Bungie gave players an update on Vanguard playlists in its latest State of the Game blog, notably saying that more Battlegrounds are coming to the Nightfall and Grandmaster rotation.
Bungie announced that it started focusing on “more varied and frequent Seasonal activities, such as Battlegrounds, that can later make their way into Vanguard playlists”. It would then eventually turn these Battlegrounds into strikes, which in turn would become Nightfalls and Grandmaster Nightfalls.
“While this can come at the cost of other content in a given year, we feel this exchange has been worth the extra investment for the overall health of our playlists,” the developer explained. Adding that “we’ll have additional Battlegrounds coming into the Nightfall and Grandmaster Nightfall rotations in Seasons 22 and 23 to keep players on their toes before The Final Shape launches.”
Bungie first announced Battlegrounds coming to the Vanguard playlist in their Destiny 2: Lightfall and the Year Ahead blog back in February 2023. In an effort to make Destiny 2 PVE more challenging, Bungie said that it would bring the Vanguard playlist up to speed with the more recent strikes — like Lightblade and Birthplace of the Vile. We’ve already had Heist Battlegrounds: Mars from Season of the Seraph and the PsiOps Battlegrounds: Moon from Season of the Risen become Nightfall strikes in the last two seasons.
The overall community response to these Nightfalls has been mixed as both these Battlegrounds can feel punishing — with the Heist Battlegrounds: Mars Nightfall even getting tuned by Bungie to be less hectic.
Regarding the Vanguard playlists, Bungie will make Vanguard Medals — which were first introduced in Guardian Games in 2022 — a permanent feature. Vanguard Medals will contribute to Strike Scoring, with medals adding bonus points to the overall score at the end of a Vanguard strike or Nightfall strike. This feature arrives in Season 22.
