A Destiny 2 Developer Livestream has given us our first glimpse of Echoes Act 2’s weapons, activities, and artifact perks, as well as this year’s Solstice armor sets. Bungie also touched on upcoming changes to the episodic structure.
New Destiny 2 Echoes Act 2 Information Revealed
The main purpose of the livestream was to let players known about new content releasing in Echoes Act 2. The most substantial new addition is the new Battleground activities. Like previous Battlegrounds, these are three new PVE missions that are similar to Strikes but more enemy dense. The first two activities will be available from the release of Echoes Act 2 on June 17, with the third releasing one week later.
During the stream, Senior Activity Designer Ryan Harris stated that these new Battlegrounds will have more specially curated content than we are used to, such as new art and level layouts. Harris also teased three unique bosses and a teleporting Wyvern variant.
We also saw two new weapons that will be available in Echoes Act 2. Aberrant Action (pictured below) is a Solar Rocket Sidearm with some perk combinations that are ideal for Solar builds and unique aim-down-sights animations. Corrasion is an Arc Pulse Rifle, and the second Pulse Rifle with the Heavy Burst weapon frame. Corrasion will be able to roll Frenzy and Voltshot weapon perks. The legacy shotgun Perfect Paradox will also be available with a new Origin Perk.
The Echoes Seasonal Artifact will receive a new row of perks with Act 2. Senior Designer Chris Proctor stated that the focus of these perks are sniper rifles and Solar Damage. This will give players an additional option in each column of the current Artifact. These include an anti-barrier sniper mod, a mod that allows snipers to Scorch targets on precision hit, and a mod that makes Solar ignitions more powerful. This will make the already strong Hunter build with Celestial Nighthawk and Still Hunt even more deadly.
New Solstice Armor Sets
On top of the Echoes Act 2 reveals, concept art for this year’s Solstice event armor were revealed. The theme for this year’s armor is exploration, which can be seen in the-aviator inspired jackets on all the new armor sets, the navigation equipment, and the compass-y motifs.
Changes to Destiny 2’s Act Structure
Since the conclusion of Echoes Act 1, there has been some confusion and critique of the episode system. The most common complaint is that three weeks of narrative per six-week Act is not enough. As a response to these complaints, Bungie is making all narrative content available from the start of each act, starting with Episode 2. This means players will be able to play an Act’s story missions either all at once or at intervals of their own choosing.