The first Bungie Weekly Update of 2015 has arrive and as promised it brings new details regarding the first Destiny patch of the new year. However, while players had hoped the update would improve and add, it appears this first one will mostly take away.

While Bungie doesn't have an official release date for this latest Destiny patch, they say it could go live as early as Tuesday January 13th. There are a few general gameplay fixes packaged in with the update, but the patch is mostly focused on the Crota's End raid. More specifically, the update will remove all of the exploits players have discovered with since The Dark Below's launch in December.

It shouldn't come as much of a surprise that Bungie is patching out the Crota's End exploits, as those were never going to stick. Whether it be forcing Crota to kneel indefinitely or flying across the bridge-building portion with a sword – all of those “tricks” will soon disappear, which in turn will squash players' hopes of soloing the raid. Granted, players may still be capable of soloing certain parts of the raid, like the Crota fight or the lamp portion, but not the whole thing.

The one good thing to come out of the update, though, is that the Ir Yut fight will finally deliver actual rewards instead of nothing. Once the patch goes live, Bungie will take the rewards from the first raid chest – the one that could drop any combination of radiant materials, exotic weapons, and class items – and move them to Ir Yut. In turn, that first chest will now only offer radiant materials.

Outside of the Crota's End changes, the update will also make it so new versions of exotic weapons drop during the Vault of Glass raid, not the old ones). It will also add the Crucible maps Asylum, The Anomaly, and The Burning Shrine to the Clash and Control playlists. And finally, the Iron Banner will return for its fourth go-around starting on January 13th.

Check out the current patch notes below:

Crota’s End – Updates

• The existing Pit treasure chest reward moved to killing Ir Yut, the Deathsinger.  She has a chance to drop Exotic weapons and armor, class pieces, and Radiant materials.
• The Pit treasure chest will now contain Radiant Materials.

Pit Encounter

• Removed the physics impulse caused by exploding lanterns.

Bridge Encounter

• Players will now be required to cross the bridge in order to complete the bridge encounter.
• Players will now be required to wait for the bridge to be completed prior to crossing with the sword.

Deathsinger Encounter

• Fixed a rare case where the Shriekers would not spawn, preventing players from reaching the Deathsinger.

Crota Encounter

• Two Swordbearers will no longer spawn at the same time at the outset of the encounter.
• Crota will now recover from his kneeling state after a player quits.
• Fixed a bug that allowed players to remove the “Presence of Crota” using a Radiance Warlock’s Fireborn ability.
• Fixed a bug that made the Oversoul appear destroyed to some players in a Fireteam when it was actually still active.

Vault of Glass – Updates

• Exotic weapon drops in the Vault of Glass are now Level 32.

Getting Swole in the Crucible The Raid crew wasn’t the only team readying tweaks heading into and out of the holiday season. Our Crucible designers have a few things in the works to add some spice to the early goings of 2015.

• Asylum, The Anomaly, and The Burning Shrine maps will be added to existing Clash and Control playlist rotation.
• Iron Banner will return, with updated rewards, running from January 13^th through January 19^th.

Before heading off on their holiday vacation, Bungie promised that the first Weekly Update of 2015 would be a good one and would likely feature some oft-requested features. However, as you can see, this update is focused more on removing exploits without really fixing or improving much else. Many had hoped that the update might make important changes - like fixing the bugs in the Vault of Glass (please!) or increasing players' vault space - but no such luck. It's not surprising to see Bungie play this bait and switch game again, it's just a little disappointing.

Nevertheless, the exploits were never going to be a part of Crota's End, especially not once the hard mode raid launched. And speaking of that hard mode raid, Bungie says that it's going through the final phases of testing and is “almost ready.” As soon as Bungie finalizes the experience they say they will have more to reveal with regards to a release date. They won't, however, spoil any of the new surprises; that's saved for players' first descent into The Dark Below.

How do you feel about the new Destiny update? What do you like? What don't you like?

-

Source: Bungie

Follow Anthony on Twitter @ANTaormina