Hot off the shocking news of its acquisition by Sony, Bungie revealed what new Exotic gear players will soon be getting their hands on in Destiny 2’s The Witch Queen, when launches later this month. TL;DR: the new guns and armor look like some of the loot shooter’s coolest yet.
While extremely brief, the February 22 expansion’s latest trailer teases a bit more about how weapon crafting will work. Though we still don’t have the full picture, it seems like it will take place in some sort of social space on Mars, and let you choose which perks and masterwork add-on to apply to the weapon you want to make.
Bungie dropped a few more hints about the crafting system in an interview with Game Informer:
Weapon crafting starts with a pattern, which can be used to create the initial form of a given weapon. Using that weapon in combat gains levels that enable you to further tweak its capabilities, from intrinsic properties like a ranged or handling increase, to magazine attributes and other more consequential adjustments. Eventually, you’ll be able to alter its core traits and perks, like Rampage or Killing Wind. You’re also gathering crafting resources, both through distinct sources out in the game world, as well as by dismantling other weapons. Optional consumable mementos even let you unlock cosmetic changes to your weapons.
Whether crafted weapons will be able to easily switch perks or have them locked in remains to be seen, but taking the luck element of random weapon drops out of the equation still feels like the best thing to happen to Destiny 2’s economy in a long, long time. Hopefully the monkey’s paw doesn’t curl around that enthusiasm and choke it with some extremely deflating resource grind.
As far as newly revealed Exotic gear goes, there are three new guns, three class-specific melee weapons, and three class-specific armor pieces:
- Grand Overture: “Slug launcher” with charged shots looks like it might be a machine gun that fires missiles
- Parasite: Grenade launcher that fires Hive worms which explode in a cloud of toxic goo
- Osteo Striga: Submachine gun that fires “swarming projecties” that do “toxic burst” damage
- Edge of Action: a Titan glaive that can place allies in a protective bubble
- Edge of Intent: Warlock glaive that summons a healing turret
- Edge of Concurrence: Hunter glaive that fires chain lightning
- Hoarfrost-Z: Titan chest armor that lets you summon a Stasis barrier
- Osimancy: Warlock gloves that provide an extra Coldsnap grenade
- Blight Ranger: Hunter helmet that makes reflected projectiles do more damage
Of all of these, Grand Overture (a season pass exclusive) remains by far the most mysterious, since it’s a new weapon archetype and Bungie’s description of “charged full-auto missile” sounds like a paradox. Osteo Striga will probably be the most versatile, especially if its toxic damage can spread between mobs of enemies upon death. Of all the glaives, chain lightning sounds the most fun, though the Titan and Warlock’s support perks will clearly be huge in end-game activities. The Exotic armor all looks good too, though the Hunter’s Blight Ranger helmet sounds like it will be a pretty niche tool.
Overall, each new Exotic doubles-down on Destiny 2’s ongoing MMORPG-ification. It’s a gradual shift that’s been happening for years now, but is kicking into overdrive with The Witch Queen. Weapon crafting is obviously a big part of that, but so are more clearly defined gear loadouts based around roles like support, tank, DPS, and others. Overhauling the cooldown system for abilities and reworking entire subclasses to be more customizable is obviously another huge step in the same direction. And of course, developers like Destiny game director Joe Blackburn have been openly calling it an MMO for sometime now.
Now if only new content would stop disappearing from the game every year.
Update: 2/1/22, 1:19 p.m. ET: Added new information about The Witch Queens’ crafting system from Game Informer.