Destiny Update: Vendors Now Sell Upgrade Materials

Today’s new Destiny patch brings a host of welcome changes to the MMOFPS.

First and foremost the update will mix up Exotic items quite a bit, as Bungie has effectively adjusted and refined mods on a number of top-tier weapons.

But the most exciting feature is that vendors now sell precious upgrade materials.

Guardians can now trade in Crucible or Vanguard Marks to get Spinmetal, Relic Iron, Helium Filaments and Spirit Bloom.

The Crucible Quartermaster across from Lord Shaxx accepts Crucible Marks for high stacks of Spirit Bloom, Spinmetal, Helium Filaments or Relic Iron.

The Crucible and Vanguard Quartermasters in the Tower each sell stacks of 20 upgrade materials per 10 marks. That’s a pretty splendid ratio, especially considering you can rack up some serious marks in the Tiger Strike playlist. It’s like Christmas!

Players have spent hundreds of hours tediously collecting these indigenous interplanetary flora to upgrade their gear. I’ve done it, everyone on my friend’s list has done it, and chances are you’ve done it, too.

It’s not fun and it serves as rather boring refresher in MMO-style farming. And we’ve all spent far too much time in Destiny doing it.

Roni 55-30 will let you trade in 10 Vanguard Marks per stack of 20 upgrade mats. A fair trade, don’t you think?

Another change is that Exotics won’t take Ascendant Energies or Shards to upgrade any more. Only Legendary class items will use Ascendant Shards and Energies

Exotics will now use their own exclusive upgrade mats: Exotic Shards. And you’ll only need one.

The developer reveals that these new materials will be needed to fill out the last node and max all Exotic weapons and armor, meaning you’ll need them to max out any given yellow item. It’s a bit of a balancing act for the buffs/stat boosts to existing weaponry.

Exotic Shards can be attained by dismantling an Exotic item or by purchasing them from Xur for 7 Strange Coins. But of course if you already have your items maxed out, this shouldn’t apply to you.

Since you can pick up all the upgrade materials you need, maxing out your gear shouldn’t be hard at all. In fact one might say it’s a little too easy, considering you can pick up a dummy Exotic from Xur, break it down, grab your Exotic Shard and max out your Hawkmoon like clockwork.

The SUROS Regime gets its max damage cut a bit, but is balanced out be an increase in stability.

Already-powerful Exotics like the Thorn handcannon, Hard Light auto-rifle, Suros Regime auto-rifle, MIDA Mult-Tool scout rifle, Hawkmoon handcannon, Plan C fusion rifle, Bad Juju pulse rifle and others have been boosted with slight increases to random stats, making them more effective in both PvP and PvE gametypes. It’s a great and refreshing change to see Bungie beefing out or items rather than nerfing them across the board.

Bad news is that the Templar in the Vault of Glass Raid can’t be cheesed any more.

Cheesing was an exploit wherein players used the impact of specific grenades to push a boss off the edge of the map for an easy victory. But there was an actual reason to cheese the Templar, as your entire team would get extra bonus loot as a result.

Bungie is listening to our feedback; they’ve brought in voice-chat options and have catered do our upgrade mat woes. They’re taking the hint, and I for one am delighted to see how this trend will continue.

Below we have a copy of Bungie’s patch notes for the new update, and we’ll see you starside, Guardian.

Exotics

Exotic Weapons are designed to look, feel, and sound overpowered. At the same time, they are not supposed to break the balance of the game. We hope these weapons challenge the way players think about their loadouts. Exotics will be a constant work in-progress!

General

• In preparation for the Dark Below, Exotic Armor and Weapons no longer require Ascendant Materials to upgrade
• The final upgrade node of all Exotic Gear will require an Exotic Shard
• Exotic Shards can be obtained by one of the following means:
  • Dismantling unwanted Exotics
  • Purchased from Xur for 7 Strange Coins
• Exotics now start at a higher base Attack value and have a narrowed upgrade range to compensate

Thorn

• Projectiles now briefly highlight targets on impact
• Mark of the Devourer DoT (damage-over-time) upgrade increased against PvE enemy targets
• Reload Speed increased
• Magazine Size increased
• Ammo inventory size increased
• Stability and Weapon Handling increased

Bad Juju

• Magazine Size increased to 8 bursts (was 5)
• Ammo inventory size increased
• String of Curses now also decreases the cooldown of your Super on kill
• Adjusted effects to not block first person reticle

Hard Light

• Stability increased
• Perfect Balance upgrade replaced by Fitted Stock (increases maximum possible weapon Stability)

Suros Regime

• Lowered total damage at the end of the mag on SUROS Regime upgrade to be more in line with the Glass Half Full perk on Legendary Auto Rifles

Monte Carlo

• Stability increased
• Range slightly decreased
• Monte Carlo Method upgrade now also has a chance to fully charge melee ability on kill

MIDA Multi-Tool

• MIDA rounds now have increased knockback against targets in both PvE and PvP

Hawkmoon

• Send It upgrade (which was redundant) replaced by Speed Reload

Red Death

• Rate of Fire increased slightly, but Burst Damage reduced to compensate

Plan C

• Weapon Handling speed increased
• Player Speed increased while Plan C is in hand

Pocket Infinity

• Speed Reload upgrade replaced by Extended Clip which allows the option to increase magazine size (5 bursts)

Vex Mythoclast

• Attack Power increased to 323 (from 300)
• Base Damage increased, fixing bug we introduced in previous patch
• Enhanced Battery upgrade by Extended Mag (this change still allows for a significant upgrade to Magazine Size, but less than before)

Invective

• Reload Speed increased significantly, auto fires slightly slower

Ice Breaker

• Send It upgrade replaced by Lightweight (which was redundant as Icebreaker already had maximum range)
• New effects for enemies killed by Ice Breaker upgrade

Patience and Time

• Snapshot upgrade replaced by Custom Optics (provides a lower zoom option)

Super Good Advice

• Stability increased

Truth

• Magazine Size increased to 3 (was 1)

Raid

• Fixed an issue we introduced in a previous patch, in which Atheon did not correctly send 3 players through the time gates
• Fixed an exploit where the Templar could be forced off its platform