Destiny 2 March 16 update patch notes: Commendation changes, Exotic drop rates buffed, more

Destiny 2 has dropped a minor patch that fixes several issues and bugs that Guardians have encountered in the post-Lightfall era.

Developers of Destiny 2 Bungie have released minor patch 7.0.0.5 today, looking to address and fix several concerns the player base has been facing since Lightfall’s release. Most of these changes are smaller adjustments to requirements and drop rates, helping Guardians get the most out of their playtime.

Destiny 2 update 7.0.0.5 patch note highlights

Commendations Update

Commendations have been a pain point for the Destiny 2 player base since their release in Lightfall. Unfortunately, many players have felt they’ve missed the mark on their design goals, and have gatekept players from progressing through their Guardian ranks.

As such Bungie is lowering the number of commendations players must achieve in order to rank up in their respective Guardian rank.

Exotic Drop Rate Increased

As Lightfall was released, so too was a bunch of new exotic armor. Guardians have been attempting to farm this armor through various activities, including Legend and Master Lost Sectors, but haven’t had much success.

Because of this, Bungie has buffed the drop rate of exotic armor in both Master and Legend tiers of Lost Sectors. Guardians will still need to complete them solo for the rewards, but their chances of receiving loot is that much higher.

Destiny 2 update 7.0.0.5 patch notes

The full patch notes, courtesy of Bungie, can be found below.

ACTIVITIES

SEASONAL EXOTIC ACTIVITY

• Animation changes made to the Data Collection boss encounter in The Variable Exotic mission that had the potential to cause issues with photosensitive players.

PLAYER JOURNEY

• Increased drop rate for Exotic armor in Legend and Master Lost Sectors when playing solo.
• Fixed an issue that prevented the “Vex Incursion Countermeasures” weekly bounty from resetting at rest.
• Fixed an issue where players on their alternate characters could not progress the Hall of Heroes intro quest after interacting with the statues early.
• Any players who ran into this issue may now progress normally.

UI/UX

• Made an adjustment to how the Return to Orbit option is triggered after completing a specific Battleground.
• Previous implementation enabled mistakenly skipping end-of-mission cinematics when returning to orbit from the Commendations screen.

GAMEPLAY AND INVESTMENT

ARMOR

• Fixed an issue where some Artifact mods were not properly proccing Anti-Barrier capabilities.
• Hunters: Fixed an issue where Volatile Rounds granted by the Gyrfalcon’s Hauberk exotic chest were not providing Void weapons with anti-barrier capabilities.
• Armor Scavenger Mod: Fixed an issue where Jötunn would get an unintentional boost in ammo, particularly in PvP, with the Solar Scavenger mod equipped on a player’s chest armor.
• Put. The toaster. Down.

WEAPONS

• Fixed an issue where the Winterbite Exotic Glaive was doing more damage than intended to targets.
• Titans: The bonus to Glaive melee damage granted by Exotic Synthoceps gauntlets has been reduced against both combatants and enemy Guardians.
• Fixed an issue where the Lightfall versions of The Inquisitor and Mindbender’s Ambition Shotguns had the incorrect magazine perks.
• Fixed an issue where Grand Overture’s blinding effect applied to other sources of splash damage.

ABILITIES

• Strand: Increased the internal cooldown of the Thread of Ascent Fragment from two seconds to four seconds.
• Strand: Fixed an issue where after a player grappled to a thrown Tangle, the Berserker’s Into the Fray Aspect would fail to activate on further Tangle detonations.
• Strand: Fixed an issue where the suspending detonation from the Broodweaver’s Mindspun Invocation Aspect was not properly stunning Unstoppable Champions.
• Solar: Fixed an issue where the radiant effect was not increasing the damage of Strand weapons.
• Strand: Fixed an issue where the Thread of Generation Fragment would stop functioning after a Silkstrike Super deactivation when either the Shackle or Threadling Grenade is equipped.

POWER AND PROGRESSION

• Guardian Ranks: To more closely match the goals of Guardian Ranks, we have reduced the required Commendations score to complete objectives across all Guardian Ranks.
• Guardian Ranks: Rank-8 objectives require tier-3 difficulty or higher.
• Fixed an issue where only tier-4 or higher applied towards Rank progression.
• Commendations: Players can no longer offer Commendations to others following a failed mission activity.

GENERAL

• Fixed an issue where Guardians and their weapons were not rendering properly, effectively making them appear as “invisible” when in-game.
• Twitch Gift Sub Bounty reward now correctly appears in the Cryptarch.