Bungie was back with their This Week At Bungie update this week giving us news on the new Festival of the Lost armor vote with Mechs Vs Monsters, we have some big changes coming to Crucible, plus Grandmasters are coming back next week… plus we have Trials Freelance and Gambit Labs coming soon.

Let’s dive right into the news from Bungie.

MECHS VS MONSTERS EVOLVED

While we’re just reaching spring, it’s already time for us to start thinking about fall on the development team. We all had a great deal of fun last year with our first armor set community vote: Dinosaurs vs Monsters. Truth be told, we didn’t know what to expect! After 200,000 votes were cast, Team Dino won with 81% of the vote. We’ll always look back fondly at the wave of memes and fun that came, but it’s time to look forward… to Festival of the Lost 2022!

This year, we’re hosting our second community vote. #TeamMechs vs #TeamMonsters is about to begin. Players will have the opportunity to vote for a featured armor ornament set in the Eververse, available to earn with Bright Dust or purchase with Silver. Anyone who casts a vote for either set and has played since 2/22/22 will qualify for a unique in-game emblem to celebrate participation.

Monsters are clawing back. After a long soak in some radioactive waste, they seem to have… evolved?! Emerging once more from the caves, lagoons, and spoiled oceans of our world, monsters are looking to make a comeback this year. Dinos, you may have won last year, but watch your backs. These monsters may be coming for you if they secure the win.

Mechs have entered the fight. Guardians are all about protecting humanity, but sometimes they need a little extra armor when engaging in battle against what some would call monsters hiding in the darkness of other worlds. Mobile suits aren’t just for cancelling the apocalypse, mind you. They’re also for show.

So, how’s this going to work?
March 31 – April 6: Ensure you’ve signed up for emails from Bungie!*.
Make sure to link your PlayStation Network, Xbox Live, Steam, Stadia, or Twitch account credentials to your Bungie.net profile.
Visit the Account Settings page.
Click on “Email and SMS.”
Enter your preferred email address to receive Bungie communications.
April 7 – April 13: Polls open.
Watch your emails for your chance to vote.
April 13: Polls close.
April 19: The Broken Barriers emblem is distributed to all players who voted.
TBD: Winners announced.

*For players who are subscribed to newsletters and have been active since The Witch Queen but not getting any Bungie emails, we advise providing a new email address and going through the verification process on your Bungie.net profile.

We’ll also be keeping an eye out for fun community art. The amount of memes and killer artwork that we saw last year continues to impress, and we’re excited to see what you cook up this year! If you’re inspired by the concepts above and want to rally others to vote for your favorite, make sure to tag any of your creations with #TeamMechs or #TeamMonsters and #Destiny2Art as you share them! We’ll be pulling submissions for future Art of the Week sections.

Cheers to all who vote, and let the best set win!

LAST CALL: UNBROKEN

Survival is the name of the game when it comes to our competitive Crucible playlist. We offer Powerful rewards to players who take on the challenge each Season as they reach for the Power cap, alongside a slew of Triumphs to earn. For those who wish to display their Crucible mastery, we offer the Unbroken Seal and Title. It takes three full Seasons of reaching Legend in the competitive playlist, alongside other Triumph requirements, to earn the Unbroken Seal. This week, we have a short update from the development team on future availability of this Seal.

Dev Team: For the Season 19 release, we are taking a pass on Glory and how players engage with it in the Crucible. What playlists offer Glory? How do players earn it? What does “becoming legend” look like? While we can’t answer any of these questions just yet, we wanted to plant a flag in the sand for the timeframe.

As part of our updates for Glory, the Unbroken Seal and Title will be retired. Due to the multi-Season requirements of ‘Glory (Reach Legend three Seasons in a row), Season 16 (i.e., right now) will be the last Season for players to start their journey to Unbroken. As such, we wanted to keep players informed on our plans.

Currently, the Unbroken Seal requirements are significantly more time consuming than any other Seal, and we would like to bring it into line with the other Seals. Players who attain the Seal prior to its retirement will still be able to display it, including a gilding count.

We are intending on replacing it with a similarly challenging Crucible Seal – just with less required multi-Season commitment. We will have more information on that as we get closer to Season 19.

So, if you’re just starting your march towards the Unbroken title, now is the time to get your Legend ranks completed in the competitive playlist. We’ll have reminders each Season to keep players informed and will provide updates on our future Crucible plans over the next few Seasons.

In the short term, we do have another title coming to the Crucible. We know you’re howling for a bit more information but expect additional details on that when we get closer to next season.

A WEEK FOR RITUALS

Next week, we have quite a bit going on in the ritual game of Destiny 2. Grandmaster Nightfalls make their first appearance of the Season, along with our first Gambit Labs week! If that’s not enough, we also have Trials: Freelance taking place next weekend, so there’s something for everyone.

Grandmasters of the Universe, Season of the Risen Edition

On Tuesday, April 5, Grandmaster Nightfalls will make their return to Destiny 2. For those that may not have taken on a Grandmaster Nightfall before, this activity is the top of the mountain when it comes to strike content. Here’s a quick breakdown:

Grandmasters require a total of 1575 Power, so you’ll want to maximize your Pinnacle Power and get some bonus Seasonal Artifact Power before taking on the challenge.

• Combatants can take more hits, deal more damage, and are far more aggressive.
• Champions will appear in many encounters, so be sure to work with your team as you build your loadouts.
• Revives are limited, so you’ll want to be careful and strategic as you make you fight through each encounter.

Darkness will slowly encroach on your ability to revive teammates, so don’t take too long as you make your way to the boss!

Of course, what would the challenge be without a little loot at the end of it? The Conqueror Seal and Title can be earned by those who complete Grandmaster Nightfalls and associated challenges. If you’ve already completed Conqueror, you’ll have the ability to gild your title as well by completing all of the Grandmaster Nightfalls during a given Season! As a reminder, if you are gilding, all Nightfalls will immediately be available to complete – no more waiting until the end of the Season.

Next week, we have the return of some nice Adept rewards for you to earn. Palindrome and PLUG ONE.1 will be available to drop once you’ve completed the activity. Adept weapon mods, Ascendant Shards, and Enhancement Prisms can also be earned upon activity completion.

Double Vanguard rep will also start flowing next week, so if you’re still enjoying reputation rewards from Zavala, it will be a great time to run through some Nightfalls, or a quick jaunt through the Vanguard Ops playlist.

Gambit Labs: Invasion Swap

Next Tuesday, Gambit Labs will make its first appearance in Destiny 2! Now that we’ve gotten a slew of bug fixes and some minor tuning in place through the last few hotfixes, it’s time to hit the Labs. Both Gambit matchmaking nodes (Main and Freelance) will be updated to feature Gambit Labs: Invasion Swap. This iteration of Gambit will change up who gets invasions during the Motes phase of the activity. When a given team reaches 25 and 75 banked Motes, the opposing team will be given one invasion.

Strategies might change in a few ways, for both invaders and bankers. Go for largest Blockers to start? Stagger large and small Blockers to keep your opponents on their toes? Invade immediately when the opposing team banks enough Motes, or stick back to fight Blockers and wait for them to build up a few Motes? We’re excited to see how players take on the twist.

Gambit reputation will also be doubled for the week that Gambit Labs is active. We appreciate everyone who’s been hopping in and checking out all of the changes we’ve made to Gambit since the Season began! We’re looking forward to continued feedback around the mode as more Labs begin to roll out.

Trials: Freelance

Next Friday, April 8, Trials: Freelance will return. This playlist consists of Solo players only, so keep your head on a swivel. Communications will be limited, and you never quite know which one of your teammates will be a lone wolf.

This offer will appear as an additional matchmaking node in the Crucible Director. Grab your desired passage from Saint-14 in the Tower, maximize your Power, and give it a try. End up in a group with Guardians you vibe with? Keep an eye out for messages and party invites, as we’ve seen some great stories about players fireteaming up after a match and reaching the Lighthouse!

As always, we’ll be watching player feedback throughout the week. Whether you hit Grandmasters, Gambit Labs, or Trials: Freelance, we look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Let me know what you think in the comments.