At around 10am PT/1pm ET earlier today, Bungie pushed the Destiny House of Wolves expansion live, allowing players to download the file and begin playing the new content.
Along with House of Wolves, Bungie also activated yesterday’s update 1.2.0.1, which includes the following changes for all players:
PvP
General
- Added a new Daily Reward package upon completion of the first game in the Daily Featured Crucible playlist
- Added Passage Coins to reward streams across all playlists, including the Daily reward package
- Increased Crucible Mark drop rate across all playlists by 100%
- Increased Crucible Reputation earnings across all playlists by 20%
- Increased Rare Weapons and Gear drop chance for completing games across all playlists by 100%
- Added Legendary Weapon drops into the Crucible reward stream across all playlists
- Added Dark Below maps into all Crucible playlists for all players to enjoy (Pantheon, The Cauldron, Skyshock)
Iron Banner
- Adjusted the power curve for Iron Banner playlists to accommodate the competitive range of power in House of Wolves
- Across one Iron Banner event, players competing in Iron Banner with more than one character on the same account will receive a reputation boost for the lower-ranked characters to reach parity with the higher-ranked character more quickly
- Six additional Iron Banner bounties have been added to the bounty rotation
- Removed an errant buff from Iron Banner Control playlist
- Etheric Light will now be available at Ranks 3 and 5 in Iron Banner
Tower
- Newly acquired Faction reward packages will no longer produce Shards
- The Speaker will exchange Ascendant and Radiant Materials for Glimmer and Motes of Light
- Xûr will exchange Strange Coins for Motes of Light
- Commendations are no longer required to purchase gear
- Commendations can be converted to receive +250 gains in Vanguard, Crucible, or Faction reputation
- Note: Etheric Light will not be made available for ascending gear until the release of House of Wolves
- The Cryptarch will no longer convert newly acquired Legendary Engrams to Shards (possibilities include gear/weapons or Exotics)
- Expansion II featured Daily Heroic activities will produce Motes of Light in lieu of Shards
- Ascending: Year 1 Legendary and Exotic gear can be upgraded to the highest power levels available in Year 1
User Interface
- The Control UI above the mini scoreboard has been fixed & returned to the players HUD
Technical
- Added a new “Connection Recovery” System: Specific player networking problems will now be fixed instead of kicking affected players to orbit; This will be enabled first for Trials of Osiris and rolled out to other activities over time
Bungie COO Pete Parsons talked about the new Destiny content today:
We continue to be humbled by the Destiny community, and remain fully committed to creating the best experience we can for the fans. That means we’re listening every day to real-time feedback from the players. In the eight months since launch, we’ve supported the game with 17 updates that we believe have grown and improved the universe. House of Wolves is no different. For example, we’ve engineered a new upgrade path for your existing Exotic and Legendary gear, and we’re revamping our PvP system with a new rewards system and new PvP event called Trials of Osiris. We’re excited to see the response.
And here’s everything you’ll find within House of Wolves:
General
- New Co-op Arena Activity – Set in the Prison of Elders, teams of three players can take on waves of increasingly difficult enemies to earn high-level legendary and exotic rewards.
- New Competitive Multiplayer Event – The Trials of Osiris is a brand new, weekly 3v3 elimination event where power levels matter.
- New Loot and Customizations – Earn new weapons, armor, and gear, including Legendary, Exotic, Faction and Fallen-themed items.
- Level Increase – Raise your Light Level to 34, including the introduction of gear ascension to increase the maximum level of previously earned Legendary and Exotic weapons and armor.
- New Story Missions and Quests – Take on new adventures through new missions and quests featuring Petra Venj of the Queensguard and Variks, a Fallen loyal to the Queen.
- New Social Space – Visit a brand new space in The Reef, set within the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter,with new vendors offering unique rewards, new bounties and more.
- New Strike: The Shadow Thief – Journey to the Moon and hunt down a notoriously cutthroat Fallen mercenary named Taniks.
Multiplayer Maps
- Black Shield – A decommissioned Firebase is believed to have been a key defensive position used by the Cabal when they established their warbase on Mars.
- Thieves’ Den – A Fallen hideout located in the calderas of Venus with precarious drops that offer alternate routes for those willing to risk the fall.
- Widow’s Court – An asymmetrical map with both long sightlines and tight interiors, set in the European Dead Zone on Earth.
- PlayStation Exclusive Content (until at least Fall 2015) – PlayStation gamers will also get access to a fourth competitive multiplayer map, Timekeeper, which is set within a mysterious clockwork-like structure on Mars built by the Vex.
Are you going to be playing House of Wolves today?
[Source: Bungie (1), (2)]
