Joe Blackburn and Justin Truman talk about Trace Rifles, Gjallarhorn and Exotic Catalysts.
A little over a week after the Destiny Showcase, we know a lot more about The Witch Queen expansion and Destiny 2's Year 5 than we did before. Talking to game director Joe Blackburn and general manager Justin Truman last week, we got some new insights into weapon making and swordplay, raids, Hive Guardians, and underclass rework. But to wrap up our interview series, it's time to talk about Destiny's lifeblood: weapons.
LEGENDARY TRACK TUFS MAY BE ON THE HORIZON
Destiny 2 has won several unique Exotics games over the past four years. But a few of them fall under the same unique weapon type: trail rifles. Trail rifles are like automatic rifles, but fire with a single, continuous beam and use rarer Special ammo. Gamers started with Coldheart at the launch of Destiny 2 and have since added Prometheus Lens, Wavesplitter, Divinity, Ruinous Effigy and soon Ager's Scepter. Destiny 2 lacks Legendary trail rifles, despite having six weapons that all work similarly. But that can change.
Blackburn went on to say that some Exotic-only weapons need to stay Exotic in order to remain unique. Standing together as the only shotguns that use heavy ammo, the Legend of Acrius and Tractor Cannon shotguns are unique. Being in the Heavy slot makes these weapons Exotic. But not every “unique” Exotic falls into this category.
It seems that trail rifles – and even potentially leveraged tracker rifles like Dead Man's Tale – could get their Legendary versions sooner or later.
EXOTIC CATALYSTS AND THE ORB-OR-POWER PROBLEM
Early in Destiny 2, Bungie added Exotic Catalysts to the game, which is a way for players to upgrade certain Exotics. But even better than the new perks, Exotic Catalysts cause Exotic weapon multi-kills to drop Power Orbs that players can use to recharge and activate other perks. This makes Exotic Catalysts very desirable at all levels of the game.
While Blackburn doesn't offer a specific solution to the Thorn problem - or the Anarchy that has been raging ever since - Bungie seems to be trying to find a way to make non-Catalyst Exotics viable.
WHY GJALLARHORN, WHY NOW?
A big surprise from the Destiny Showcase was the Bungie 30th Anniversary event and the announced return of the Gjallarhorn rocket launcher. To wrap up our interview with the two lead actors of Destiny 2, we asked why Gjallarhorn is returning to Destiny 2 after such a long hiatus.
“30. One of the questions we asked ourselves when we started looking at what the Anniversary would look like was, 'What are the moments, the experiences we've had on this journey, actors that we really want to recall?'” Truman said. “And two things said right away was the loot cave experience at the very beginning of Destiny 1 and […] the exotic-defining moment when you realize what Gjallarhorn is.”
Starting on December 7, in the Bungie 30th Anniversary event, players will dive into a new dungeon based around the loot cave in the original Destiny -A system vulnerability that allows players to collect equipment by shooting into a cave. He will appear with his most iconic weapon, the Gjallarhorn.
Blackburn likened Gjallarhorn to Master Yi, an easy-to-learn champion in League of Legends. However, you don't need to critically hit like Master Yi in Gjallarhorn, you don't need to know how many Anarchy bolts to throw on a boss; You point with the Gjallarhorn, shoot, reload and repeat until you run out of ammo or (more likely) the boss dies.
"You can use Gjallarhorn in many situations and you won't be disappointed," Blackburn says. said. It's a way to make a new player of any skill level feel useful almost instantly at 99% of the content. This authentic Gjallarhorn experience is one of the experiences Bungie aims to deliver.
