The doors are open to all.
The Destiny 2 early access PC beta got off to a bit of a rough start yesterday, but it sounds like Bungie managed to have it smoothed out immediately –and more relevant to our immediate interests, it is now open to everybody.
Those of you who’ve been enjoying from the first access beta will have to update, which might expect a Battle.net restart. For everybody else, just fire up the client, pick”Destiny two” in the match list, and hit the”Install” button.
It’s a 16GB download, and this is nothing to sneeze at, especially if you’re on a slow or capped connection. On the good news side, it is apparently running well: We’ve got a breakdown of everything you’ll need to run it in 4K/60fps here, however even mid-range hardware looks capable to keep it flowing fast and pretty.
We’ll have a full performance evaluation coming to you soon, and in the meantime you can avoid unnecessary hassles by making sure that you have got the latest video drivers installed–AMD here, and Nvidia here. As for getting the most, here are a few recommendations from our inhouse expert/junkie.
To unleash the initial story mission, which is named Homecoming, just create another character. You should do this anyway in order to get a taste of three categories: Warlock, Titan and Hunter.
Each category also has an option of two subclasses, Dawnbreaker or even Voidwalker for Warlocks, Sentinel or Striker for Titans, and Arcstrider or Gunslinger for Hunters. To alter subclass, simply go into your character menu and search for the diamond icon in the top left.
When you restart the beta your character’s perks are reset to the default choice. Tinker around with different builds (pay special attention to the grenades and jumps on offer) to find a taste for the preferred play style.
Don’t worry overly much about loot. There is only a very limited selection of weapons available in the beta, and the way it drops in-game (engrams do not actually fall throughout the Attack mission in this build) isn’t representative of the last game.
Do however check out the exotic weapon you pick up from the Homecoming mission. It’s the one with the yellow icon you get out of Shaxx’s armoury at the start. Depending on which class you’re playing, it’ll be different also –Hunter’s receive the Sunshot hand cannon, Titans get the Sweet Business car rifle (which will be a freaking primary minigun), and Warlocks receive the Riskrunner SMG.
If you are searching to play PvP, start looking for your own Nightshade or Nergal PR4 pulse rifles. They’re dominant in the present sandbox.
Do attempt to play with friends. Destiny 2 utilizes Blizzard’s Battle.net launcher, therefore there is a good chance you have any chums checking out the game. It is a game that’s at it’s best shooting the shit (and the aliens) over voice comms.
As for more general beliefs, Tim says he’s impressed. As expected, the PC version, besides being something of a technical marvel, extracting superb functionality from low-end rigs, has dealt with a lot of the problems we had with the previous PS4 beta. The ammo economy is much better balanced, player motion feels substantially more reactive, and the recharge rate and power level of supers and other abilities have been tuned to better reflect the thought that we’re space magic-slinging warrior gods. So, given it’s available to all, there’s very little reason not to jump in and see what the fuss is all about.
