TWID TLDR - 8/21/2025

This weeks TWID saw a hefty one! This is to quickly go over any confusion people may have about the Ops systems as well as any changes. On top of all that, the new Epic Raid coming out on September 20th. Please note; there's already been some changes that are being rolled back since the TWID released based on feedback the community had. Once those are communicated, this will be updated as such! Lets get into it. Desert Perpetual Expands

Desert Perpetual will be getting it's Epic Raid update come September 20th when it officially releases. More challenges will be added, with updates to the Normal difficulty, alongside another Worlds First Race. Here's some quick things of note for it's launch;

• Contest mode will be available for 48 hours,

• Not Swap Update: To even the playing field with the focus on action and gameplay, Not Swap will be getting an update when Contest mode is active. Now when you change Exotic or Legendary armor/weapons, Your Super and ability energy, and all ammo and orbs that were on the ground will be removed. Note: This modifier will only be active when you have 3 or more feats on the Standard difficulty of the Epic raid.

• During Contest mode, Featured and Seasonal mods that were once disabled during the first Contest mode back on July 19th will now be enabled. Bare in mind that there will still be a disabled list for the integrity of the raid.

• The Security Team will be heavily monitoring the Raid Race, and will not hesitate to remove and ban players if needed. Don't cheat and don't play with cheaters.

Upcoming Raid Reward Changes

Staying on topic of the raid, here's some updates regarding rewards in Desert Perpetual with Update 9.1.0;

• You'll earn extra rewards from clearing all encounter of Desert Perpetual, so defeat all 3 bosses before beating the final encounter to earn an extra piece of gear.

• With this, there will be two weekly challenges

  • First challenge will give an extra piece of loot from your first cleat of an encounter each week in either version of the raid.

  • Completing said challenge will unlock an additional one that provides bonus loot from just the epic raid.

  • Loot that these challenges drop have a bonus in Seasonal Power and drops at an upgrade Tier based on the number of active feats

• Gear Tier Changes in Desert Perpetual

  • Removing the requirement to complete the "Combined Master" triumph to increase your gear tier drop. All gear that drops in the raid in this update will be at Tier 2 in the standard version, with gear dropping at Tier 3 in the Epic Raid no matter your current Power level.

  • The dev's will make it so there will be an added chance for all gear earned during a full clear to drop at +2 from your base Tier

• Quest Updates!!

  • Those who have completed the Mal and Compass quest on top of the Epic raid will be able to go to the Simulant Ansible to receive a new quest.

    • When you've completed this new quest, you'll be able to attune to any preciously acquired piece of gear that will have an improved chance of dropping from any encounter.

Portal Updates and Improvements

Starting Next week in Update 9.0.0.8, Fireteam Ops that have direct matchmaking will have their times increased so it will be easier for players to complete the matchmade Grandmaster difficulty.

There's also a full list of improvements that the team has planned for Ash & Iron and beyond. To keep the TLDR short as possible, you can read that section within the TWID to get an idea on what they're planning; https://www.bungie.net/7/en/News/Article/twid_08_21_2025#:~:text=in%20better%20rewards.-,Additionally,-%2C%20we%20have%20some Ash & Iron Updates

Within this next Major Update, there's more changes and additions to come. By no means are these final, this is lay out plans and receive feedback with changes where it's needed.

• Ultimate difficulty will become available at Ash & Iron launch and will be at a starting Power of 451

• Ultimate will include two player stakes;

  • Pressure Cooker: Finish under the time limit or get kicked to orbit

  • Extinction: All players are limited to a single life, there will be no revives

  • These stakes will be optional and are intended to provide the most challenge to even the most experienced Guardians, and include score boosts to match

• Ultimate difficulty Fireteam Ops matchmaking will be available in Week 10, the week after launch

Platinum and Diamond Reward Packs

• Platinum reward packs run from 450-499, Diamond reward packs run from 500-550

• While on both, you can earn A+ grade in PvE

  • You need an A+ grade for Tier 5 gear until Plat III, where A grades start giving Tier 5 gear

  • Upon reaching Diamond I, both B and B+ grades will give you Tier 5 gear

Reward Multiplier Changes

• Reward multiplier will be changed to use Account Highest Power rather than Equipped Gear Power. This will also apply in PvP in the Portal

• You'd still need to have the new or featured armor on to get up to a 10% scoring bonus. Which means no swapping at the end of activities as that's tracked throughout

• 5 new Portal score boosters will be coming in the Ash & Iron Rewards Pass however you won't lose your score boosts if you claimed the boosts on the Reclamation Pass

  • Can still earn 3% of each of the new boosts, to a 15% total score bonus

  • If you're already at the 15%, you'll get 10 Enhancement Cores instead

Time Limit Adjustments

• Activities like Starcrossed and Caldera will have their time bonuses reduced based on actual play data (these won't be crazy time adjustments)

• Activities like Liminality, Inverted Spire, and Onslaught will have more of a time bonus increase

• Bonus Timer will reward a minimum of 5% score bonus for coming in under the limit

Loadout Restrictions

• Locked Loadout will be brought back down in score, with new modifiers to be added

  • New Loadout Player stake Touche: Combines Locked Loadout and Avant Garde as well as the scoring for both

• New loadout selections starting at Expert tier

  • Explosive weapons, including rocket assisted

  • Medieval weapons

  • Old West weapons

  • These will include restrictions to new and featured armor similar to Avant Garde, but weapons can come from any time

  • These will only be made for customized activities and will come with some juicy scoring bonuses to compensate the challenge against Champions in Master and above missions

Power and Rewards

Of course, new weapons will be coming to The Portal in the Ash & Iron update. As mentioned in another TWID, 400-450 will no longer be limited to Prime Engrams. Players will be able to level up to 500 via any Portal activity.

Prime Engrams It was previously stated within the TWID that Prime Engrams will no longer automatically decrypt once they hit your inventory and you'll have to go directly to Rahool again. This idea was quickly reverted and Prime Engram gear will continue to automatically decrypt in Ash & Iron.

New Activities and Bonuses

Here's a full list of what's coming to The Portal with Ash & Iron:

• A brand new activity (more in a future TWID)

• Battleground Behemoth and Echo: Core

• Hypernet Current

• Insight Terminus

• Fallen SABER

• Three expeditions from Season of Plunder

  • Nessus, Cosmodrome, and Europa

• Tomb of Elders

Daily Bonus Focus mission will be more predictable:

• Bonus Slot 1: Random choice of Redacted missions

• Bonus Slot 2: Random choice from the newly converted Battlegrounds, strikes, and expeditions

• Bonus Slot 3: Random choice from Onslaughts/Crawls

Pinnacle Ops Activities

Here's a list of what's being added to Pinnacle Ops:

• Three Dungeon lairs (more in a future TWID)

• Presage

• Avalon

Pinnacle Ops will also have two daily bonus activities:

• Bonus Slot 1: Random choice from the Dungeon lairs

• Bonus Slot 2: Alternating between Presage and Avalon
  

Solo Ops Bonuses

Solo Ops were intended to be quick way to earn Power when you have time to kill. Never was it meant to be the above all best method for all player types. Right now, the speed, ease, and consistency is drowning out other options, especially at 400+. To compensate, here's the following change coming in Ash & Iron:

• Reduced Power earned for a given grade in Solo Ops by one compared to Fireteam, Pinnacle, and Crucible Ops.

  
  

Edit: The changes to both the planned Power reductions for a given grade in Solo Ops and the reduction of Engrams earned in Encore, Starcrossed, and Whisper will be reverted.

Conquests Update

• Four more additional GM Conquests and two Ultimate Conquests will be added

  • The GM Conquests will round out the requirements for Conqueror

• All Conquests will be replayable

  • However you'll earn normal scored Portal loot for additional completions

Future Changes

The Teams aware that the Portal needs more tuning. So here's what to expect in the weeks after Ash & Irons launch:

• Scoring tuning pass on all modifiers

• Onslaught, The Coil, and Tomb of Elders will be moving from Fireteam Ops to Pinnacle Ops

  • They will get their own bonus focus slot

  • Just like in Fireteam Ops, the featured activity will get matchmaking

  • Bonus Slot 3 in Fireteam Ops will be replayed by a random choice from the first of the Fireteam Ops

• New solo operative score boost in Fireteam and Pinnacle Ops for Solo ops

Note: In the launch of Renegades and Season: Lawless, even more improvements and tunings will come to the Portal on top of other changes. More in a future TWID! Rewards from Past Seasons

If you're one of those people who've been wanting specific cosmetics from past Season and Rewards passes, a Archived Passes will be added to the Monument to Seasons Past. Once added in Ash & Iron, you'll be abled to earn cosmetics up to Season 26, with the Season 27 rewards passes added at the launch of Renegades. This comes with a new currency called Chronologs, which will be earned via an active Rewards Pass from both the free and paid tracks. However, no matter how you or when you acquired a Pass, you won't need to spend Chronologs if you've reached the required ranks to claim the item. So if you had Heresy's seasonal pass and forgot to claim something, it'll be right there waiting for you at no cost. If have no Archived Pass items, you'll be given the opportunity to claim items like Prisms, Alloys, Shards, Synthweave Templates, and even Deepsight Harmonizers. This exchange will be available to all players!