'Destiny' new patch update to tone down 'Prison of Elders' arena

Bungie blog

When "Destiny Expansion II: House of Wolves" rolled out, hardcore players were really excited about the new features and challenges that the new DLC brought to the game. However, It turns out that one of the new modes was so hard that developer Bungie decided to do something about it. In the next patch update, Bungie plans to tone down the new "Prison of Elders" arena.

The new mode pits a three-man Guardian team against waves of enemies, with each level becoming increasingly difficult. Although the horde of monsters change every week on its Tuesday reset, bosses for levels 32, 34, and 35 are almost impossible to beat; this is most especially true for Skolas, the last level boss at level 35. Many players who have experienced battling it out inside "Prison of Elders" report that due to the different buffs that players use in battle, sometimes the AI reacts too fast that it is nearly impossible to defeat. 

The good news is that rather than balancing the gameplay, Bungie will instead be toning down the last level of "Prison of Elders," making Skolas a bit more manageable. According to creative director Christopher Barrett, there will be tweaks in the upcoming hot fix update.

"There are some aspects that could be improved. First off, the elemental burns proved to be too punishing (being one-shot by tracking Arc fire for example)," Barrett said. "This makes it too tempting to rely on one common tactic (three Gjallarhorns on a Solar Burn). In addition, the difficulty swings too wildly from week to week and average playtimes are tracking much longer than intended." 

Although no release date has been fixed, Bungie is expected to release the update during the Electronic Entertainment Expo this week.