Destiny 2: New updates to Vanguard ranks and more

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Here we are again, receiving news from Bungo in this week’s TWAB regarding our favorite magic space zombie shooter, Destiny 2, and this time they’re coming in with changes to Vanguard ranks. Now you may have noticed that recently, the more competitive game modes like Gambit and Crucible received overhauls as to how they reward the Guardians that play their game modes.

Every couple of ranks, you’ll receive a different reward, usually an engram or a piece of Masterworking material that you sorely need. It made grinding out ranks in each of these activities more worth it, as you were able to earn materials and maybe some well-rolled weapons by simply playing an activity you enjoyed. Unless it was Vanguard Strikes of course.

A whole new way to Strike

Zavala, the Vanguard Commander in Destiny 2.
Zavala setting his jaw before a bunch of Guardians push tokens into his hands for another Last Dance sidearm.
Credit: Bungie

As of Season 15, Vanguard Strikes will fall in line with how Crucible and Gambit handle their rewards every couple of ranks. So just like those activities, you’ll have a reward track that will show you what you’re earning every couple of ranks, which will be things like Upgrade Modules, Masterworking materials, and some engrams.

As with the other activities, the tokens that you’re currently able to earn from Vanguard Strikes will be depreciated when the new update is available. If you’re sitting on a couple of thousand Vanguard Tokens (like I am) you should consider spending them before they become worth nothing later on.

In addition to the changes to the Vanguard Ranks, ranks for all activities are going to be rebalanced and tweaked so they all feel like they level at about the same rate. That way no one is left behind for a lack of skill in something like Crucible, for example. In addition to balancing the leveling changes, other tweaks will be incoming, like bounties only rewarding XP for your season pass instead of the activity you’re trying to rank up.

Another notable thing will be the fact that the seasonal ritual weapon will be moved to the rewards track; what this means is that the seasonal ritual weapon and its respective ornament will be earned through reputation. This means that you’ll still have your choice of activity to earn the weapon but will have to earn reputation to obtain it, instead of completing certain objectives in that activity.

READ MORE: Destiny: What are hard modes in Raids?

Masterworking the activities

The activity map in Destiny 2.
We’ve come a long way since the age of the Leviathan taking an entire corner for itself.
Credit: Bungie

It’s been clear that Bungie has been still hard at work undoing the reset of Destiny upon the release of Destiny 2. If you’re confused by that statement, just know that the original Destiny ended its run on last-gen consoles on a strong note. The final updates that came with Rise of Iron breathed new life into the game by updating Strike rewards and bringing Raids up to the final level cap introduced.

Destiny 2 undid everything Destiny did right and it hurt the game upon release. Since the cracks in the more casual design started to grow sooner, rather than later, Bungie has since then been hard at work fleshing out every system available in the game.

The Vanguard Ranks are just the newest change that’s meant to flesh out the three main activities in Destiny 2. While it would’ve been nice to have these systems earlier in the game’s lifecycle, the introduction of them now is welcome. Really though Bungie, bring more content to Crucible and Gambit, please. Reward upgrades are great but we really need some fresh blood in those activities ASAP.

Have you considered Destiny: Battle Royale yet? Is battle royale still a popular genre? Pay me if you take this idea, Bungie.

READ MORE: Destiny 2: Savathun – a Queen’s Gambit