This Week in Destiny - 08/07/2025

This Week in Destiny, the weather is hot (another scorcher!), and Space Grandma is back in the Tower. This can only mean one thing: Solstice has returned, bringing new holofoil weapons, armor glows, and even more hotness. It's time to crank up the heat and get lit in the Tower! (Cause of the glows, guys. The glows.)

Before we get to Solstice, here's a breakdown of what we're discussing today, including a word from our Destiny 2 Dev Team:

• Update from the D2 Dev Team
• Solstice is Live
• Updates to the Portal
• Security Updates
• Bungie Store and Rewards

Let's hit it.

Update from the D2 Dev Team

Where We're At

It's been a busy few weeks here. The sheer amount of changes that landed in 9.0.0 with The Edge of Fate has had our team working hard to address issues raised and discovered by you, our players.

We knew that the game needed a lot of fundamental changes to its foundation, and that making those changes was just the beginning of our work. There is much more to do to update and improve these systems and get them feeling dialed in. This is a snapshot of where we are and of some of our areas of focus:

What We're Doing

In addition to the things we could find and fix quickly, we have more queued up for imminent updates over the next few weeks, and more as part of our first post-launch Major Update, planned for 9/9:

• Restoring color vibrancy to the World Tab, which will continue to live alongside the Portal as the exploration-focused part of our activity offering.
• A fix for the reward preview being lower than the actual rewards granted when in mixed fireteams.
• Kepler Mythic difficulty will be adjusted to make it more accessible for solo play.
• Baseline raid and dungeon difficulty is being adjusted down, and higher reward Tiers are being made more accessible. Contest Modes will also bump the Tier further.
• Restoring an infinite source for Bright Dust with the Objective system update in 9.5.0, and an earlier grant to make up for the missing source.
• 9.1.0 will contain much more than the above, including new activities and rewards in both The Edge of Fate and the Core Game.

What We're Planning

Beyond all of the above, we have much more in the works, too. We've been hearing what you've had to say over the past three weeks, and have gathered your feedback to focus on several areas:

• Power Progression is our most important topic right now, and we are still identifying the adjustments we plan to make. Progression is clearly slower than we want it to be, and we plan to generally increase the speed of progression for most players.
• Portal Reward Balance is being actively adjusted up and down to make more activities feel evenly rewarding. Fireteam Ops in particular is feeling too low right now and we are working to make it feel viable to make good progress while playing with friends.
• Crucible Ops are also getting close attention, and we are looking at raising rewards at lower ranks and increasing the drop rates for Comp-exclusive weapons.
• Raids have good baseline weapons and armor, but drops are not high enough Tier, and not enough of it drops for the time investment. We are planning to improve both the Tier and drop rates in a future update.

We have even more things planned for our 9.5.0 Renegades reveal, but everything above is under active development and will be in the game in the coming weeks and in 9.1.0 in early September.

From our team, we want to thank everyone for your patience and support as we follow up and continue to work on making adjustments on the immense amount of change in 9.0.0. We make every internal effort to ensure a stable launch and good experience, but nothing compares to the torrent of live feedback from a large player community to help inform our decision-making. Destiny 2 is a living environment, and we're constantly working to react to what we learn from you, so please continue sharing your feedback with us!

Solstice is Live

It's that time of year again when the sun's ablaze, greenery has adorned the Tower, and Eva Levante has brought everyone water toys and swimwear to celebrate this year's Solstice event.

Weapons

The water toys are this year's Solstice weapons; one returns, and two are new:

New:

• Yeartide Apex light Solar Submachine Gun
• Festival Flight area denial Strand Grenade Launcher

Returning:

• Fortunate Star Void Bow

Beachfront sunsets sure are beautiful, but if you'd rather play in the ocean on a sunny day, the weapons also come in beach waves on their Holofoil versions:

If you'd like to see an animated version, check it out here.

Reward Drops

All Solstice drops are +1 Gear Tier while Solstice is live, and Holofoil weapon drops are +2 Gear Tier alongside a piece of armor at the same Tier.

Armor and the Solstice Forge

This year's event brings back a familiar armor set from 2019 in the name of Lustrous armor, which have been upgraded to Armor 3.0 with unique set bonuses:

2 Piece | Photogalvanic	Receiving healing temporarily grants your Solar weapons increased flinch resistance, handling, and reload speed.
4 Piece | Cauterize	Rapid Solar final blows heal you.

Using the Solstice Forge, which now lives in the Event Home, you can unlock the Lustrous armor and glows. For those with a fashion interest, you may have noticed that both glow and non-glow versions appear as ornament options once the glow is acquired.

You can claim Lustrous armor using Solstice Alloy, which can be acquired by completing Solstice Scorched matches in Crucible Ops or in other Ops activities in the Portal that have Solstice modifiers active. You can also select these when customizing the Boon and Event Modifiers. Check out one of the modifiers in all its sun death ray glory:

More information about the modifiers can be found in last week's TWID.

Speaking of armor, have you checked out the new Eververse sets yet? Whether you want to dress for the beach, surf in the ocean, or play in the pool, we have the right outfit for you:

Event Home Rewards Track

Like Arms Week, rewards for Solstice live in the new event home full of daily challenges, a weekly challenge, and a 15-rank rewards track. The track is available to all players, and includes exclusive items, such as the new Flutter By Holochip, Tier 3 Holofoil versions of each Solstice weapon, a unique shader, ship, Sparrow, Ghost, Solstice Weapon Engrams, and more.

Solstice Scorched Crucible Ops

Head over to Crucible Ops to join in on the madness that is Solstice Scorched. Slaughter your opponents with a blaze of fiery explosions with the Scorch Cannon to earn Solstice Alloys and event rep. Prepare to get burnt (okay, we're done)!

Solstice Event Twitch Drop

To celebrate the Solstice Summer Event, a new Twitch Drop is live for the Gracious Gloss emblem. Gift a sub to a participating Destiny 2 live stream between now and August 19, 9:59 AM PDT, to earn the Gracious Gloss emblem!

For more information about Destiny 2 Twitch Drops, view our article.

The Portal: Fireteam Ops Matchmade GM Difficulty

You wanted it, you got it. This week, we added matchmade Grandmaster difficulty to Fireteam Ops. Be prepared, this isn't for the faint of heart and requires a solid build and teamwork. The required Power for access is 360, but base combatant Power is 400, so tread lightly as you enter the fray. Like Expert and Master before, the selected challenges, banes, and boons will be different each day. Both Locked Loadout and Limited Revives are on and you can only be revived by teammates - so be careful out there, Guardians, and look out for your fellow fireteam members.

Next week, the Portal will receive an update in the form of the Accelerator: score multiplier, which slightly increases the challenge multiplier, making it easier to attain higher reward scores.

Here's an updated calendar of what Season: Reclamation will offer to all players:

• Weeks of August 5 to 19 (this week!)
  • Solstice event.
  • Matchmaking opens for Grandmaster Fireteam Ops.
• Week of September 2
  • Heavy Metal event returns.
• September 9
  • Ash & Iron Major Update.
  • Dungeon content (more details to come!)

Security Update

Earlier this week, our product security team issued a ban wave to fireteams found to be cheating during The Desert Perpetual's Contest Mode. Players who benefitted from those cheating in their fireteam were also included. This is in addition to the many, many bans we have already issued during the race itself. In addition to this ban wave, we've also removed the associated post-game carnage reports from our API.

Breaking our Community Code of Conduct - including cheating during contest difficulty or other activities - is a bannable offense, and players benefiting from cheating can also be subject to punishment.

If you suspect someone has cheated, either in Contest Mode or other areas of the game, please submit a report to our contact form.

Bungie Store Solstice Savings

In celebration of our Solstice event, stop by the Bungie Store for Solstice Savings August 5, 10 AM PT - August 19, 9:59 AM PT. There, you'll find new discounts on exciting products, including the NERF LMTD Destiny 2 Ace of Spades Blaster, The Art of Destiny Vol. 3, the Floating Traveler Lamp, and more!

In addition to savings, enjoy $7.77 Flat Rate Shipping* during the Solstice Sale!

Any purchase made in the Bungie Store during Solstice Savings will also come with the Destiny 2 emblem: Sunburst.

Light the Solstice Forge and celebrate with savings on the Bungie Store.

*$7.77 flat rate shipping is valid on all orders placed from August 5 at 10:00 AM PT through August 19, 2025, at 9:59 AM PT. Standard ground shipping service within the continental US, EU, and UK only.

Bungie Rewards Retiring Soon!

Bungie Rewards from the year of The Final Shape, including all episodes and events, will be expiring in a few weeks. Players have until August 19, 2025, at 11:59 PM PT to purchase Bungie Rewards unlocked during the year of The Final Shape. Players must have earned the Bungie Rewards by the original earn-by date. View this Bungie Rewards page for more details.

Player Support Report

Known Issues List | Help Forums | Destiny 2 Team Bluesky

Fortunate Star Bow Update

Due to the Fortunate Star bow displaying as a Precision Bow, but being built to be a Lightweight Frame, it is not currently receiving the intrinsic benefits of either a Lightweight or a Precision frame. We will be updating all versions to correctly receive the Lightweight benefits in Update 9.0.0.6.

Known Issues List

• Scorched Crucible matches are not progressing the first step of the Celebrating Solstice quest. Players can progress this step successfully by completing the alternate PvE activity objective.
• The baseline level of mobility for all players is lower than intended.
• Due to an issue where Dead Messenger can output more damage than intended in PvP, it has been disabled within those activities.
• Tier 5 armor pieces are not saving mod information to loadouts.
• The Body Counting daily challenge in the Portal is not progressing faster with Guardian kills as intended.
• The Fortunate Star bow is dropping with an unenhanced version of the Eye of the Storm perk at higher weapon tiers.
• Players who have already hit maximum Seasonal power are not receiving bonus reward drops from Portal activities.
• The Lighthouse chest rewards are sometimes giving lower gear tier rewards than intended.
• Trials of Osiris medals are not counting toward Skill of One Gilding Triumph.
• In Trials of Osiris, Special ammo meter progress is not retaining between rounds.
• The Trials Spreadshot Hand Cannon has an incorrect stat package.
• Vigilance Wing is not granting increased recovery when Last Stand is active.
• PC players using Intel Ultra Core processors are experiencing a high rate of game crashes.

One Light Prevails

The battle against the Witness brought our community together like never before, and this piece was made to commemorate the excision.

By Ohlac, via Twitter/X

War Song of the Bladed Path

It's not every day that someone writes a Destiny 2-inspired composition for their thesis project and then conducts a 52-person orchestra to perform it, so finding this was special to us. Give it a listen:

By Peter Schumacher, via YouTube

As we come to a close, we wanted to let you know that we hear your feedback about the Portal, rewards, raids, dungeons, and more. There are active discussions taking place daily about all these items and what we're working on for the future. We'll share more details soon.

In the meantime, we hope you're enjoying Solstice and are getting lots of fire drops, literally and figuratively.

Okay, now we're done.

Destiny 2 Community Team