Destiny: What the patch does on 18.2., last night changes were made to the PvP [Update]

Since the release of Destiny, Guardians have been complaining about lag in the Crucible. Now it’s also affecting the Control mode. Additionally, an update is coming today, February 18.

Update: The patch that was released this evening has only brought the 320 Ghosts from the Crimson Week into the game. However, you will only receive them on February 23. Nothing else happened, and there are no patch notes.

No Patch Notes for the work we’re doing today. We’re getting ready to deliver Crimson Days Ghosts. Soon. https://t.co/jUqDnp1sbp

— Bungie (@Bungie) February 18, 2016

The Community Manager DeeJ had good news yesterday evening: adjustments are still being made to combat the lag. This should make life easier for the Guardians.

DeeJ emphasizes that Bungie truly appreciates that Guardians fight each other in the Crucible and then discuss it in the forums. All these reactions are collected and forwarded to the team. And now this team has good news to announce.

Control Becomes a Low-Lag Zone

Bungie is now continuing on the path of focusing more on connection quality and less on skill ratings in matchmaking. This will continuously reduce lag. However, this also means that your opponents will become more random. As a result, there is a significantly higher chance that you may receive a massive “kick” – or be the one delivering that kick.

Just a few days ago, a step was taken in this direction in the Clash mode to transform the Crucible into a low-lag oasis. Now, the Control mode will continue this path.

The Damage Referee Expands

Additionally, the “Damage Referee” has more tasks. In addition to Control, it will now also oversee the Clash, Rumble, and Freelance 3vs3 modes. With the Damage Referee, Bungie essentially aims to create a better Crucible experience when internet issues occur outside your control.

With a good connection, your Crucible experience should feel excellent, and you will quickly notice a positive difference. If your connection is bad, you should urgently find ways to improve it; otherwise, you will have to expect to lose fights more often – even if you feel like you shot first. Things will only get better once you fix your connection quality.

DeeJ concludes by saying that your reactions matter more than all the math. Therefore, he urges the Guardians to report how the new matchmaking in Control feels.

These settings are now available!

So adjustments are being made to the lag. But what about Private Matches? Will they ever find their way into Destiny?

Patch on February 18 at 7 PM

Via the Twitter account Bungie_Help, a patch has been announced for this evening at 7 PM. Players should expect to download a patch when heading into orbit. Since no major update has been announced currently, this will likely be a hotfix. Speculations suggest that perhaps the Icebreaker/Mockery issue will be resolved, which ruins the “no special ammunition” situation in the Crucible. But… these are just speculations.

At 10AM PST on Thursday February 18th, Destiny players will be asked to login again upon returning to orbit to download a patch.

— Bungie Help (@BungieHelp) February 17, 2016

We will report back when there is more information. Downtime or maintenance is not expected.