The PvP part of Destiny - the Crucible - has been given a little shake up via the new "Slaughter Rules" that have now come online.
"Destiny is an ever changing and growing game. We're excited that you're along for the ride. Here's a look ahead at the Crucible through the end of the year," said design lead Lars Bakken.
The changes should put an end to overly-dominant teams running away with matches, with over-performing teams being broken up "in the event of a massacre."
The teams in question will be dissolved and sent back to the matchmaking screen. In particular, this will help losing teams who are saddled with players who log in just to take advantage of the random loot drops, but don't actually compete.
Similarly, in Rumble, if three or more players are "grossly under-performing" then sessions will end and all players will be sent back to Orbit so the lineup can be shuffled.
As detailed in the same blog, Salvage and Combined Arms are also making a return, and Iron Banner is coming back on December 16.
Premium playlists for The Dark Below players will also be appearing, in the first week Clash and Rumble will feature the new maps, and Bungie are also promising that "experimental modes" will be included.
Finally, the same weekly update included a few details with regards to the upgrades coming as part of the expansion and subsequent update (coming on December 9). It's pretty complicated stuff, so rather than try to digest it, here's the full post from community manager Deej:
Scoring Them Upgrades
Let's talk a little bit more about what's motivating this new economy designed to propel the evolution of your Guardian and the arsenal at your disposal. Here are the facts:
• Destiny will continue to provide new ways to evolve
• Your existing items will still be effective in any encounter
• The Dark Below will contain exclusive options to level up
• More powerful Exotics will drop, or be sold by Xûr
• More powerful Legendaries will drop, or be sold by vendors
• More powerful Raid gear will drop - and more often!
• More predictable options will upgrade beloved Exotics
• Exotic upgrades purchased from Xûr replace weaker items
• Exotic upgrade paths require much less time and material
• An upgraded Exotic is more powerful right out of the box
If you're a Level 30, you're ready to tackle Crota's End on Day One. If you like your weapons just the way they are, you are welcome to keep them that way. You'll find that they're still enormously effective in just about any tactical scenario - even Iron Banner.
In the months to come, your quest to become more powerful will have more avenues that lead to satisfaction. The last thing we wanted was for you to look at your favorite gun or helmet and decide that it had become obsolete. Since the reveal, we've read a lot of ideas for how this could have been done better. Your feedback is clear: The time you have invested in your stuff should be respected.
That conversation is already raging internally, as it always does. In the meantime, the existing plan is in place to make sure that, as consumers of The Dark Below start to become even legendier, those who don't opt in aren't left behind. We're making these options available to everyone, whether they own Expansion I or not.
As always, the best way to evolve your Guardian in Destiny is to tackle new challenges and earn new rewards. We're eager to see how you feel about this system once you've seen it in practice. If the past three months have proved anything, it's that anything can (and often does) change in Destiny.