This week, two Destiny 2 employees from the weapon design team met for an interview with the podcaster Destiny Massive Breakdowns. MeinMMO summarizes the most interesting topics from the podcast and reveals how Bungie thinks about the weapons of the Black Armory.

Who are the Bungie experts in the interview? The podcast was conducted with Bungie’s Senior Design Lead Chris Proctor and game designer Vivian Becks.

Chris Proctor is the Senior Weapons Lead at Bungie and has been responsible for designing the core combat systems for years. Vivian Becks primarily works on weapon designs for exotic and legendary weapons, as well as perks and balance changes. For players in Destiny 2, she has created the extremely powerful legendary perks “Voltshot,” “Crispin’s Dance,” or “Repulsor Brace,” as well as the exotic weapons “Heartshadow” and “Tender Reach.”

Together, the two Bungie employees answered questions from Destiny Massive Breakdowns and a few questions from the community.

The following 4 strong topics were discussed in the podcast:

• The increasingly stronger merging of weapons and abilities
• Crafting compared to existing adept weapons and the option to offer deep sight resonance weapons for purchase via raid vendors.
• Future craftable exotics
• A small teaser of the return of the once-popular weapons of the Black Armory

MeinMMO summarizes the most important topics of the conversation for you in this article. You can listen to the entire interview directly on the Massive Breakdowns website.

Stronger merging of weapons and abilities

One topic of the podcast was the merging of weapons and abilities. Some players in Destiny 2 believe that fewer abilities would benefit the game, especially in the Crucible.

However, Vivian Becks sees it differently. She says: “We have always wanted weapons and abilities to merge into a cohesive whole.”

To achieve this, there is the 3.0 abilities system. For Bungie, the 3.0 abilities system is meant to completely change the way weapons and abilities interact for the better. Balance is always the focus.

Vivian Becks explains that weapon perks that use 3.0 verbs are largely “one and the same” as those of the abilities. The only difference is that the duration of an effect of a verb can be individually adjusted for balance reasons with weapon perks.

Bungie particularly likes elemental perks, which help characterize the damage type of a weapon. They should also show players “which modifiers and shields this particular weapon is really good against” and encourage them to use it instead of just relying on their abilities.

Bungie therefore believes that when a player understands what a specific ability verb, such as weaken, suppress, or amplify, does within their abilities, they expect the same behavior from their corresponding weapon advantage and therefore utilize it. Shooting should also remain a more practical option.

With Witch Queen, Bungie introduced weapon crafting for the first time and showed the direction the loot shooter is heading in from 2022:

Lightfall will not have craftable raid weapons

Recently, Bungie announced that they would take another look at the master or adept weapons and possibly revise them. Legendary raid weapons can be built with improved perks and are therefore simply better. Chris Proctor addressed this issue in more detail.

He says: “The main problem lies in the tension between craftable raid weapons and master versions of the same weapons.” Bungie’s goal is to make master weapons from the Trials of Osiris or the Pinnacle Nightfalls “extra sharp.”

Chris Proctor mentions that guardians can obtain master weapons with improved perks from the Lightfall raid. However, these raid weapons can no longer be crafted.

However, he also mentions that there will instead be a kind of “chase” and promises more details in upcoming update information.

Master weapons were only planned as “cosmetics”: For players, master weapons in Destiny 2 are primarily associated with prestige. Craftable weapons can hardly compete with that.

The reasons for this are clear:

• It is anything but easy to obtain master weapons.
• Master weapons offer small advantages over their normal versions.
• They have a unique appearance that makes them distinct and recognizable.

Chris Proctor mentions in the podcast that master weapons were not originally intended to offer as much prestige and advantages in Destiny 2. They were initially only meant to be a cosmetic variant of the base weapon. Nothing more.

Later, Bungie decided to add small improvements because they thought it wouldn’t make a big difference. However, the Destiny 2 community was much more interested in master weapons than Bungie had expected.

The players’ desire is understandable that master weapons should again become more viable compared to the craftable weapons.

Should improved perks be disabled in crafting? Destiny Massive Breakdowns asks Proctor whether it would make sense for Bungie to remove the improved perks from craftable weapons. This would, after all, ensure that master weapons are the only ones to receive improved properties, thus giving them more breathing room.

However, Chris Proctor says: “Improved attributes are the core of the crafting system and provide an incentive to use the system. There is definitely a power increase in the crafting system. 5 – 10% in the outliers, which we agree with. Ultimately, this is not that different from master weapons that are “2 – 5%” stronger than the normal versions.

Bungie’s long-term goal is to revise the weapon mod system and Chris Proctor is likely also willing to accept “the small amount of power creep that master weapons with improved perks represent.”

Destiny 2 will get more craftable exotics

Especially the crafting system puts customization entirely in the hands of the players. The craftable Witch Queen Exotic “Osteo Striga” (submachine gun) was a special highlight here.

Vivian Beck wants to keep exotics unique in her work at Bungie while the sandbox evolves. She also mentions that exotic weapons are the most expensive content designers create in Destiny 2. Bungie needs half a season, or 1.5 months, for this. In comparison, a legendary perk is already finished in a few days to a week.

Nonetheless, exotics, especially when they are craftable, are something players want. Even if the Witch Queen exotic “Osteo Striga” was not as freely available in the craftable version as the legendary weapons.

Chris Proctor states that initially, at the beginning of Beyond Light, the team aimed to encourage players to invest in their weapons through a hunt and/or to adapt an exotic to their playstyle. The exotic hand cannon Moonlight was a trial run for random rolls. However, he doubts that Bungie will produce more randomly rolled exotic items in the future. But they definitely want to bring more craftable exotics into the game.

Is there a comeback for the weapons of the Black Armory? At the end of the interview, Chris Proctor lets the eyes of players who have long hoped for a return of weapons from the Black Armory shine. The excellent firearms fell victim to sunsetting and have not yet made their way back into the game.

When Destiny Massive Breakdowns addresses the return of certain weapon groups that could also be given origin traits, Proctor specifically addresses the Black Armory.

The reintroduction of weapon sets depends on the story beats associated with a specific character. The moment there is a Black Armory story beat or an Ada story beat, you can expect that the weapons of the Black Armory will also return, or if there is a really strong 14 Saints beat… or Rasputin.

says Chris Proctor in conversation with Destiny Massive Breakdowns

They want to “start making this kind of content in every season or every other season… old raid weapons, maybe dungeon weapons, maybe other sources.” However, as announced in the last “This Week at Bungie” blog, the weapons from the Deep Stone Crypt are now at the top of the update list.

What do you think about the details from the podcast interview? Do you think master weapons should be worth more than craftable weapons in Destiny 2? Feel free to leave us a comment on what you personally prefer.