Destiny 2 to get reduced rare drops, updated vendors in The Witch Queen

Destiny 2’s The Witch Queen Bungie’s weekly blog postings are increasing as expansion is nearing. The studio revealed on Thursday that the game will get some major economic shifts when the new expansion hits on Feb. 22, as well as the date for the next raid — Saturday, March 5, a little less than two weeks after release.

The biggest reveal around the economy is that Bungie will decrease the amount of “blue drops” in Destiny 2. Blues are “rare” weapons and armor in Destiny, and they’re largely useless. They serve a purpose when players are first leveling up, but quickly clutter players’ inventories during the weeks and months between a new season or expansion.

Start in The Witch Queen, blue engrams won’t drop in playlist activities (Strikes, Crucible, and Gambit) for Guardians who have surpassed the Power “soft cap” — the point where blues stop being useful. Although players might still encounter more blues as they explore the world around them this should simplify inventory management.

The Gunsmith Banshee 44, which will see an even bigger overhaul, will also be affected. The Witch Queen. Banshee, like Shaxx and Zavala before him will have his own reputation track. Players can level up Banshee’s rep — and presumably get some rewards — by dismantling Legendary or Exotic weapons and completing his specific bounties. Because of this change, veteran players will need to spend all of their Gunsmith Materials and Weapon Telemetries before the expansion hits, as they’ll disappear on Feb. 22.

Players can no longer buy mod components, that players used to use for old armor and weapon modifications from Ada-1 and Banshee-44, and they are going extinct. Glimmer can be used to buy Mod Components, which will allow players to purchase four mods every day from both the vendors.

Master Rahool, Banshee’s neighbor, will be taking on a more important role in The Witch Queen. In addition to taking over Spider’s resource store — since Spider will disappear along with the Tangled Shore this February — Rahool will also sell Enhancement Prisms and Ascendant Shards. Banshee-44 and Ada-1 will stop selling these items once Rahool adds them to his inventory, but they’ll still cost the same. Rahool, who can decrypt Umbral Engrams will also be an improvement in quality of living. Players who want to spend resources to focus their engrams — guranteeing certain drops — will still need to go to the HELM.

Finally, Xur gets some more love The Witch Queen. Hawkmoon and Dead Man’s Tale are both unique Exotics in that you can run their mission repeatedly to get different roles — Exotics usually have the same perks every time you get them. But since the Presage and Harbinger missions are going away on the 22nd, Xur will get a new batch of Hawkmoons and Dead Man’s Tales every Friday. The Catalysts for these weapons — as well as those for Ager’s Scepter, Outbreak Perfected, Whisper of the Worm, and The Fourth Horseman — will also drop from playlist activities.