Actually, Destiny 2 planned not to release the full potential of the new subclass Strand directly. However, criticism of the new ability apparently changed this plan. 4 days after the release, Bungie announced that they would unlock all Strand fragments for players earlier than originally planned.
What has Destiny 2 announced? Although the new ability Strand was easier to unlock than Stasis, that did not mean that players could experience the new subclass in its full power right away. It was timegated and required some grind to earn Strand meditations.
Players also had limited Strand abilities available to try even after the campaign. The full potential was supposed to unfold on March 7th or March 10th, after the Worlds-First of the raid “Root of Nightmares”.
That has now changed. Bungie has announced a live update for the new ability “Strand” and reacted to player criticism just a few days later.
This is how Bungie hyped their players with Strand in the announcement trailer for Destiny 2: Lightfall
Bungie removes all timegates: Even after the campaign, additional Strand fragments could only be unlocked by participating in activities in Neomuna to gradually enhance the ability. Therefore, it was not immediately possible to try everything.
Bungie has released a live update just 4 days after criticism of Strand that is supposed to reveal the full potential of the ability to players.
The more players complete the Lightfall campaign and get their hands on Strand, the more first and constructive feedback we receive. As with any new subclass in Destiny 2, we want to ensure that Strand feels great in the hands of players once they’ve recognized its full strength and that development doesn’t stop on day one.
To this end, we have decided to release a live update, allowing all players to earn the full range of Strand fragments throughout the course of today.
This is how you unlock all Strand options now: The announced live update did not require any downtime. All Strand fragments are now available in the game and are no longer locked. Still, there is a catch.
- Players must complete the Lightfall campaign and visit the Pouka Pond before the Hall of Heroes on Neptune to gain access to the new fragments.
- The additional fragments remain class-specific.
- Strand meditations are still required to obtain them.
- Strand grenades cost 50 Strand meditations
- Strand aspects cost 150 Strand meditations
- Strand fragments – including the newly released ones – each cost 200 Strand meditations
So you need a lot of Strand meditations for one character since there are 14 fragments and 2 grenades that you still need to buy.
However, with the live update, you can now at least try all the possibilities of Strand and better evaluate the ability. Given the upcoming raid, this could become interesting.
How to quickly farm Strand meditations
The limit for Strand meditations is 1500 pieces. However, if you still lack Strand meditations, we have a few tips on how to quickly collect this resource.
- Via the activity “Terminal Overload”: Approximately 75-100 Strand meditations await you when you start the public event “Terminal Overload” via the map.
- The necessary keys to then open the loot chest come from a daily Neomuna bounty from Nimbus. The tasks of the bounties rotate daily.
- Play Strand there and you’ll get a bit more Strand meditation.
Other sources for Strand meditations are:
- Via public events: After completion, you also receive Strand meditations there.
- Via open-world patrols: While playing “Terminal Overload”, one of the patrols will start repeatedly. This way, you get a small extra portion of Strand meditation.
- Normal patrols grant you 8 Strand meditations.
- Gold patrols grant you 20-30 Strand meditations.
- Via kills in the “Vex Strike Zone”: If you have farmed enough Strand meditations there, the area with the “Vex Strike Zone” would also be an option, as there are many enemies that also drop the resource.
- Large enemies, for example, drop crates that grant you between 3-7 Strand meditations.
- Via Nimbus bounty challenge: Also, the Neptune NPC Nimbus drops 200 Strand meditations when you complete his challenge to do bounties.
Bungie reacts, as the new subclass seems to have not convinced
The recent criticism of Destiny 2: Lightfall is heavy. Besides the cliffhanger campaign, the new subclass Strand, with a few exceptions, apparently could not shine as Bungie had hoped.
GernaderJake, a well-known Destiny 2 streamer on Twitch, has already shared his first thoughts on the new ability from Lightfall with the community and said:
I want to love Strand, but it just seems too unconvincing. I wanted it to be broken and fun, but it just feels dulled with poor cooldown times. I hope I’m wrong and that it changes.
says GernaderJake in a video on Strand
Have you grabbed the new Strand options yet? Then feel free to tell us in the comments which Strand build is your current favorite.
Or is Lightfall already done for you, after the many points of criticism that the community has expressed about the DLC so far? Please let us know in the comments.
