Destiny 2 is about to see some major changes with the launch of its Witch Queen DLC on February 22nd. While the full extent of these revamps and retrofits isn't yet known, Destiny 2's Senior Community Manager, Dylan Gafner, has now tweeted about one important tweak in particular: blue drops are being changed.
Massive changes are part and parcel of every major Destiny 2 expansion pack, but the expectations are being set very high indeed for the release of Witch Queen. The game's blue (rare) gear has been getting glossed over for years now, and is currently just a short-term stepping stone until Guardians can fully deck themselves out in purple (legendary) gear.
While the actual announcement is fairly slim on information, with Gafner saying that there are changes incoming to how blue drops function, Bungie will be going into more substantial detail on what exactly this means for the game in their weekly Destiny blog post. The presence of weapon crafting in Destiny 2 was enough to generate plenty of excitement all on its own, but it's now clear that there are other systemic changes being made, too.
Destiny 2 has used its considerable selection of rare-tier gear as a mere leveling tool ever since the game first came out. Players would begin with a single loadout's worth of white items, quickly replace them with common green gear, and then proceed to level themselves up using blue armor and weapons. This entire process would usually go by in short order, with most of the players' gear eventually getting replaced with Destiny 2's legendary purple items and an occasional exotic.
This made sense back when legendary gear was still difficult to get in the game's first year or two, but even Destiny 2 newbies can now outfit themselves with legendaries in just a few short hours, making blues almost entirely obsolete. Odds are that Bungie may be looking to revitalize the importance of blue gear in the long run. The Bungie blog containing further information about this change will be available later this week via the official Destiny 2 website.
It's safe to say that Destiny 2 will be a very different game by the end of February. Bungie previously announced that their implementation of targeted gear farming in Destiny 2​​​​​​​ will be changed as well. More information on how these major changes to core gameplay systems will work in practice should be rolling out over the next couple of weeks. With that in mind, players that are happy with how gear rarity works right now should definitely brace for impact.
Destiny 2 is now available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series consoles, with its Witch Queen DLC releasing on February 22nd.