Destiny 2 has added another secret quest for a fancy gun

A new secret mission snuck into Destiny 2 with last night's update, leading to the kind of reward those good-time Guardians prize above all: an Exotic-class weapon powered by things we know are forbidden for very good reasons but can't resist because they make nice noises and lights. In the case of Outbreak Perfected, the new kinetic pulse rifle, it can shoot self-replicating nanites to bite baddies with their nanognashers. The mission to nab it is a fun one, exploring a new corner of a familiar place. The update also gave the Spectral Blades skill a well-deserved nerf and ended Destiny's spring event.

The new mission and weapon are part of Destiny 2's Annual Pass, the ongoing seasons of paid content, so you will need to own that to join in.

I'll not say much about Outbreak Perfected and the mission to get it because it's nice to be surprised. I will link to this Reddit thread for barebones instructions about how to start it but mate, go on, go in blind with a few pals and die a few times figuring it out. It's a fun one, interrupting a heist in the depths of the Tower and advancing a few plotlines that have simmered away in lorelogs and such.

The overall shape of this secret reminds me of the one to get Whisper Of The Worm, the Exotic sniper rifle forged from--and feeding--a fragment of a dark god. We sticky-fingered Guardians cannot resist forbidden technology if it gives us a good gun. And, like Whisper, it then has an advanced version to get our new gun's upgrade Catalyst. Extra tricky, that one.

The mission seems to still be hiding a few secrets, which players are figuring out and hunting high and low for. I had to do a lot of fan wiki reading to understand half of this, since it's rooted in events from the first Destiny--all SIVA and the House of Devils and that--which never came to PC. But "gatecrash heist; steal gun that shoots nanobees" is all I needed to know to leap in. It sparks nicely too.

The third and final season of the Annual Pass, the Season Of Opulence, is due to start in June. It'll focus on Emperor Calus, the big fella who wants to drink Nessus and had us playing a gameshow and doing errands in the Leviathan raids. He's been muttering about the coming darkness for yonks and seen more hints of that over the past year, more whispers of triangle-shaped ships in places that most players won't see them. The season will bring a new raid as well as a new six-player activity with matchmaking, new items, and so on.

I'm hopeful for something big to get stuck into. The Season Of The Drifter has turned out to be a bit drab, with both the Gambit Prime and Reckoning modes exciting at first then... I haven't played either in weeks. While I have been enjoying Destiny 2 continuing development and am happy to pay for updates to keep on rolling, the marquee features haven't kept me returning as much as I'd hoped.

Back in the present day, patch 2.2.2.0 has brought some handy bug fixes and, most importantly, toned down Spectral Blades. That Super ability is meant to let Hunters sneak around near-invisible, stabbing people before vanishing back into the shadows, but the combination of its high bonus damage reduction (formerly the highest of all roaming Supers) and the lunging speed of stabbing made it so powerful that players could often just zip around spamming murder. Now the duration is down 3 seconds, the damage reduction is reduced, and the energy cost of attacking is up 50%. So yes, it is worse than ever in PvE.

The update also brought the scheduled end of The Revelry, the spring event which featured a new event mode and got Guardians giddy off magical fizzy pop that massively boosted skill recharge times. That was fun in PvE, bringing three weeks of foolishness where creative players beat tough challenge with all sorts of daft builds that would never usually work. It also ruined PvP by turning competition into a spamfest dominated by whoever was most willing to debase themself with shameless cheese. Bungie said they were unable to just turn it off on PvP, which was a shame, so I've not really played that in three weeks. It'll be nice to return now.

See the Destiny 2 v2.2.2.0 patch notes for more.