The Destiny 2 community’s unanimous anger toward a recent State of the Blog update from Bungie was heard loud and clear, according to the game’s director.
In a nearly 17-minute candid video posted to Twitter today, Destiny 2 director Joe Blackburn spoke on several subjects about the game ahead of the big reveal of The Final Shape in one week. But one of the big topics of discussion was the Crucible.
Related: Destiny 2’s PvP mode will finally receive some much-needed love in season 22
The often-ignored PvP mode of Destiny 2 hasn’t gotten much in the way of new content in recent years. Bungie’s plans to add one new map plus several reissued maps throughout the year have been met with indifference or anger among the players, and he says things will be changing soon.
“It’s clear that the slow trickle of PvP maps isn’t having the effect that we want,” Blackburn said. “Although it gets an injection of PvP maps every so often in the ecosystem, it’s also forcing this one new map a year means we’re trying to build a map that has to do everything, which means it can’t be good at anything.”
Because of this, Blackburn says the developer will “change our philosophy” moving forward, and that includes how and what kind of content will be coming to the Crucible in 2024 and beyond.
“Instead of a slow trickle of maps throughout the year, we’re going to focus our effort into a single map pack that’s free for everyone,” Blackburn said. “So, imagine new maps coming in one drop where we can make a bunch of new experiences that can all be good at specific things, and adds a big variety in a single drop next year.”
Maps are just the start, though. Blackburn said Bungie also needs to work on “the foundation” of Crucible, including modes like Checkmate coming next week in season 22. Other new modes called Fortress and Relic have already been announced, too.
Related: Destiny 2 plans to replace ritual bounties with new system in 2024
Blackburn said more modes will be coming to core playlists, including ones that have been tested in Crucible Labs or have been exclusive to Iron Banner, and points in Crucible’s Competitive playlist will be tweaked to better reward wins.
To summarize, Blackburn said the Crucible will be getting a Strike Team focused on making changes and improvements to the Crucible, including communicating changes to the community way earlier than before.
The Final Shape livestream reveal highlighting the future of Destiny will take place next week on Aug. 22.
