Destiny Patch Legendary Engram

Well, you can't say Bungie isn't listening. The Destiny developer today released Update 1.0.2, which finally fixes the game's previously frustrating and inconsistent Engram system. You can read the read the full patch notes over at Bungie.net but the main thing you need to know is that Legendary (purple) Engrams acquired by players will now always produce a Legendary or higher (Exotic) level item. Praise be to the Traveler.

In addition, all Rare (blue) Engrams will now always produce a Rare quality item or higher; but Bungie didn't stop there, as all Rare Engrams now also have a higher chance of turning into legendary items. Rare and Legendary drops have also been added to the Vanguard: Tiger Strike Playlist and can also be earned on the first daily heroic mission players complete each day, as well as the first weekly heroic mission completed each week.

All of this news is exciting - but here comes the cold water: any Legendary Engrams that were in players' inventory prior to this patch were automatically downgraded to Rares, as Bungie wants everyone to start with a clean slate.

This patch couldn't get here fast enough for a lot of players who were growing increasingly frustrated with the inconsistent looting system. In fact, many players decided to take out their frustrations on the game's gearing system by heading over to the "loot caves" that were discovered by the player base in the last few weeks. These areas quickly became the most efficient way to get gear thanks to the mountain of loot that dropped, but it also was a kind of social commentary on just how fed up players were with trying to gear up normally (shooting at one spot for 3 hours is no one's idea of fun). When Bungie took out the first of the two "loot caves" to encourage players to head elsewhere, the players simply sought out another similar area instead.

Destiny Loot Cave Removed

It's great to see that Bungie is responding so quickly to criticism from the player base. Of course, when a parody Twitter account is created for the sole purpose of making fun of your loot system, and a 'Cave Shooting Simulator' is basically doing likewise,  it's perhaps not surprising to see the developers hit their panic button and pull out all the stops to get the fix out quickly.

This patch should also serve to placate some gamers who were angry at Bungie for beginning work on additional paid DLC while the live game was in such a broken state. It should be interesting to see what moving through those new raid and strike missions will feel like with the frustration of the old Engram system now removed.

Are you pleased to see Bungie address the issue so quickly, or were you enjoying the unexpected (and slightly broken) systems spicing up the daily grind?

Source: Bungie

Follow Jason on Twitter @MuckrakerJG.