Today is the launch of the “Go Fast” update in Destiny 2, and with it comes a slew of changes, mostly to the sandbox. The update hopes to fix several complaints that the Destiny 2 community has had with the game since launch.

For starters, Nightfall strikes are getting new unique rewards that players can earn through any form of the Nightfall activity. Drop rates for these rewards will increase based on the score the players receive during the activity.

The strike playlist is also receiving a minor tweak to ensure that players will no longer play the same strike back-to-back. Originally, the Heroic Strike playlist was also set to include modifiers with this update. However, the inclusion of modifiers was pushed back until the May update when Bungie modified their update roadmap.

What's more is that player abilities received sizeable changes across the board. Super regeneration rates have been increased, and players will see their Super come back in 5 minutes as opposed to 6:40. Mods that affect regen time for all abilities have been increased to a cap of 50% with 3 mods equipped. Movement speed has been significantly increased and will scale appropriately with the Mobility stat. Fist of Havoc, Sentinel Shield, and Arc Staff users will sprint by default when using their Supers. Sprint speed during this time will be set to the fastest possible speed, requiring no additional perks.

Titan changes are relatively limited. The lift abilities have been re-tuned to give more control and acceleration overall. The shoulder charge nerf that limited distance has been undone, so players can use their charge abilities for mobility again.

Arc Staff hunters see plenty of buffs. For instance, there's increased speed for nearly all Arc Staff animations, as well as an increase to the AoE range of all attacks during the super.

Much like the Titans, Warlocks had their glide abilities re-tuned to add speed, height, and distance for better mobility overall. Dawnblade Warlocks received several buffs, including a buff to Super duration, better Super extension through the Everlasting Flames perk (approximately 20%), the removal of all in-air accuracy penalties when using the Swift Strike melee ability, and the reduced cooldown for Icarus Dash. They also received an increase to melee and grenade energy provided by the Heat Rises perk from 10% to 16%.

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The Crucible also received some big changes, including the introduction of 6v6 Iron Banner and quitter penalties. The radar will also be removed from all competitive game modes, including Trials of the Nine. Players will also not lose revive tokens on death during countdown matches.

Across the board, most guns received a buff of some kind, bringing them up to par with the most popular guns in the game prior to the update. Bungie developers stated that they wanted to buff the weaker weapons with this update, instead of nerfing the most popular and powerful ones.

Pulse rifles were generally underperforming in both PvE and PvP, so they received several buffs. All PvE damage increased by 16%, adaptive and high impact pulse rifles both received rate of fire increases, and lightweight pulse rifles received a small bump to precision multipliers.

Scout rifles received a 15% PvE damage buff, and high impact scout rifles received an 8% buff to damage as well. Hand cannons also saw a 15% PvE damage increase, as well as a 6.6% precision damage increase. SMGs received a 10% PvE damage buff, as well as an inventory increase so players can use the new weapon type without burning through so much ammo. Sidearms received the 15% PvE damage buff, increased hipfire and ADS accuracy, inventory increase, better range falloff, and a faster movement speed when ADS.

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In the power weapon slot, linear fusion rifles received a massive 50% PvE damage increase, increased aim assist, and decreased flinch multiplier in the hopes of dethroning rocket launchers as the main power weapon. Shotguns received a 35% PvE damage increase, more inventory, and increased aim assist for SUROS precision shotguns. Grenade launchers only receive a buff to blast radius, where drum-fed launchers will see an extra 0.5m, while one-shot grenade launchers see a 1.0m increase.

Sniper rifles also received a PvE damage increase, 20% on yellow bar enemies and 40% on red bar enemies. Precision damage now scales with the weapon’s rate of fire. Slow rate of fire snipers will be around 3.0x damage while the highest rate of fire snipers will be at 3.5x damage. Aim assist has been improved alongside an inventory increase.

These changes go a long way to make Destiny 2 a faster game, and the developers hope that this will mean the return of the famous “hero moments” of Destiny 1. Some competitive Destiny 2 players are skeptical of the radar removal in Trials, but the introduction of 6v6 in Iron Banner has many players happy that Bungie is listening to their cry for change in the Crucible.

Destiny 2 and its Curse of Osiris expansion are available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Source: Bungie