Destiny 2's Season Of The Splicer kicked off last night with more problems than I can fit in a headline
The best mess-up was Bungie accidentally turning on crossplay early
Destiny 2 launched its new season last night, and it's simultaneously reminded me of why I loved Destiny, and why I don't think I want to ever play it again. The Season Of The Splicer has a lot going on: cool new alien threats and allies, a new six-person fireteam mission, a needlessly complex transmogrification system, as well as some old and new places to explore.
It also magically has crossplay now, because the launch went a bit haywire and Bungie managed to turn it on early.
Bungie tweeted last night to announce the arrival of the new season saying: "Crash the simulation. Season Of The Splicer is here." Unfortunately, this was a poor choice of words considering some players were experiencing game crashes on sign in. Others were being met with a "Honeydew" error, which stopped them from seeing any of the new stuff.
The game was taken offline for emergency maintenance just two hours after the season launched, though it was brought back online about an hour later. Some players are still struggling with crashes, but the devs are working on it, and if you're affected by these issues it's worth keeping an eye on their support forum.
Perhaps the biggest "oopsie" from the Season Of The Splicer update, however, is that Bungie accidentally turned on cross-platform play. Players across PC, Xbox and Stadia reported that they'd gotten into games with their pals regardless of platform. Destiny 2 is supposed to get crossplay properly at some point later this year, but it definitely wasn't supposed to go live last night.
"We are seeing reports that some players are able to get a sneak peek at Crossplay. This isn't meant to be live yet and is not representative of the full experience," lead community manager Cozmo said. "We will be implementing a fix to remove public access later this week, but in the meantime feel free to partake."
So, while you enjoy the unintentional crossplay preview, you'll be able to get your console pals to help you get your head around the new transmog system. Alice O thought is sounded like a huge faff when they first announced it, here's how it works in her words:
"Defeating enemies will get you Synthstrand, which you can spend on bounties, then completing those bounties earns you Synthcord, which you take to the Loom in the Tower to create Synthweave, then you can use that to convert one (non-Exotic) armour piece into an ornament. That is at least two resources and three steps too many."
Looking good has never been so much effort.
Take your lovely new looks with you into Override, the new six-player matchmade mission. You'll be doing some hacking to nick the Vex's codes and secrets to use against them.
And speaking of beating up the Vex, a little later this season, on May 22nd, Destiny 1's old Vault Of Glass raid is making a comeback. I was an avid Destiny-er with the first game, and I can't count the number of times I ran Vault Of Glass. It's almost enough to make me try Destiny 2 again. Almost.
Season Of The Splicer comes with its fair share of balance changes and tweaks, and you can check all of those out in the patch notes. This season runs until August 24th, and you can find out more on Bungie's website.