Destiny update makes sweeping changes to its most powerful weapons

Bungie has released a new update for first-person shooter Destiny that makes significant changes to the game's most powerful items.

The 75.09MB update, which brings the game up to version 1.1, buffs a raft of exotic class guns and nerfs one of its most popular.

"Exotic Weapons are designed to look, feel, and sound overpowered," the developer wrote on Bungie.net.

"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."

Of particular interest, the much-maligned Thorn and Bad Juju guns have been buffed. Meanwhile the Suros Regime auto rifle, used by many players, has been nerfed.

Bungie has also changed the way you upgrade exotic weapons and armour. In a move clearly designed to help players fully upgrade their best items before next week's release of expansion one The Dark Below, exotics no longer require the tricky-to-get Ascendant Materials to upgrade. Now, the final node of all exotic gear requires a new material called Exotic Shard.

You can get an Exotic Shard from dismantling unwanted exotics or buying them from once-a-week NPC vendor Xur for seven Strange Coins. It's worth noting that exotic weapons now start at a higher base attack value, but have a narrowed upgrade range to compensate for the changes Bungie has made with today's update.

Here's a significant change: destination materials (Spinmetal, Relic Iron, Spirit Bloom and Helium Filaments) now drop from completing the Daily Heroic mission and the Daily Patrol Bounty. You can also buy them using Vanguard Marks and Crucible Marks. The exchange rate is 10 Marks for 20 upgrade materials. This changes the way material farming works so that hunting down chests in Patrol mode is not the only realistic option for players.

Those who play the game's raid, Vault of Glass, will be disappointed to know that Bungie has tweaked the Templar boss fight so that it can't be forced off its platform. Using grenades to do this was a popular "cheese" tactic among players.

And finally, Bungie has fixed an issue that was causing the Xbox One version's frame-rate to drop for those who were using party chat.

Here are the patch notes in full:

Weapons

Exotics

• In preparation for the Dark Below, Exotic Armour 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)

Activities

• 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
• Daily Heroic Story
• Destination Materials now drop from completing the Daily Heroic
• Bounties
• Removed the 'Relic Hunter' Bounty
• Destination Materials now drop from completing the Daily Patrol Bounty

Vendors

• Reduced Cryptarch reputation gain from Engrams, but reputation reward packages now have an increased chance for Legendary Engrams
• Players will now be able to use Vanguard Marks and Crucible Marks to purchase Spinmetal, Relic Iron, Spirit Bloom, and Helium Filaments from the Vanguard and Crucible Quartermasters in the Tower
• Xur now sells a new material, Exotic Shards, to upgrade the final node of Exotics for 7 Strange Coins
• Faction Class Items (ex: FWC Cloak, Dead Orbit Mark, etc.) are now replaced by Faction Emblems in the rank-up reward packages from Faction Vendors

Technical

• Networking fixes, which should reduce the instance of the Bee family of KTOs
• Fixed an issue in which using Xbox One party chat induced a slower frame rate