Destiny 2 going down for maintenance before Faction Rally returns (update)

Destiny 2’s servers will go offline tomorrow, Jan. 16, so Bungie can conduct maintenance and push a new patch live.

The maintenance window will begin at 11 a.m. ET, at which point people who aren’t already playing will no longer be able to log in to the game’s servers. An hour later, at 12 p.m. ET, all players will be kicked to the title screen. Bungie expects to finish its work at 3 p.m. ET.

While the Destiny 2 servers are undergoing maintenance, Bungie will issue a hotfix that will update the game to version 1.1.1.3. Right now, players must own the Curse of Osiris expansion to access seasonal content such as Faction Rallies and Iron Banner; this patch will fully eliminate that requirement, making those events free for all Destiny 2 players.

Once maintenance is complete and the game’s servers come back online, the first Faction Rally of 2018 will begin. Running from Jan. 16-23, this event will feature new armor ornaments in addition to the standard gear. On the weapon front, each of the three factions is offering an auto rifle this time around. As always, the gun from the winning group will be available for purchase at a steep discount to that faction’s followers — and an exorbitant sum for everyone else. This is the Faction Rally that Bungie postponed back in December.

Making seasonal content free for all Destiny 2 owners is just one part of Bungie’s efforts to rehabilitate the game and win back players’ hearts and minds. The studio announced a suite of upcoming changes in a lengthy post last week, saying it would reduce the prevalence of the Eververse microtransaction store and deliver new content in free updates over the coming months.

Update (3:11 p.m. ET, Jan. 16): Destiny 2 server maintenance is complete, and hotfix 1.1.1.3 is now available. Here are the full patch notes:

“Players who do not own Curse of Osiris now have the ability to earn Season 2 rewards within Faction Rallies and Iron Banner.”

In addition, the January Faction Rally is now live.