Published on: Jun 11, 2015 @ 15:40
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A Cell from the Prison of Elders!
Twenty-two days ago, Variks invited the Guardians to test themselves in the Prison of Elders. In that time, 378,511 Fireteams have exacted their final victory over Skolas. Many others have tried and failed, and failed, and failed again – only to be sent topside, empty handed.
Everyone who has committed themselves to the fight has spent most of their time in the corners of his cell.
If you’re finding fugitive Skolas a little frustrating, you’re not alone. Some tweaks to the Level 35 Challenge encounter are in testing and on the way, primed for deployment in Destiny Hot Fix 1.2.0.3. Catchy name, eh?
The current outlook has it slated for delivery while we’re at E3. Don’t worry, though, someone from Bungie is always in the building, making sure you have what you need to play. Patch Notes will soon follow. They always do.
To give you some time to forge your new plan of attack, Creative Director Christopher Barrett is back on the community front to deliver a sneak preview of the details.
So, since the prison doors have swung wide, what’s been your assessment of the Skolas encounter?
CB: Overall the team is very happy with how it turned out. It’s a unique experience that has some very interesting and challenging mechanics. However, there are some aspects that could be improved. First off, the elemental burns proved to be too punishing (being one-shot by tracking Arc fire for example). This makes it too tempting to rely on one common tactic (three Gjallarhorns on a Solar Burn). In addition, the difficulty swings too wildly from week to week and average playtimes are tracking much longer than intended.
What tipped you off that we needed to take a closer look at Skolas, in particular?
CB: A lot of a playing! Internal feedback is always crucial. Forums like Reddit or Bungie.net, fan sites, and social media are invaluable resources for player feedback.
How do you intend to respond?
CB: We want the Skolas encounter to be challenging and require teamwork, only in a more predictable way that doesn’t feel cheap. To accomplish this, we’re making the following changes to Round 6 of the Skolas Challenge:
- New Modifier combinations (Arc, Void, and Solar Burn will be removed)
- Boss health is reduced (to compensate for the lack of burn)
- Minions will spawn at predictable health intervals
- Minor adjustment to the unit makeup of the combatant waves
In summary: Skolas is about to get a shorter life sentence. To ensure that he’ll still have a fighting chance, there will be some more skulls for you to juggle. Your battle with the final boss changes next week.
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Wishing You a Speedy Recovery
Just before the release of House of Wolves, we told you about a new feature called Connection Recovery. Check out the explanation for how we’ve preventing some disconnections from the game.
To date, Connection Recovery has rescued 1,419,600 Guardians from being kicked to orbit. We’re thrilled with the outcome, so we’re extending the feature for use in more activities. Keep an eye out for this prompt.
Give it a moment to do its work. This is your best defense against being torn from the action.