Destiny 2 Patch Notes For Update 3.4.0.2 Reveal Plenty Of Tweaks For Several Activities

The next big chapter of Destiny 2 is only a few weeks away, and ahead of The Witch Queen‘s release, Bungie has released a new patch. This week’s 3.4.0.2 patch is comprehensive, offering fixes across multiple areas of Destiny 2.

Some of these tweaks range from minor fine-tuning of Sparrow engine animations and adding the Dreissigste emblem to player collections, while issues surrounding the accumulation of Super energy in the Iron Banner and Moment Momentum Control PvP playlists have been fixed.

Elsewhere, the Dares of Eternity event will see the recommended Power level lowered to 1100, a datapad issue in the Presage Exotic mission has been ironed out, and several exploits in the Grasp of Avarice dungeon have been addressed.

The Forerunner Exotic sidearm has also been further tweaked, fixing several issues and restoring the Sidearm Reserves perk, which had previously been taken offline due to a possible exploit that Bungie had discovered. Icefall Mantle, which also had a potentially problematic exploit that could be taken advantage of, will no longer have its main perk activated immediately after the Glacial Guard ability deactivates on a Titan.

You can read the full patch notes below. For a more exciting Destiny 2 update, you can also check out the newest Witch Queen trailer that shows off Savathun’s spooky throne world.

Destiny Update 3.4.0.2 Notes

Crucible

Fixed an issue in Iron Banner and Momentum Control playlists where capturing a zone on certain maps did not reward Super energy and show “zone captured” text.Iron Banner Freelance node now properly displays the longer respawn time setting.

Dares of Eternity

Lowered recommended Power level to 1100.Fixed an issue where players could be auto launched into Dares of Eternity before acquiring a Heavy weapon.Additional physics objects are cleaned up between rounds to prevent crashes during long Dares sessions.Fixed an issue where rewards level (platinum, etc) would be displayed at the end of the activity in regular difficulty.

Presage Exotic Mission

Fixed an issue preventing players from interacting with datapads within the Presage Exotic mission. Datapads and their connected compartments/chests must be accessed in order as players move through the Glykon.In addition to this fix, the weekly lockout for earning lore book pages for Presage completions was removed. Players will now earn one lore book page per activity completion without any weekly lockout. This should allow players to finish the lore book in the time remaining before The Witch Queen launches.

Dungeon: Grasp of Avarice

Fixed an area where players can get out of the environment in Sunken Lair.Added geometry to prevent exploiting an encounter by completing it without engaging its mechanics.

Lost Sectors

Fixed an issue where some of the Champions in the Chamber of Starlight lost sector were not counting towards the total for the purpose of calculating rewards, allowing players to skip them and still achieve platinum.

Public Events

Fixed an issue where public event rally flags would not fully regenerate Super energy for Supers in the longer cooldown tiers.

UI / UX

Updated Deuteranopia, Protanopia, and Tritanopia colorblind modes default colors to make it easier to distinguish between combatant health bars.Fixed an issue where some emblems were not displaying properly.Fixed an issue where some emblems were not displaying correct art.

Armor

Fixed an issue where Icefall Mantle could be activated immediately after Glacial Guard fell off the Titan.

Weapons

Added guaranteed drops of Dreaming City weapons from completing the Blind Well event.Fixed an issue where Forerunner’s catalyst was missing a description string when viewed in the Exotic catalysts menu.Fixed an issue where Forerunner would spawn with 11 ammo in PvP when running Sidearm Reserves mods.Sidearm Reserves mod has now been re-enabled.Fixed an issue where the Poison Wings Spread ornament for Le Monarque had an arrow permanently nocked when stowed.Fixed an issue where the Braytech M6 ornament for Forerunner caused the weapon’s reticle to shrink when aiming down sights.

Accessories

Fixed an issue where The Gray Hornet Sparrow’s left pipe wouldn’t fire

Abilities

Fixed an issue where the Shadowshot and Silence and Squall Supers were not in the correct passive cooldown tiers.Fixed an issue where Shatterdive was costing a melee charge on successfully shattering a Stasis crystal with the landing detonation.Fixed an issue where Frontal Assault was activating when the player attacked dead objects with a charged melee.

Bounties And Pursuits

Fixed an issue where Weekly Starhorse Bounties could only be completed on one character.Fixed an issue that could lead to players being unable to obtain the “Magnum Opus II” quest from Xur even after meeting the correct conditions.

General

Fixed an issue where certain Sparrow engine VFX would fail to play.Fixed an issue where the emblem “The Metal, The Flow” could not be reclaimed in collections if discarded.Fixed an issue where the item representing the Moments of Triumph T-shirt could never be discarded.Players who previously completed the Twitch Gift Subscriptions Bounty and did not receive the Watcher’s Shade shader can now claim it from Amanda Holliday in the Tower.The emblem Dreissigste, which is earned by completing Twitch Gift Subscription Bounties, now appears in Collections for players who have unlocked it.Fixed issue causing the perks on Banshee-44’s Legendary weapons to reroll on Wednesdays after the weekly reset.Wicked Overgrowth shader now displays properly in collections when acquired.Fixed an issue on the Roster that could cause Destiny 2 to close in circumstances where many friends or clan mates cycled online states in a short window of time.The fix for this issue may introduce a minor performance hit for players with many friends or clanmates. The team is already working on a fix to improve this performance hit.

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Two Police Officers Have Been Fired For Chasing Pokemon Instead Of Robbers

A pair of Los Angeles police officers have been fired because they ignored a robbery in progress in order to catch a Snorlax in Pokemon Go, as reported by Vice.

Court documents posted last Friday detailed their appeal to have the City of Los Angeles’ decision to have their employment terminated reversed. Former officers Louis Lozano and Eric Mitchell were found to be guilty on multiple counts of misconduct, the evidence of such being captured from their digital in-car video system (DICVS). The recording found the former officers “willfully abdicating their duty to assist a commanding officer’s response to a robbery in progress and playing a Pokemon mobile phone game while on duty.” Their appeal was based on the fact the “City proceeded in a manner contrary to the law by using the DICVS recording in their disciplinary proceeding and by denying them the protections of the Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act.” They lost the appeal.

The incident intially took place in April 2017, at a Macy’s at Los Angeles’ Crenshaw Mall. The court records state that a patrol supervisor called Lozano and Mitchell to respond to the robbery. A Captain had claimed to see their vehicle nearby, but assumed they were from another unit when they didn’t respond to the call.

It was discovered through the DICVS recording they had in fact discussed the call, deciding to ignore it to go after a Snorlax in Pokemon Go instead. Lozano and Mitchell made no attempt to make contact regarding the robbery. The court records also show that on their way to the Snorlax, they noted that a Togetic had popped up in the game. As well as that, Lozano and Mitchell were reported to have lied about whether they were actually playing the game or not, and also claimed that it isn’t actually a game but more of a “social media event.” Both ended up admitting that they did leave the foot beat area because they were “chasing this mythical creature.”

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Fortnite 19.01 Patch Notes (January 11) Issue A Tornado Warning For The Island

The Fortnite 19.01 January 11 patch will finally bring stormy weather to the battle royale, over a month after it was first teased in the Chapter 3 trailer.

Tornadoes and lightning storms will begin to spawn on the island with this week’s update, with each weather type having its own perks. Getting struck by a dark cloud’s lightning bolt, for example, does deal light damage (and sets the surrounding area on fire), but also provides a quick speed boost for the player.

Epic Games’ official blog post for the update also mentions that players can increase their chances of getting struck by lightning by jumping into water or climbing to the highest point under a thundercloud.

Tornadoes, meanwhile, will pick up players and launch them skyward, allowing them to glide to safety without taking any damage. Epic has also announced a Tornado Week, running from now until January 17 at 6 AM PT / 9 AM ET, where tornadoes will spawn more frequently than usual.

Finally, the 19.01 January 11 hotfix will also unvault the Flare Gun, giving players another fiery offensive option outside of the Firefly Jar. The Flare Gun can set an area on fire when fired directly, or it can briefly ping enemies in the area when fired into the sky, giving it multifaceted usefulness. The Flare Gun will appear as floor loot, in chests, and in supply drops.

We’re expecting more big changes to come to Fortnite before the end of the season, including the return of Tilted Towers near the center of the map. If you’re still working on the weekly challenges from last week, check out where to find Timber Pines and complete the task before the tornadoes come and knock them all down for you.

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Days Gone Director Talks Sequel Ideas That Would Have Featured Heavier Storytelling

The odds of a Days Gone sequel ever happening might be slim at best, but that didn’t stop developer Sony Bend from envisioning what a follow-up game could add to its mix of zombie apocalypse sandbox after production had wrapped. In an interview with USA Today, Days Gone director Jeff Ross spoke about plans for the canceled sequel, which would have improved on elements that had been criticized by reviewers and players.

In the gameplay department, protagonist Deacon St. John would finally be able to swim and instant-fail stealth sections would have been scrapped, much to the relief of anyone who dreaded the NERO levels of Days Gone. Interestingly, Deacon’s motorcycle would be used as part of a more technical direction for the proposed sequel, as the biker would be able to use NERO technology to upgrade his ride.

“I think we would have expanded the tone a little bit in a more technical direction,” Ross explained. “The tone would have expanded one ring outward towards some of the new reality. I think this would have been a little bit more, I don’t want to say Avengers, but something where the player had resources, he had some sort of the remnants of whatever the government had.”

The dynamically dangerous world of Days Gone would also be enhanced, and would feature more lethal enemies to deal with while exploring the post-apocalyptic wilderness. As for the narrative, Ross explained that the story would continue to focus on Deacon and Sarah’s relationship, as well as examining just how strong their bond was now that they had been reunited. The rest of the game’s narrative was described as “heavy and strong,” which could have built on the surprise twist in the first game’s secret ending regarding the Freaker infection and just how far it had really spread.

As for criticisms regarding Days Gone being light on content when it first launched, Ross added that the plan was to always build on the template of the game, in much the same way that the Uncharted and Batman: Arkham games had done within their respective franchises.

“We have to be able to crawl before you can walk, and walk before you can run,” Ross said. “I just see that as a trilogy. First games–Batman: Arkham, the first Uncharted–are basic. They are a platform to build on top of for subsequent titles. And if you look at a game like Uncharted, you could surface swim in the first game. In the second or third game, you could go underwater. Then in the fourth game, you’re scuba diving underwater. They didn’t start with scuba diving, they built towards it. That applies to every game.”

Ross would eventually leave Sony Bend, citing one of the reasons behind his departure and the cancellation of the Days Gone sequel being the studio’s shift towards a more group-orientated creative process instead of a singular creative director who steered a project.

“We moved from a singular creative director to a creative committee,” Ross said. “And committees aren’t cool. You would have been able to create a more collaborative environment where people can contribute ideas, but unless there’s structure to it, it’s just going to be chaos. And that was the new direction the studio wanted. I was like, ‘Hey, it doesn’t even have to be me. It can be anybody, but we need one person where the buck stops.’ And it wasn’t happening. I like to collaborate and get people’s ideas, but somebody has to make a call on direction.”

Days Gone was back in the news earlier this month after Ross claimed that the game had sold 8 million copies on console alone. Ross would later reveal that the source of this sales information was a Trophy-tracking website that has since shut down. This data could also be the result of multiple users playing a single copy of Days Gone, which led to speculation over the true numbers of the game’s sales.

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Fortnite Reportedly Getting Paramount Franchises, Starting With Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Epic Games looks set to add some cowabunga content to Fortnite soon, as Paramount has reportedly signed a deal with the company to make use of its Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and several other intellectual properties within the game.

According to a report by XboxEra’s Nick Baker, several of the entertainment giant’s film and television franchises will be used in Fortnite, with the iconic half-shell heroes being the first to arrive. There’s no confirmation yet of when the TMNT crossover will kick off, but with Paramount launching its Paramount+ streaming service in March, having all eyes on one of its biggest pop culture properties during that time period does sound plausible.

🍕 Fortnite x Paramount Rumor 🍕
According to @Shpeshal_Nick‘s source, Paramount has signed a deal with Epic Games to bring properties to Fortnite.
The main one that has been stated to come to Fortnite in the future is The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. pic.twitter.com/Xe4CwZdtri

— iFireMonkey (@iFireMonkey) January 9, 2022

TMNT would be the tip of the content that Paramount and Nickelodeon could license out to Epic Games–both companies are owned by ViacomCBS–as Star Trek, South Park, and Spongebob Squarepants are also part of the company’s intellectual property library. At this rate, don’t be too surprised to see a Frasier skin offered in Fortnite’s growing metaverse of content if this Paramount deal takes off.

This wouldn’t be the first time that TMNT has crossed over into other video games, as the popular ninjas have been seen in games such as Brawlhalla and Injustice 2. In the media side of the TMNT empire, the excellent Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series ended in 2020 after a two-season run.

In other Fortnite news, you can check out when the Tilted Towers location is set to return in Chapter 3, where to find abandoned tents in Fortnite, and the current week’s challenges.

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Razer Removes “N95-Grade” Claims From RGB Zephyr Mask

Last week Razer announced the Zephyr Pro, an upgrade that adds voice amplification to its base RGB Zephyr mask. The new announcement prompted criticism that Razer was overstating the amount of protection the cyberpunk-style masks offered, leading the company to remove claims that the mask had “N65-grade” filters, The Verge reports.

While Razer never said the mask itself was N95 rated, its product page repeatedly referred to the mask’s replaceable filters as “N95-grade.” This claim was based on the filter’s 99 percent bacterial filtration efficiency (BFE), which it compared to PPE devices like respirators and surgical masks. These references have now been removed, while the product page refers to the filters as “air purification filters,” saying only that they are “FDA-registered and lab-tested for 99% BFE.”

An update has also been added to a blog post called “The Science Behind Razer Zephyr,” which now explicitely states that “the Razer Zephyr and Zephyr Pro are not certified N95 masks.”

While the Razer’s FAQ section on the Zephyr initially compared the mask to a medical device, it has now explicitely stated that this isn’t the case. Under a heading that reads “will the Razer Zephyr protect me from Covid-19?” the page now states that “Razer Zephyr is not a medical device, respirator, surgical mask or personal protective equipment (PPE) and is not meant to be used on medical or clinical settings.” This same disclaimer was also tweeted out on Razer’s official account.

*The Razer Zephyr and Zephyr Pro are not medical devices, respirators, surgical masks, or personal protective equipment (PPE) and are not meant to be used in medical or clinical settings.

— R Λ Z Ξ R (@Razer) January 8, 2022

As of the initial Zephyr’s release on October 21, 2021, the mask does comply with mask mandates in the USA and UK, however the webpage encourages users to check with local laws before they take this as gospel.

While the mask has gone through a number of internal tests, the device still hasn’t been certified by relevant authorities including the FDA, CDC, or OSHA. Despite Razer’s own testing, both the Zephyr and the Zephyr Pro would need to be externally reviewed to be properly classified as PPE.

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Halo Infinite BTB Patch In The Works, Along With February Update To Address Cheating And More

The Halo Infinite development team is back to work following a break for the holidays, and the studio has now outlined some of its plans for the future, including improvements coming to Big Team Battle.

In a blog post, community director Brian Jarrard said the team at 343 is now “largely back in action,” and that the current focus is providing a fix for the BTB issues that have been affecting the game for weeks now. “As you know, we’ve been dealing with some frustrating issues with BTB nearly since launch and despite a few attempts at solving and mitigating before the holiday break, we were not able to get this fixed,” Jarrard said. “While BTB has remained playable, there are matchmaking issues that increase with more players and larger fireteams have a low chance of successfully joining into a game together.”

343 assembled a “strike force” that worked on the BTB issues over the holiday break, and this team has now identified a fix for the “core issue” affecting the mode. The update entered a testing phase last week and “so far it’s looking positive,” Jarrard said.

The update will go into certification next, and if it’s approved for release, it will be released sometime after, though 343 doesn’t have an ETA just yet for when that might be.

“Next steps are to continue testing and then move into the certification process as we prepare to release a hot fix / patch for this issue,” Jarrard added. “It’s a little too soon to give an ETA yet but please know our goal is to release this as soon as we can while ensuring it doesn’t have any other unintended impact to the retail product. It won’t be this week, but we hope it’s not too much further out and we’ll share an update as soon as we have line of sight on a release date (once we clear ‘cert’ we are then ready to ship).”

Also in the post, Jarrard acknowledged that Halo Infinite fans are eager for additional updates beyond the improvements to BTB, including addressing cheating. A patch to address some of the cheating issues, among other things, is targeted for mid-February.

“We are actively triaging and still working to get as much as we can into this Feb update while still ensuring no negative impacts or regressions to other parts of the game,” Jarrard said.

343 is focusing on the BTB fixes right now because of the “broad scope of impact on all players.” The studio remains focused on cheating and general “wonkiness” with Halo Infinite’s ranked multiplayer, but BTB is the current priority.

“Thank you for your patience and continued support. While we were blown away and humbled by the reception and launch of Halo Infinite, we’ve got a lot to get after now as a live service studio,” Jarrard said. “We will continue to make improvements and address feedback everywhere we can–though some things are going to take more time than many of you, and us, would like. Thank you–please keep the feedback coming–we’re in this together with a great foundation to grow and evolve upon. Stay tuned for more details.”

For more on Halo Infinite, check out GameSpot’s recent stories linked below:

Halo Infinite Fracture: Tenrai Event Returns With Updated Rewards And Other ChangesHalo Infinite: The Best Missing Halo Weapons We Want To SeeHalo Infinite’s Battle Pass Has Undergone An Uneasy But Definite ImprovementRead MoreGameSpot – Game News

Halo Infinite’s Mangler Might Get Nerfed, And Players Are Divided

One of Halo Infinite’s new weapons, the Mangler, might be getting a nerf in the future. While no official changes have been announced, 343 Industries recently stated it was aware of the feedback regarding the weapon and that discussions are happening internally.

The news comes via Halo esports and viewership lead Tahir “Tashi” Hasandjekic, who recently responded on Twitter to Halo pro Snip3down’s suggestion that the weapon needs to be on a longer spawn cycle. Other pros began to chime in, asking for a better flow of communication between players and 343 in regards to balance changes and feedback. Tashi stated that 343 has “definitely been seeing all of the feedback and talking about it internally (especially for big ones like the Mangler),” and stated to those in the thread that official feedback surveys were on the way “so we can capture it all in a clear and concise way.”

The discussion about the Mangler isn’t exactly new, but has ramped up recently. The official Cloud9 esports team Twitter account went so far to ask the official Halo account “how many likes to delete the Mangler” early last week. The Mangler is, it must be said, is undeniably powerful. Two shots with the Brute revolver will take down an opponent’s shields. One more follow-up shot to the head will finish them off. Because it’s a Brute weapon, it also does increased melee damage, meaning players can pop off one shot before meleeing with it to score an easy kill. While the weapon does have a slow firing speed, isn’t great at medium and long ranges, and requires some precision to finish off an enemy with a headshot, in skilled hands it can still be a powerhouse. There’s also the issue of just how prevalent the weapon is. Thanks to the weapon’s fast respawn timer and large ammo pool, there’s a potentially large number of Manglers being used for a long period of time in any given match.

It’s currently unclear if 343 would nerf the weapon’s damage, ammo pool, respawn times, or all (or none) of the above. But even 343 simply stating that talks about the weapon are happening internally has more casual Halo fans worried.

On the game’s subreddit, many players are begging 343 to keep the gun as is and not cater to pro players when it comes to balancing Halo Infinite. Players point to the fact that 343 nerfed the Commando Rifle and the Ravager following Halo Infinite’s technical previews, resulting in the two weapons largely not being worth picking up currently. That’s something fans don’t want to happen to the Mangler too. Others point out that if other lesser-used weapons received buffs, then perhaps the Mangler wouldn’t be a go-to weapon for more competitive players.

Halo Infinite has yet to receive a balance patch in regards to weapons and equipment since its official launch, though numerous changes have already come to the game’s challenge system and event progression. The game recently saw the return of its samurai-themed Fracture: Tenrai event, which will return again later on in Halo Infinite’s first multiplayer season.

Originally slated to last three months, Halo Infinite’s first season will instead last until May. The delay was made, according to Halo Infinite chief of creative Joseph Staten, in order to allow the studio more time to “meet a high-quality bar and so we can finish development of Season 2 in a healthy and sustainable way for our team.” Co-op campaign is slated to arrive alongside Season 2 (although some players have already glitched their way into the mode), with the game’s custom map and game editor, Forge, expected to arrive with Season 3.

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Forza Street Is Closing Up Shop In Spring 2022, Final Update Out Now

Xbox and Turn 10 Studios have announced that Forza Street–the mobile Forza experience that first debuted in May 2018–will be closing for good later this year.

The closure was confirmed in a Q&A post on the official Forza support site, laying out the team’s final plans for the mobile racing game. The game will remain playable until Spring 2022, but no specific month or day was confirmed.

While no specific reason for the game’s closure was revealed, the post did mention that the team will be using the experience from Forza Street to build future projects. The post also mentions that anyone who purchased in-game currency in the last 30 days will be retroactively refunded, and that all remaining currency should be spent in the game or else it will be lost forever.

“Forza Street is only playable until Spring 2022,” the post reads. “After its closure, the game and its features will no longer be accessible. Players who still have the game installed after this date will see an information screen after starting up the game and will be unable to play.”

The final Forza Street update has gone live as of January 10, which also marks the closure of the game’s in-app store. The update, per the post, includes the following:

A new unreleased car12 weeks of Spotlight++ featuring Rare & Epic cars, starting on January 17, 2022Faster Energy recharge and increased Energy storageReduced wait times on car showsReduced prices on the vast majority of items purchased with in-game currencyRead MoreGameSpot – Game News

Xbox Boss Phil Spencer Calls For Cross-Platform Ban Program

Xbox boss Phil Spencer has revealed that Microsoft would like to help get rid of bad actors in the online gaming landscape by creating a multi-network program whereby bans that apply to Xbox, for example, might also carry over to networks from other companies.

Speaking to The New York Times, Spencer acknowledged that this would be a “hard one” to achieve, but it’s something he hopes to see someday.

“Something I would love us to be able to do–this is a hard one as an industry–is when somebody gets banned in one of our networks, is there a way for us to ban them across other networks?” he said.

Alternatively, Spencer said he would embrace a system that allows players to bring their “banned user list” to them on another platform. “And I’d love to be able to bring them to other networks where I play. So this is the group of people that I choose not to play with. Because I don’t want to have to recreate that in every platform that I play video games on,” he said.

Also in the interview, Spencer spoke about how Microsoft uses AI on Xbox to “monitor the sentiment of a conversation” to detect “when a conversation is getting to a destructive point.” There is also a Report A User button in the Xbox UI to report bad behavior.

Activision’s Call of Duty games have a multi-platform ban strategy. Players found to be cheating or taking part in other bad behavior have their Activision Account banned across platforms, even those they’ve never played on.

As Spencer alluded to, a system-level cross-platform ban system would seemingly require the owners of the different networks to work together, which might make things difficult. However, there was also a time when cross-play between Xbox and PlayStation seemed unlikely, but now it’s relatively common, as rival companies opt to work more closely with one another.

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