Month: October 2019

Destiny 2 has changed dramatically with the release of update 2.6.0.1, which coincided with the launch of Shadowkeep, Season of the Undying, and the free-to-play New Light version. Whether it’s weapon mods, infusion, the pursuit of Powerful rewards, Crucible playlists, Nightfalls, or any number of other things, numerous areas of the game work differently than we’ve become accustomed to–sometimes in dramatic ways.

It’ll take hours of playing to come to terms with all of this and fully comprehend how things work now, but there are some pieces of advice to heed as you make your way through the game to ensure you aren’t shooting yourself in the foot. Certain things–like infusion–should be ignored in the early going, and you’ll want to ensure you’re racking up as much XP as possible, even from sources you might have ignored previously. We’ve compiled a handful of tips that you’ll want to be mindful of as you start making your way through Destiny 2 whether you’re playing New Light or you’ve jumped directly into Shadowkeep.

Don’t Infuse Anything For A While

If you’re familiar with Destiny and Destiny 2, you know about Infusion–the system by which you consume a weapon or piece of armor you don’t want to transfer its Power level to one you do want. Infusion is how you push your character to higher and higher Power levels, allowing you to bring your favorite equipment up even if its numbers are lower than your average Power.

It’s tempting to spend resources infusing your best Legendary items, especially if you have a lot of holdovers from previous Destiny 2 content, as you ascend toward the new Power level cap. Don’t give in, though. Until you reach the soft Power cap of 900, every gear drop you get in the world of Destiny 2 will be better than what you’re using. That means every blue (Rare) drop will have a higher Power level; if you start trying to infuse your favorite guns and armor as you climb, you’re going to waste a ton of resources, only to have the next thing you get overtake the item you just infused.

Instead, just use the blue drops you get as you work through the Shadowkeep campaign or climb toward the soft cap. Just because a gun is a purple (Legendary) or gold (Exotic) drop doesn’t mean it’s worth the cost to use right away. This climb is also a good opportunity to try lots of weapons under a variety of experiences to figure out what you like best. Just equip the best gear you have, and every time you get a blue drop that’s higher than what you’re carrying, feel free to delete the lower Power item. When you hit the endgame of Destiny 2, you won’t want to hang onto any blues at all. You’re free to delete them as you see fit, because they’ll almost instantly be replaced.

Don’t Worry Too Much About Mods Early On

Similarly, don’t waste a ton of your resources on applying mods (particularly to weapons). While the mod system has been reworked greatly (more on that below) so you aren’t consuming the mods themselves, it still costs glimmer to equip them. Given how often you’ll be swapping out gear in your first dozen hours, you’re better off leveraging the new glimmer cap of 250,000 and stockpiling your resources. That said, if you have a particularly good mod for your current loadout, it only costs 500 glimmer to apply it to your armor.

Open Region Chests Early

Take a look at your map and you’ll see several plus sign icons scattered around any given location. These mark Region Chests, which are hidden gold treasure chests. Opening them all in an area will unlock a Triumph, and they’ll always give you a blue gear drop when you open them. That means that Region Chests are very useful as you climb toward 900, and almost completely useless once you’ve reached it. Region Chests can quickly provide you some gear for the climb (as well as glimmer and experience points)–if you have some you haven’t opened, particularly on the moon, they’re worth seeking out early. If you wait until you hit the soft cap, you’ll be receiving gear that you’ll immediately delete.

Toss Your Weapon Mods

The Shadowkeep update to Destiny 2 changes a lot of things about how weapons and armor mods work. There’s no Weapons 2.0 system like there is for armor, but Bungie did make mods easier and more welcoming to use. Right now, any weapon mod you have is automatically available for every gun–they’re no longer consumable items you need to stockpile in case you want to use them on more than one gun. Once you have a weapon mod, you own it forever and can apply it to anything. Therefore, any weapon mods you currently have in your inventory or Vault are worthless and you’re free to delete them. They’ll give you Mod Components, which you can then funnel back into unlocking new mods for your guns or buying mods for your armor.

Armor mods now work similarly, at least in regards to armor from the Armor 2.0 system. While armor mods will be consumed if you want to apply them to old armor, that isn’t the case with any new gear. If you’re content with using newly acquired armor, you can toss your old mods.

Go For Bounties

Shadowkeep changes the way experience points work in Destiny 2, but it doesn’t get rid of their importance. In the past, you leveled up your character with experience before chasing down better and better gear to raise your overall Power level, and once you hit max level, extra experience points would occasionally unlock Eververse engrams for cosmetic drops. That system is gone–now gaining experience points advances you along the seasonal reward track. You’ll still want to maximize your experience gains, especially once you hit Rank 7 on the seasonal track, which unlocks your Seasonal Artifact. Your gear’s Power level is capped at 960, but continually leveling up your Artifact allows you to increase your Power endlessly beyond the cap. Thus, experience is still very important, and you’re going to want to maximize your gains.

You get experience for killing enemies, opening chests in the world, and completing activities–basically everything you do. But one of the best ways to get experience is from completing bounties, particularly weekly bounties. Grab all the bounties you can–even the ones from old activities like the Black Armory and Gambit Prime–and keep clearing them to advance your experience gains. Any bounty you can knock out while doing other things will help you in your climb.

Pick Up Everything

Years of playing Destiny may have caused you to overlook mundane things–opening chests, picking up planetary resources, and so on. But with a renewed emphasis on XP, which levels up your Seasonal Artifact and thus provides access to its many battle pass rewards, every bit of XP counts. In addition to completing bounties, these menial things will net you XP and help you progress more quickly.

Listen To Toland On The Moon

As you start working on your Shadowkeep-specific weapons and armor, you’ll pick up Nightmare Essence quest steps that require you to do activities on the moon. Some of the easiest ones to clear are patrols, but especially if you’re a longtime Destiny player, you might gravitate toward patrols that just require you to kill enemies or gather resources from certain baddies. On the moon, though, it’s worth doing the “Scanning” patrols, which are marked by a glowing, floating orb. That’s Toland, the Shattered, a character who’s been hanging around Destiny for quite a long time. The Toland patrols and short, simple, and illuminating–follow his instructions and Toland will tell you a little about the backstory of the Hive and Eris Morn. If you’re interested in story and lore in Destiny, make sure to seek out Toland.

You Might Not Have To Look Bad While Leveling

A new batch of Destiny content typically means dismantling or at least vaulting your existing armor and using whatever you come across. As noted above, you’ll probably be equipping any new gear you acquire, which can result in you looking like a mismatched mess. But it doesn’t need to be this way, thanks to an aspect of the new Armor 2.0 system.

From the new Appearance menu (accessed by pressing Down while inspecting a piece of gear), you can see the ornaments you own. While you might not have had any before, certain pieces of armor you’ve obtained in the past–namely, Eververse gear–have now been converted into universal ornaments. That means it can be applied to any piece of armor you own while still enjoying the benefits of that armor. You may not have a full matching set, but if you hate the look of a particular piece of gear you feel compelled to use, at least you have an option for making it look better.

Consider Saving Your Powerful Rewards

Once you reach Power level 900, you’ll be able to access a new slate of activities (such as Nightmare Hunts), as well as earn Powerful rewards from weekly challenges that aren’t available to sub-900 players (like playing a handful of Crucible or Gambit matches). But even before that point, you’re able to earn what are called Powerful rewards. Once you hit the soft cap of 900, you become almost exclusively reliant on Powerful rewards to advance further, which complicates things since there are a limited number of Powerful rewards available each week.

So if you’re interested in leveling quickly–perhaps to take part in the Garden of Salvation raid launching on October 5–you should avoid cashing in any Powerful reward sources until you reach 900. (Make sure you’re looking at your inherent Power level, without the boost you receive from your Artifact.) That includes the Exotic armor piece you receive from Ikora after finishing the Shadowkeep campaign. It’ll be tempting to grab that immediately, but if you’re sub-900, you’re better off waiting.

For even more advice on this front, be sure to check out our guide to leveling your Power above 900.

The Star Trek Universe panel at New York Comic-Con isn’t until Saturday, October 5. However, there’s already plenty to learn about the upcoming Star Trek: Picard standalone series, thanks to a display at the Star Trek Universe booth, which is located at booth #166 on the convention floor. In addition to several costumes from the forthcoming series, which stars Sir Patrick Stewart reprising his role as Jean-Luc Picard, placards displayed some exciting information about the aforementioned former USS Enterprise captain, as well as another of the show’s major characters.

The placard for Picard reads, “Since resigning from Starfleet, Admiral Jean-Luc Picard has lived a somewhat reclusive life on his family estate in La Barre, France. All of that changes when he receives an unexpected visitor and is once more drawn back to the galactic stage.” It should be interesting watching a formerly reclusive Picard reintegrate himself into the Starfleet organization.

Additionally, the placard for Picard notes that his costuming on the show pays tribute to his various Starfleet uniforms from throughout the franchise. “Notable here are the black jacket with contrasting leather shoulder yokes, which are reminiscent of the last uniform audiences saw Captain Picard wear,” it reads. “The leather features a distinctive relief process echoing other elements of the show’s production design.”

Photo credit: Mike Sorrentino

The other character of note is Seven of Nine, played by former Star Trek: Voyager star Jeri Ryan. According to her card, “Seven of Nine is the former Borg drone separated from the Collective by Captain Kathryn Janeway and the USS Voyager. Returned from the Delta Quadrant and freed from the collective for over 20 years, Seven continues to see Starfleet in a different light as she crosses paths with Admiral Jean-Luc Picard.”

While the first trailer for Picard teased Seven and the Admiral meeting up in some capacity, knowing she’s going to play such a significant role in the series is reassuring. If this means she’s going to team up with Picard, that’s all the better.

As for her look on the show, Costume Designer Christine Biesslin Clark and Assistant Costume Designer Alexandra Casey are helping Seven dive deeper into her human side, which is, according to the placard, “represented by her more casual, stylish, and decidedly human clothing.”

We’re sure to learn far more about Picard–and the other Star Trek shows being developed–at the panel on Saturday. For now, we know Star Trek: Picard launches in 2020 on CBS All Access.

Disclosure: CBS All Access is owned by CBS, GameSpot’s parent company.

The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors. GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.

Protecting your accounts and private information is more crucial than ever in 2019, and that’s led to more companies enforcing stricter login verification practices. To recognize National Cybersecurity Awareness month, EA is offering a nice incentive for its users in October–the company will give a free month of Origin Access Basic to anyone who turns on login verification for their EA account. Considering it’ll take you all of 10 seconds to turn on that setting, that’s a sweet deal.

Origin Access is EA’s PC gaming subscription, and the basic level gets you access to an ever-growing library of games including Battlefield V, Madden 19, The Sims 4, Titanfall 2, and more. The membership also lets you try out new games a few days before release during Play First Trials and also includes a 10% discount on Origin digital purchases like games and expansions. There’s also a Premier membership with more bonuses. You’ll need to install the Origin launcher on your PC if you don’t have it already.

When turning on login verification, you’ll choose whether to have the login codes sent to you via email, text, call, or app authenticator. This setting allows EA to better verify your identity whenever you log into your account. It’s not a bad idea to have two-step verification like this set up for all of your online accounts, so the free month of Origin Access is just an added perk.

To be clear, this deal isn’t just for new users, either. If you’re already an Origin Access Basic member, just make sure to turn on login verification, and you won’t be charged for the month of November. If you’re an Origin Access Premier member, the same step applies, and you’ll get a free month of Premier in November. Even if you’ve already turned on login verification, you’ll get the free month of Origin Access. Seriously–if you miss out on this freebie, it’s on you.

The offer ends October 31, and the free month of Origin Access will start on or after November 1. You can get more information on this deal at EA.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

Mosaic is a game where you can’t find anything to eat in the fridge, you can’t afford to pay your bills, and there’s nothing good on TV. It’s also a game where you need to decide whether to flush the talking goldfish that magically appeared in your sink or bring it to work with you. That’s the main takeaway I got from the 40-odd minute demo I played ahead of Mosaic’s yet-to-be-determined release date.

The vibe of Krillbite’s latest adventure is that of your absolute worst day turned up to eleven. The environment is cold and empty, the characters are expressionless, your job is crappy, and your company regularly sends you stats on how badly you’re performing compared to your colleagues. No one will make eye contact with you in the elevator and there’s nothing about you or your life that appears to set you apart from anybody else in your corporate dystopia.

You begin the game underwater, surfacing from a dream-like world into your sterile, drab apartment. You have three texts on your phone when you wake up–your loving mom asking if you’re coming home for your dad’s birthday, a friend cutting you off because of your lack of effort in the friendship, and a stupid mobile game that serves as a perfect microcosm for the rest of your life; infinitely repeating a dull and seemingly pointless task in order to do more of said task for no real reward. The act of playing the game, entitled Blip Blop, is a relatable parallel for your character, an average commuter unsatisfied with his job which entails crossing off gibberish milestones through repetitive tasks in order to feed some ominous and ambiguous larger scheme.

There’s a palpable sense of loneliness, isolation, and despondency. But it’s this tone that makes you curious enough to act out, since to stick to the status quo would be, quite frankly, depressing. There’s no other incentive to do so, and, as with the real world, it’s easy to turn right when you hit the sidewalk and follow the expressionless parade of workers down the big grey street past the big grey cars to your big grey building to do your stunningly dull grey work tasks. But what if you went left? What if instead of walking toward the elevator when leaving your apartment, you walked toward the window to take a look outside? It’s in these entirely optional moments that Mosaic shines. Literally shines.

Peering out the window invites a saturated rainbow to weave above your head and clicking on it when it appears makes all sorts of things happen, from being enveloped by an imagined sunset to saving a cat from a tree and having it purr with gratitude in your arms. These moments are easy enough to miss, but finding one makes you yearn for more as it’s the singular escape from your otherwise bleak reality. Perhaps Krillbite is sending a larger message here, or perhaps the heights of luminosity are being used to contrast just how dark the underbelly of Mosaic’s dystopia gets. There are glimpses of this darkness through cryptic static and coded messages that invade your screen, but unraveling the mysteries of what, why, and how will presumably only become clearer when the full game arrives.

Our experience so far insinuated that the path to your everyday grind is paved with nothing out of the ordinary, but the road less traveled. The possibilities of what could be waiting in that direction are something else entirely, and Mosaic expects you to discover them.