Welcome back, Guardians — and a warm welcome to everyone who's joined for the first time following the website launch and the Destiny 2 announcement. It means a lot to see new faces finding the project, and we hope you stick around for what's coming.
If you want to support Destiny Playground, the best thing you can do right now is simple: stay connected. Follow us on socials, interact with posts, share the project with people who loved Destiny. Word of mouth and community engagement genuinely make a difference for a project of this size. Links are at the bottom of every article.
One housekeeping note before we get into it — Dev Updates are now on Mondays. This is the new regular cadence going forward, so that's when to expect new articles each week.
This week's update comes after a stretch where development had to take a back seat — the new website launched on May 22nd, and getting that across the line took everything. If you haven't explored it yet, go do that first. It's worth it. With the site live, the focus is back where it belongs: the server itself. A lot has been in motion behind the scenes, and this week there are a few things worth talking about before we get into the main systems content.
Development Update
Work is ramping back up across the board. The website consumed the majority of available time over the past few weeks, but that's done now, and the shift back to active development is already underway. A few things currently in motion:
- The weapons system is in a new iteration - more on that in a future update, but progress is being made on the new random roll perk implementation in practice.
- EDZ, Trostland construction continues and it's coming along well.
- Teaser trailers are being organised. All destinations have now been revealed, which means visual content for them is the natural next step. See the Roadmap for more info.
- The team is expanding - work is being distributed to additional contributors to help carry more of the load across more areas simultaneously. If you haven't already, applications are open in Discord.
- Campaign writing has picked back up and is going excellently. There's a lot of material in development that we're genuinely excited about.
One thing worth mentioning separately: with the amount of Destiny 2 cut content and behind-the-scenes material that has been surfacing from former developers since the shutdown announcement, there's a real opportunity here. Some of what never made it into the live game - concepts, ideas, directions that were abandoned - deserve a chance to exist somewhere. Destiny Playground may be exactly the right place for some of that. We're paying close attention.
The Team
We're currently in the middle of a checkup across the whole team — making sure everyone has work, everyone is still active, and that the project's contributor structure is in good shape heading into a busier development period.
As a result of that process, some developers may be stepping away in the coming weeks. At the same time, new people may be joining. We'll have a clearer picture of where things stand next week and will share a proper update then.
On the new arrivals front — we're welcoming Haker as a contractor, currently assisting with model creation. Great to have them on board.
Want to Help?
If you've been thinking about getting involved, now is a great time to put your hand up. Official applications for Builders and Modellers are open in the Discord — if either of those sounds like you, head there and apply.
If you think you could contribute in another capacity — art, music, writing, or anything else — send a DM to @CNTDarthgaming with full details of what you'd like to offer and examples of previous work. We'll take a look at everything that comes in.
Founders Playtest
As announced last week, a limited-scope Founders-only playtest is planned before launch. If you missed the full details, check out the website announcement article for the complete breakdown of what it involves and how Founder status works.
Founder slots are now closed, but keep an eye out! There will be a chance in the future to gain access to a limited few Founder slots.
What's Next for D2 - and for Us
June 9th is approaching. Destiny 2's final update. There's not much left to say about it that wasn't said in last week's announcement, but the feeling hasn't changed: the torch doesn't have to go out, and we intend to make sure it doesn't.
If you have memories from the past twelve years that you want to put somewhere, the #Tribute channel in Discord is there for exactly that. We'll be putting together a compilation to mark the day.
Reveals
Say Hello to Nostalgia
The original plan was no Tower, The Last City only. That plan has changed.
The Destiny 1 Tower will be present in Destiny Playground, sitting alongside The Last City. Both will exist together. You'll have the City as a living, breathing social and narrative space, and the Tower as the Guardians' home within it - exactly the relationship that always made sense but that the games never quite committed to showing properly.
This felt like the right call for a lot of reasons. The Tower carries twelve years of memory. It's where this community grew up, in a sense. Having it present is a chance to honour it within a world that's built to last.
A D2 Tower incorporation is something we may also explore in the future. No promises yet, but it's on the radar.
The Full Director
All destinations have now been officially revealed. That means we can share, for the first time, the current full version of the Director art - the complete map of where you'll be going.
The four confirmed launch destinations are:
These are the destinations that will be present at launch. Everything else - future expansions, additional locations, seasonal content - builds from here.
Credits Page
The credits page on the website has been significantly updated. There are almost no redactions remaining at this point, which means you can now see a much more complete picture of the team, contributors, and resources that have gone into building this.
One thing worth clarifying: the credits list includes some resources and assets that exist within the project but have no planned role at launch. The Liminality strike is a good example - it's listed, but it won't be present when the server opens. These are things we have access to and may refactor in the future to fit properly, potentially giving players a chance to experience content that never made it into the original games in a meaningful form. No timeline on any of that, but we wanted to be transparent about what's listed and why.
Go have a look. The people making this deserve to be seen.
Bounties, Quests & Overall Progression
This week's main systems content covers how moment-to-moment and long-term progression works in Destiny Playground - bounties, quests, and the broader structure that ties everything together into a coherent loop.
Destiny Playground's progression system is built around one principle: everything you do should feel like it means something. Not every activity rewards the same things, not every currency is earned the same way, and not every vendor serves the same purpose. Here's how it all fits together.
Currencies
There are seven main currencies in Destiny Playground at launch. Each one has a clear answer to the question of what it's for.
Glimmer
The primary currency. Earned from almost everything - combat, bounties, dismantling gear, completing missions. Spent on bounties, basic vendor purchases, and crafting costs. The foundation of the economy.
Legendary Marks
The mid-tier currency. Earned from harder activities, bounties, and milestones. Spent on Research Bounties, higher-tier vendor purchases, and gear upgrades. Requires more intent to earn, you don't accumulate Legendary Marks easily
Exotic Shards
Extremely Rare. Earned primarily from dismantling exotic gear. Used for exotic-tier upgrades and specific high-end vendor transactions.
Strange Coins
Xûr's currency and Xûr's alone. Strange Coins are extremely rare — a very occasional drop from bounties that you won't see often. Exotic gear is equally scarce across the loot pool, which means Xûr is genuinely important. If you want access to exotics outside of quest rewards, Strange Coins are how you get there. Save them.
Motes of Light
Tied to story and mastery - earned from campaign milestones, ability challenges, and specific Ikora-related progression. Used for Speaker and Ikora purchases.
Vendor Tokens
Activity-specific. Crucible Tokens, Strike Tokens, Iron Banner Tokens, Trials Tokens, Gambit Tokens, Fishing Tokens. Earned by doing the activity, spent at that vendor. Each activity's economy stays self-contained.
Eververse Credits
Earned through the Season Pass and gameplay milestones - not purchasable. Spent exclusively at Eververse on cosmetic and novelty items. More on what Eververse actually sells below.
Bounties
Bounties are the moment-to-moment progression layer. They come in three tiers, each with a different cost, reward structure, and purpose.
Easy Bounties
Available daily from vendors. Cost Glimmer to take on. Reward Glimmer, Vendor Tokens, and Vendor Reputation with the issuing vendor. A very rare chance at Strange Coins on completion. These are the bread and butter - straightforward tasks that keep you engaged with the world without demanding too much.
Hard Bounties
Harder objectives, higher Glimmer cost. Reward more Tokens, more Reputation, a higher Strange Coin chance, and a rare chance at a direct gear drop. Crucible Hard bounties, for example, can drop weapons on completion - echoing how D1 handled PvP rewards, and for good reason. It worked.
Research Bounties
These are something new. Research Bounties cost 1 Legendary Mark and give no Vendor Reputation on completion. What they give instead is permanent: completing one adds an item to the global loot pool - or to a specific activity's loot pool, depending on the vendor.
The rarity of what gets added is tied to your Vendor Rank with whoever issued the bounty. A Rank 1 Research Bounty from the Gunsmith adds an uncommon weapon to the weapon pool. At Rank 2, it adds a rare. At Rank 3 and above, legendaries enter the pool. Common gear is already present from the start - Research Bounties build upward from there.
Vendor Reputation
Vendor Reputation works on a D1-style rank system. Regular bounties - Easy and Hard - give Reputation with the vendor who issued them. Research Bounties do not.
Ranking up with a vendor unlocks new items in their static stock permanently. You can see the full list from the start - higher-rank items are visible but locked, giving you a clear target to chase. Once unlocked, an item is available to buy whenever you have the currency for it.
Vendor stock refreshes every two seasons, and rank resets with it. This keeps the system feeling alive across the server's lifespan - returning to a vendor at the start of a new cycle means new things to work toward, without making the previous cycle feel wasted. You already got what you came for.
"Cosmetic items - sparrows, ghost shells, novelty trophies - are spread across vendors as rank rewards too. Eververse doesn't have a monopoly on the good stuff."
Exotic Bounty Fragments
At certain vendors, Hard bounties have an extremely rare chance to drop an Exotic Bounty Fragment on completion. This is a held item - when you're ready, you take it to the Speaker, who contextualises it and opens the exotic quest attached to it.
Not every vendor has an exotic quest. The ones that do each lead somewhere different, and the quests themselves are multi-step pursuits spanning multiple objectives, destinations, and challenges. The reward is always an exotic that can't be found any other way.
There is a fishing exotic quest. We're not going to say anything else about it.
Eververse
Eververse in Destiny Playground leans into what a Minecraft server can do that Destiny never could. Beyond cosmetic items - ghost shells, sparrows, decorative trophies - Eververse sells functional novelty items: instruments you can actually play, novelty weapons, interactive objects, things that exist purely to make the social spaces more alive. Nothing gameplay-affecting. All of it optional. All of it earned through Eververse Credits from the Season Pass and gameplay milestones.
The Season Archive — Scrapped
Those of you who read the Season Pass dev update will remember the Season Archive — a system that allowed past season passes to be purchased at a reduced cost after they ended. That system is no longer happening.
Instead, when a season ends, its cosmetics move into Eververse permanently and become purchasable with Eververse Credits. Every season adds to the catalogue. If Eververse gets unwieldy as seasons accumulate, cosmetics may move to a weekly rotation — but the goal is that nothing disappears entirely.
Gear from past season passes follows a different path. Some of it will find its way into activity loot pools over time. Some may remain exclusive for a period before returning through other avenues. There's no universal rule — it'll be handled case by case as the server grows.
Side Missions
Side missions exist in three forms, and the form determines the reward.
Narrative side missions flesh out the world without advancing the main story. They reward lightly - Glimmer, a gear drop. The mission itself is the point.
Unlockable side missions open up as you progress through the campaign or rank up with vendors. Reaching a certain point in the story reveals a mission that wasn't there before. Same light reward structure, but the unlock signals progression.
Quest-integrated side missions are steps within a larger quest chain. They exist independently and can be completed outside of any quest, but doing them within a quest context counts toward that quest's progress. The two systems share space without forcing overlap.
Quests
Quests are multi-step pursuits that live in your quest log and always end with something meaningful. The type of quest determines what that something is.
Exotic Quests are the big ones - started from Exotic Bounty Fragments, ending with an exotic that exists nowhere else in the loot pool.
Pursuit Quests are vendor-specific chains. Cayde's target hunts are the clearest example - bounties to track down and eliminate specific targets across destinations, each one a small story in itself. These reward unique gear, titles, or cosmetics unavailable through any other route.
World Quests are longer narrative chains that go deeper than side missions. They may span multiple destinations, involve multiple steps across different systems, and reward things with story significance - lore unlocks, access to hidden areas, gear that means something beyond its stats.
Introduction Quests onboard you into each major system. Your first time engaging with fishing, Gambit, Iron Banner, or Trials triggers a short quest that teaches the system and hands you the first relevant currency or a starter item. Systems shouldn't just appear - they should feel like they have weight from the moment you touch them.
All of this is still in active development - values, costs, and specific reward quantities will be tuned properly closer to launch. The structure here is what's locked. The numbers come later, when we can actually test them.
Prestige
Prestige is the long-term layer that sits above everything else — the system for players who have seen everything a season has to offer and want to keep going. It isn't required, and it isn't a shortcut. It's a commitment with visible rewards for those who make it.
How It Works
When you reach the level cap, you can choose to prestige. There are two options, and the choice is yours every time.
Soft Prestige resets your level, destination access, and Research Bounty progress. It earns you 1 Prestige Point.
Full Prestige resets all of the above, plus the campaign. It earns you 3 Prestige Points. Replaying the campaign from the beginning is a significant undertaking — the point reward reflects that.
Eververse Credits are never reset regardless of which option you choose. Gear is also not reset by prestige — there are no current plans to change this, though it's something that may be discussed further down the line.
Each prestige has a fixed, escalating cost in currency — visible before you commit, so you can save toward it. The cost increases with each tier. What that looks like in practice will be confirmed closer to launch once the economy has been properly tested.
What Prestige Points Unlock
Name colour. The most visible marker of prestige. Your name begins white and shifts gradually toward blue, then purple, as your Prestige Points accumulate. It's a social signal — readable at a glance, earned over time.
Eververse Credits. Each prestige earns a one-time lump of Eververse Credits. Players who invest heavily in prestige accumulate more cosmetic purchasing power over time — a meaningful reward for a meaningful commitment.
Prestige-exclusive cosmetics. Certain items are only available at the Prestige Vendor — a dedicated vendor specifically for prestige rewards. These can't be earned through any other system. What's available expands as the server grows.
Strange Coin drop chance. Increases very slightly with each prestige tier. It will never be dramatic, but Xûr access matters — and players who have put in the time should feel that reflected somewhere meaningful.
Cosmetic trophies. Every 3 Prestige Points, you receive a cosmetic trophy — a physical collectible that marks the milestone. These are distinct for each threshold.
"Vault space expansions may also be tied to prestige milestones — this is still being explored, pending how the vault system develops. If the system allows for it, it'll be here."
Prestige is designed to feel meaningful without being mandatory. The name colour alone makes the investment visible to everyone around you. Everything else is a reward for the journey.
All of this — bounties, quests, currencies, prestige — is still in active development. Values, costs, and specific reward quantities will be tuned properly closer to launch. The structure here is what's locked. The numbers come later, when we can actually test them.