One of the events detailed on Bungie’s content calendar for the Jokers Wild expansion and Season of the Drifter is Arc Week, an event that’s never been in Destiny 2 before. Last week, Bungie explained what Arc Week actually is–a week dedicated to Guardians’ Arc-based subclasses that sees them being amped-up, all at once. With its latest patch, Destiny 2’s Arc Week is officially underway, but Update 2.2.1 also brings a host of other changes that should make life a little easier for Destiny players.

The Arc subclass changes are some of the most significant in the patch, to be sure, as Bungie’s patch notes show. Each increases the effectiveness of perks, abilities, and Supers for each character class. The durations of just about every Arc ability has been lengthened, which should make all the classes a lot more fun to play with. If you haven’t messed around with an Arc Super ability in a while, this week is definitely the time.

In keeping with the Arc theme, Bungie is also bringing back the quest to unlock the Exotic Arc machine gun Thunderlord. The quest became available last fall during the Festival of the Lost, but ended soon after, forcing players to rely on random drops to get the machine gun if they’d missed it. If you’re still Thunderlord-less, though, you can start the quest during Arc Week and finally get a lightning-spitting Exotic of your own. Use our guide to get you started.

Another big change in Update 2.2.1 is the addition of new Exotic catalysts. These are special drops related to Exotic weapons that increase they’re capabilities, making them even better than they are when you first get them. All the catalysts currently in the game require quite a bit of grinding, but the rewards are usually worth it. Bungie’s latest update brings four new catalysts to the game, for Hard Light, Rat King, The Prospector, and Suros Regime. The first three have a chance to come as rewards for regular Strikes and Nightfall Strikes; the last comes from Crucible matches.

For players chasing special rewards and Triumphs, Update 2.2.1 also has some major quality-of-life changes. It increases the drop rates for many special rewards, like the ship, Sparrow, and ghost shell that come from completing activities in the Dreaming City. Those items are tied to completing Destiny 2’s Seals, a set of major accomplishments that hardcore players chase. These changes should make completing several a few Seals quite a bit less punishing.

You can read the full patch notes below.

Destiny 2 Update 2.2.1 Patch Notes

Sandbox

Titan

Striker—Code of the Juggernaut

• Frontal Assault:
  • Buff duration increased from 10 to 16 seconds
  • Buff timer is now displayed on the HUD
  • Buff now increases weapon damage
    • 25% in PvE
    • 20% in PvP
• Knockout:
  • Buff duration increased from 3 to 5 seconds
  • Buff is no longer disabled after a melee attack
  • In addition to breaking a shield, buff now triggers once you deal 60% damage to a target
    • Any damage dealt after 60% refreshes the timer
  • Increased bonus melee damage from 25% to 60%

General bug fix

• Fixed an issue where Titans using Code of the Missile could perform the wrong melee

Hunter

Arcstrider—Way of the Warrior

• Combination Blow:
  • Bonus melee damage can now be stacked 3 times
    • Buff increases melee damage by 60% per stack in PvE
    • Buff increases melee damage by 22.7% per stack in PvP
    • This ability was previously 1 stack and increased melee damage by 50%
  • Kills with this ability now heal 40 health in addition to starting health regen
• Deadly Reach:
  • Increased buff duration from 6 to 8 seconds
  • Buff is no longer consumed by a melee hit

Arcstrider—Way of the Wind

• Disorienting Blow:
  • Increased the melee disorient distance from 4 meters to 6 meters
  • Increased duration of disorient on players from 1.5 to 2 seconds
• Focused Breathing:
  • Increased dodge recharge bonus while sprinting from 50% to 100%
• Combat Meditation:
  • Increased bonus grenade and melee regeneration while bloodied by 25%
• Lightning Reflexes:
  • Increased damage resistance while dodging from 25% to 40% in PvP
  • Increased damage resistance while dodging from 63% to 70% In PvE

Warlock

General Arc Changes

• Stormcaller Super
  • Damage scales up to 150% over 5 seconds of continuous use of the attack
  • Updated FX and audio to support this functionality

Stormcaller—Attunement of Conduction

• Chain Lightning Melee
  • Can now chain up to 5 times, up from 1, and each individual target can be hit twice
  • Chain damage decreased from 50 to 31 damage per hit
• Arc Web
  • Increase chain range from 10 meters to 12 meters
  • Can now chain to many more targets, and back and forth between targets
  • Chaining Arc damage now reduces the cooldown of your grenade
    • Works with Arc Web chains and chains from Chain Lightning melee
    • Earn 3% energy per instance of damage in PvE
    • Earn 10% energy per instance of damage in PvP

Stormcaller—Attunement of the Elements

• Electrostatic Surge:
  • Increased bonus regeneration rate of Rift by 600% per nearby friendly Guardian
  • Added a UI notification when the buff is active
  • Now extends Rift duration from 15 to 20 seconds
• Arc Soul:
  • Extended duration from 8 to 12 seconds.

Voidwalker Nova Warp

• Reduced initial charged detonation energy cost by 20%
• Reduced energy cost of holding the charged detonation by 7%
• Reduced time required to fully charge the charged detonation from 0.9 seconds to 0.7 seconds
• Reduced Dark Blink cost by 20%
• Increased base Super duration from 18 seconds to 22 seconds

Dawnblade Everlasting Fire

• Tuned the amount of Super gained from Everlasting Fire
  • Initial return increased from 10% to 13%
  • Return then decays linearly over the course of 30 kills from 13% to 0.75% returned per kill

Abilities Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where the Warlock ability “Bloom” was not dealing any damage
• Improved consistency of Handheld Supernova
• Fixed a bug in which canceling Blade Barrage allows players to traverse across the map

Weapons

Weapon Changes

• The Last Word
  • Added a timer to the Fan Fire perk
• The Wardcliff Coil
  • Reduced PvE damage by 25% against bosses and vehicles

General Weapon Bug Fixes

• Fixed a material on Coldheart that was no longer shiny
• Fixed an issue where ready audio on Veist Submachine Guns was not playing on PS4
• Updated the Meganeura perk’s description to be more accurate
• Fixed an issue where Grenade Launcher initial ammo had been unintentionally reduced
• Fixed an issue bug where the Powerful Statement ornament was visible in Loaded Question’s ornament socket before it had been obtained
• Fixed an issue where Thorn dismantled faster than other Exotic weapons
• Fixed an issue where the ATB Long Range scope was erroneously highlighting enemies when equipped on the Long Shadow Sniper Rifle
• The Recluse now appears in Collections only when it has been obtained to match the behavior of other pinnacle PvP weapons
• Fixed an issue that caused poor scope behavior on the Prospector’s ornament “Caution: Heavy Machinery”
• Fixed an issue where Wish-Ender did not highlight targets while user was invisible
• Fixed an issue where Jötunn was recorded as a Scout Rifle
• Fixed an issue where the Vow could not be infused above 650
• Fixed an issue where the accuracy ring was not visible on the reticle of Linear Fusion Rifles when using a controller on PC

Armor

Armor Bug fixes

• Using Getaway Artist with Storm Grenades now correctly spawns a super-charged Arc soul
• Crown of Tempests once again works with Ball Lightning
• Stronghold will no longer drain heavy ammo while guarding with Black Talon

Investment

Rewards

• Increased drop rate of items in the Last Wish Raid
  • One Thousand Voices: 5% → 10%
  • Glittering Key: 5% → 20%
    • Used to acquire Last Wish ship “Ermine TAC-717”
  • Wish-Maker Shell (Last Wish Ghost Shell): 2% → 20%
  • Cleansing Knife (Last Wish Sparrow): 5% → 20%
• Increased drop rate of items in the Dreaming City
  • Pallas Galliot (Dreaming City Ship): 2% → 20%
  • Starlight Shell (Dreaming City Ghost Shell): 2% → 20%
  • Silver Tercel (Dreaming City Sparrow): 5% → 20%
• Increased drop rate of Lore Books
  • Cayde’s Stash Lore
    • Cayde treasure map chests: 40% → 100%
    • Planetary chests: 4% → 50%
  • Dreaming City Lore
    • Public event completed: 2.5% → 50%
    • Ascendant challenge completed: 2.5% → 100%
    • Blind Well completed (Tier 1–3): 5% → 50%
    • Lost Sector completed: 1.25% → 100%
    • The Marasenna lore book was missing two entries: Revanche I and Palingenesis III; these entries now unlock after you unlock all other entries.
  • Tangled Shore Lore
    • While Tangled Shore is the Flashpoint
    • Public event completed: 6.5% → 50%
    • Heroic adventure completed: 16% → 50%
    • Lost Sector completed: 3% → 50%
• Gunsmith reputation packages now only reward Gunsmith Weapons
• Four new Exotic weapon catalysts are now available to drop in Nightfall, strikes, and the Crucible
  • Prospector (Nightfall, strikes)
  • Rat King (Nightfall, strikes)
  • Hard Light (Nightfall, strikes)
  • SUROS Regime (Crucible)
• Xûr’s inventory now offers random rolled perks for armor
• Fated Engrams from Xûr now have the chance to reward Forsaken Exotics

Quests/Bounties

• Power Surge Bounties that have expired or been deleted are now available on the Drifter, though each bounty can still be completed only once per character
• Power Surge Bounties now specify “Requires Annual Pass and Level 50” if either requirement is not met
• Reaping in the Wilds Gambit Prime bounty now progresses from all high-value targets in free roam
• Players who sided with the Vanguard on the Allegiance quest can now also bank Motes in normal Gambit to progress on the Prime Research quest step
• Quest progress for the Survival Guide or Hidden Messages quest steps will now re-initialize properly; if you are stuck on these quest steps, you should abandon them and pick them up again from the Drifter to update the “tapes discovered” count
• The weekly lockout reset for Invitations of the Nine has been moved to Thursday Reset (1700 UTC); players will now have two extra days to complete them before being locked out of a new Invitation the following Friday
• Lost Sector Gambit Prime bounty now progresses from all Lost Sectors
• All four weekly role bounties for Gambit Prime now grant powerful head rewards
• Yes Sir, I’m A Closer weekly Gambit Prime bounty now awards 4 points for a win and 2 points for a loss, with a completion value of 20 points

Pursuits

• Ada-1 will now offer all seven weapon frames each week
• Players can still complete only two powerful frames each week, at which point remaining frames are removed until weekly reset
• Fixed an issue where players could acquire pinnacle weapons once per character; pinnacle weapons are meant to be acquired only once per account
• Drifter’s weekly role bounties will now properly count Motes wagered in the Reckoning when the Mote is a lower tier than the activity itself
• Gambit Prime now counts to unlock the weekly Gambit clan engram
• When recycling Synths at the Drifter, the error “Your Glimmer is full” will now be properly displayed on all four Synths
• Fixed an issue with the Sentry emblem where killing Giant Blockers wasn’t incrementing the “Blockers killed” stat
• Fixed an issue where the Gambit Prime weekly challenge didn’t display completion in the UI

Triumphs

• Fixed an issue where Triumphs from previous seasons were counting Glory Win Streaks in the current season
• Fixed an issue where the Triumph “The Best Offense” was not giving credit for all orbs generated
• The Haul Triumphs “Greater Powers” and “IX” can now be completed and will initialize for players who have already completed them as soon as they enter Orbit

General

• Arsenic Bite now drops with random rolls; removed Vestian Dynasty from the general loot pool
• Fixed an issue where the BrayTech RWP Mk. II could not be infused above 600
• Increased drop rate of Polestar II Ghost Shell from 1% to 4%
• Fixed an issue where Obsidian Crystal would sometimes not drop from the Unidentified Frame quest step

Activities

Reckoning

• Reckoning Tier 2 and Tier 3 boss kills now always have a chance to award a Gambit Prime weapon
• Chances for weapon rewards increase each time a boss is killed without a weapon drop
• Players near the bank should no longer be able to see waypoints until they jump through the portal
  • When players jump through the portal, they should be placed in one of three active locations:
    • Anytime before players begin capturing the bridge: over the horde mode area
    • Anytime after players begin capturing the bridge, before they fully capture the bridge: at the beginning of the bridge
    • After players fully capture the bridge and begin the boss fight: at the end of the bridge
• Fixed an issue where the Tier 1 Deceived Nokris was not summoning its Taken Warbeasts

Gambit Prime

• Some Reckoning weapons now have a chance to drop as match completion rewards from Gambit Prime
• Chances increase after each Gambit Prime match without a weapon drop
• An invasion kill now heals 8% of the Primeval’s health, down from 12%
• The invasion portal cooldown time during the Primeval phase has been increased to 40 seconds, up from 30 seconds
• This cooldown triggers after a player has been killed or successfully returns from an invasion
• Fixed an issue where all Gambit medals that shipped in Forsaken were not displaying in the HUD when players earned them in Prime
• Fixed an issue where the Primeval Hobgoblin was not functioning properly in Gambit Prime
• Boss reintroduced to Gambit Prime
• Fixed an issue where killing players in subsequent Wells of Light would unintentionally count towards earning the “Well Well Well” medal
• Fixed on issue on Deep Six and New Arcadia where the Ascendant Primeval Servitor wasn’t summoning Immunity Blights
• The Burrow front on Six Deep had some minor adjustments to reduce combatant/environment collisions

Gambit

• High-value targets now have a chance to spawn during the first round of a Gambit match; the chance for the HVT to spawn in the second round has been increased
• Private Matches: Sudden Death can now be enabled or disabled via the Rounds to Win options
• Fixed an issue where the “Open 24/7” medal could be acquired during a Sudden Death round of Gambit
• Fixed an issue where the “Rainmaker” medal could be acquired during a Sudden Death round of Gambit
• Gambit intro cinematics now run at unlocked framerates on PC
• Fixed an issue where Scorn Captain’s immunity totems were not properly shielding combatants
• Fixed an issue where Drifter was announcing “Portal’s Up” after the round had ended
• Reduced the number of required Blockers to send for the Taken Herder, Shepard, and Whisperer Triumphs
• Reduced the number of required number of Motes to bank in order to achieve the Protect the Runner Triumphs
• Fixed an issue where players who are restricted from the Crucible/Gambit due to poor network quality were unable to launch Gambit Private Matches
• Fixed an issue where Infamy ranks could be repeatedly reset without needing to progress through the ranks between each reset

Strikes

• Fixed an issue where the gravlift would sometimes be missing in the Warden of Nothing strike
• Nightfall tickets now have min/max and +-25 for incrementing power reduction; this will allow players to get to the +100 power reduction easier to increase the score multiplier

Crucible

Competitive

• Fixed an issue where players who are disconnected from Destiny servers could not rejoin games in the Competitive Crucible playlist.

Iron Banner

• The curated roll “Wizened Rebuke” Fusion Rifle awarded from completing the “Atlas, Unbound” Triumph will now appear in Lord Saladin’s inventory so that players can inspect it prior to acquisition
  • Once earned, the weapon may be viewed in Collections
• The curated roll “Wizened Rebuke” Fusion Rifle can now be reacquired from Collections for the same cost as other Masterworked, curated roll weapons
• The Heavy as Iron emblem may be earned when securing 2500 kills under the effects of the Iron Burden
• Removed ship “Volk-CER” from Collections due to an issue impacting the ship
  • Expect this to return in a future Season

Patrols

• Fixed an issue where the architects would sometimes kill Guardians for absolutely no reason in a very specific area of the Dreaming City

Combatants

General

• Fixed an issue where the Taken Hydra rotating shield would flicker when shielded by Taken Goblins
• Fixed an issue where the Ultra Taken Hobgoblin was using the Swarm attack more frequently than intended

UI

General

• Player will now always see equipped titles when inspecting another player
• The weapon ornament “Powerful Statement” is no longer visible in the socket preview for Loaded Question before being obtained
• Postmaster “open bundle confirmation” dialogue now shows appropriate strings when it pops up; would previously cause occasional crashes
• Material cost no longer appears red on vendor tooltips if the item is not purchasable, but you have enough material
• Fixed the description on some bounties to correctly read ” ability kills” instead of ” kills”

PC

General

• Fixed an issue where performance on PC would slowly degrade over time

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/destiny-2-update-221-patch-notes-arc-super-changes/1100-6466130/

After a few days of teases, Blizzard has further detailed its upcoming Storm Rising event for Overwatch. As expected, this story segment will be the latest rotation of the Overwatch Archives seasonal event, starring a few fan-favorite characters in their younger days for a four-player co-op PvE mission.

You’ll play as Tracer, Genji, Winston, or Mercy as they go after a Talon operative, the Omnic Maximilien. Max is hiding out in Cuba while a storm presses down on the island, and the four heroes need to track him down before he can using the cover of bad weather to escape yet again. Storm Rising will be playable alongside the two returning Archives missions, Uprising and Retribution.

Of course it’s not an Overwatch event without additional cosmetics, and you’ll be able to earn more than 160 spiffy new ones during the event. Storm Rising will run from April 16-May 6, so we’re likely to see some of them teased in the meantime. A video (above) shows off the environment and your target.

The previous teasers already suggested the four-player team would be going after Maximilien, a well-known member of Doomfist’s organization. Today’s announcement doesn’t shed any further light on Sojourn, the mysterious figure who chewed out Commander Morrison (Soldier 76) and authorized the Storm Rising mission. Blizzard appears to be setting up another important story character who may become playable someday, or otherwise factor into the story.

Blizzard has been known to drop hints well in advance of actually introducing new characters, though. Maximilien has already been known in the lore, and Doomfist was mentioned in the very first teaser-trailer for Overwatch, years before he was added to the game. The trailer that accompanied the announcement of Ashe also introduced another upcoming character, Echo. Blizzard says it already has six characters planned out which amounts to “years” of releases. One of those was the recently released Baptiste, so counting Echo that leaves four others still a mystery.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/overwatch-storm-rising-pve-event-confirmed/1100-6466099/

Those keeping their eyes on the PlayStation Classic’s ever-dropping price will be interested to know Sony’s mini retro console is now cheaper than ever. Right now, you can pick up the PS Classic for just $34 at Rakuten. It’s currently listed for $40, but if you use the code SAVE15, you’ll get $6 off. Note that you’ll have to create a free Rakuten account to use the coupon code; the site doesn’t allow guest accounts to redeem them.

Buy the PlayStation Classic at Rakuten — $34 with code SAVE15

The PS Classic’s price has dropped consistently since it released December 3, 2018 with a launch price of $100. Since then, its price has fallen to $60, then $40, and now $34. When compared to Nintendo’s NES and SNES Classics, which quickly sold out following their release, the PlayStation Classic has not garnered nearly as much hype, with many fans (including GameSpot’s Peter Brown) feeling it doesn’t match the quality of competing mini retro consoles or do justice to the original PlayStation system, especially for $100.

“The PS Classic doesn’t feel like a celebration of PlayStation’s formative years the way Nintendo’s systems do,” Brown wrote in our PlayStation Classic review. “Nor is it a smart adaptation of a capable emulator working behind the scenes.”

That said, the console is now nearly 70% cheaper than it was at launch, and $34 may be enough to entice fans with fond memories of the PlayStation to give this mini model a try. As to whether the price will drop again? Only time will tell.

PlayStation Classic Full Game List

• Battle Arena Toshinden
• Cool Boarders 2
• Destruction Derby
• Final Fantasy VII
• Grand Theft Auto
• Intelligent Qube
• Jumping Flash
• Metal Gear Solid
• Mr Driller
• Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee
• Rayman
• Resident Evil Director’s Cut
• Revelations: Persona
• Ridge Racer Type 4
• Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
• Syphon Filter
• Tekken 3
• Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six
• Twisted Metal
• Wild Arms

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-playstation-classics-price-just-dropped-to-34/1100-6466122/

It has been more than five years since the release of Splinter Cell: Blacklist, so fans are understandably eager to find out what’s next for Sam Fisher. In a new interview, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot offered an explanation for what’s taking so long to bring the franchise back.

He told IGN that Ubisoft won’t bring back the franchise until it can do something novel with it. Not only that, but some of Ubisoft’s development teams became too anxious to want to work on a new Splinter Cell game due to pressure from fans, Guillemot said. And third, Ubisoft’s other big franchises like Assassin’s Creed are “taking off,” which has led the company to focus on them instead of Splinter Cell.

“When you create a game, you have to make sure you will come with something that will be different enough from what you did before,” Guillemot said. “Last time we did a Splinter Cell, we had lots of pressure from all the fans saying, ‘Don’t change it; don’t do this; don’t do that.’ So some of the teams were more anxious to work on the brand.

“Now there are some things and some people that are now looking at the brand; taking care of the brand. At one point you will see something but I can’t say more than that,” he added. “Also because of Assassin’s Creed and all the other brands taking off, people wanted to work on those brands more. so we have to follow what they like to do.”

Ghost Recon: Wildlands contained a very strong tease for Splinter Cell, with Sam Fisher voice actor Michael Ironside doing the voice in an Easter Egg. A Splinter Cell Easter Egg was also spotted in Ubisoft’s 2019 game Far Cry: New Dawn.

Further fuelling the rumors about a new Splinter Cell is the news that original Splinter Cell designer Clint Hocking has returned to Ubisoft where he is working on “unannounced projects.” Guillemot was asked if Ubisoft might bring back Splinter Cell for the next generation of consoles, which are apparently coming soon, but Guillemot wouldn’t be drawn into that conversation.

If Ubisoft does have a Splinter Cell announcement to make, it could happen during the company’s E3 2019 briefing in June, but nothing is confirmed at this stage.

Back in 2012 it was reported that Tom Hardy would star as Sam Fisher in a Splinter Cell movie, but whether or not that’s still the case is unknown.

What would you like to see from a new Splinter Cell game? Let us know in the comments below!

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/ubisoft-ceo-explains-the-wait-for-a-new-splinter-c/1100-6466119/