Bungie, damnit), but INSANEdrive was slacking this week and didn't start a thread. (:

Cut me some slack jack! After three weeks of hearty information and very little discussion, I was curious to see if anyone else would pick up that tab! And you did! It's a solid rendition, but I'd like to highlight a few more things. The verbs are cool, but the aspects described in "OLD DOGS, NEW TRICKS" is where the most meat can found.

Behold!

Nightstalker Hunter

• Shadowshot – Moebius Quiver – Super
  
  • Fire two volleys of three Void Arrows in a cone which seek out enemies and spawn Void Anchors on impact. Shadowshot makes tethered enemies Volatile and deals increased damage to tethered targets.
    
    
  • One of the main usability pain points of the current iteration of Moebius Quiver is having to press the Super input a whole bunch of times to fire each arrow individually, which is cumbersome and takes a lot of time (and often results in the player drifting somewhere they didn’t intend to be – off the side of a cliff, as a totally hypothetical example). By firing multiple arrows at once, it should be a lot easier to blanket an area with traps in preparation for a fight or put burst damage on a boss.

• Stylish Executioner – Aspect
  • Defeating a Weakened, Suppressed, or Volatile target grants Invisibility and Truesight. After performing a Stylish Execution, your next melee attack while Invisible Weakens enemies.
    
    
  • A twist on middle-tree Nightstalker’s current Flawless Execution perk, this Aspect lets the Hunter specialize in defeating debuffed enemies to keep looping their Invisibility.

Sentinel Titan

• Overwatch – Aspect
  • Cast a Void-empowered Barricade to grant a Void Overshield to yourself and nearby allies. The empowered Barricade slowly regenerates the Void Overshield of allies bunkering behind it.
    
    
  • We want players to be able to lean into the Sentinel fantasy of being the front-line protector for your team, so Overwatch is a powerful tool for setting up prior to an encounter and providing a safe haven to fall back to when things get spicy.

• Shield Toss – Projectile Melee
  
  • Hurl your shield towards an enemy. The shield can ricochet off enemies and surfaces, granting you a small chunk of Void Overshield for each enemy hit.
    
    
  • We want to give Titans more options when it comes to projectile melees. Shield Toss is a great choice for aggressively pushing forward into groups of enemies, softening them up and giving you extra staying power.

Voidwalker Warlock

• Pocket Singularity – Projectile Melee
  • Launch a tracking, unstable ball of Void energy that detonates when it nears an enemy, pushing targets away from the blast and making them Volatile.
    
    
  • Designed as an anti-dive tool and a way to push enemies out of cover. With careful placement, it’s possible (and incredibly satisfying) to bop enemies up in the air and then pop their Volatile with a well-placed headshot before they hit the ground.

• Child of the Old Gods – Aspect
  • Cast your Rift to summon a sentient black hole which hovers at your side, waiting for a target. It will launch itself at enemies, then begin siphoning their energy and weakening them, refunding their life force back to you as either grenade and melee energy (if you are using Healing Rift) or health (if you are using Empowering Rift). Defeating enemies who are being siphoned by the Child will refund some Rift energy.
    
    
  • Child of the Old Gods is a strong debuff tool that gives Voidwalkers an additional way to lock down an area while sustaining themselves.

From fixes for Bottom Tree Bow, to Titans getting OVERSHIELD for days, to... whatever "Child of the Old Gods" is for Warlocks, OMG... Uh, yes!

But WAIT! THERE IS MORE!

TWAB EXTRA!:

Super excited about the Light Based Subclass updates coming next year starting with Witch Queen. This was a big team driven initiative that we are really excited to get out to players. https://t.co/2zuuj7otUy

— Joe Blackburn (@joegoroth) August 26, 2021

The new subclass system we introduced with Beyond Light, has given players more potential than ever with how they express their power.

But the Light subclasses can't be left behind.

— Joe Blackburn (@joegoroth) August 26, 2021

Its taken a huge lift from the team to evolve those existing subclass branches into compelling standalone aspects/fragments/supers.

— Joe Blackburn (@joegoroth) August 26, 2021

When I first got to play void in the new subclass system, I was shocked at just how many options and new ways to play there were. From class specific aspects to damage specific fragments I can't wait to see what the community is going to do with these next year.

— Joe Blackburn (@joegoroth) August 26, 2021

Last year, we got one huge meta shift with the introduction of Stasis. With the rollout of the light subclasses all throughout next year each season gets to feel more fresh than ever before.

— Joe Blackburn (@joegoroth) August 26, 2021

But its more than just awesome new builds. Converting light powers mean all our subclasses live in the same ecosystem. It unlocks our mod/exotic designs to have a ton of new ways to interact with your powers, and makes destiny a more coherent game for anyone to understand.

— Joe Blackburn (@joegoroth) August 26, 2021

And all of this work is ultimately building the right foundation for us to add incredible new damage types in the future.

— Joe Blackburn (@joegoroth) August 26, 2021

... and NOW you knoow... the REST, of the Story.

But its more than just awesome new builds. Converting light powers mean all our subclasses live in the same ecosystem. It unlocks our mod/exotic designs to have a ton of new ways to interact with your powers, and makes destiny a more coherent game for anyone to understand.

— Joe Blackburn (@joegoroth) August 26, 2021

That’s really exciting. Stuff like the Thorn/Necrotic Grip interaction is great. If they lean into that with class powers, it could be potentially really great. Lots of Destiny exotics are boring, even if they’re useful. Phoenix Protocol is almost a permanent fixture on my Warlock because it’s so useful for high level content, but it’s not exactly mechanically interesting. Stuff that just returns Super energy is automatically great, but also automatically boring in my book.