Destiny’s Private Matches Are Now Live, Here’s Everything You Need to Know

You Can’t Earn Exotic Engrams, But You Can Still Level Up

With Bungie’s implementation of private matches in Destiny, they had to make sure that this new feature couldn’t be easily exploited by players who just wanted to earn all the best gear and loot. With that in mind, you can’t actually earn Exotic engrams or drops like you normally would in ordinary Crucible games by playing in private matches. However, you can still level up your armor and weapons, and gain Motes of Light.

This means that if you want to unlock new upgrades for your gear, just having fun and playing against your friends in private matches will do the trick as well, and you won’t have to grind it out in the PVE content. You can also complete your daily PVP bounties in private matches.

Private Matches Don’t Include Sparrow Racing and Crimson Doubles

The private matches will allow you to play most of the existing game modes in Destiny. The two notable exceptions are the Sparrow Racing League, and the special Crimson Doubles which Bungie introduced for Valentine’s Day earlier this year. However, all of the other modes are up for grabs. This includes Control, Rift, and all the other regular modes you can find in the Crucible.

That said, this means that players can also start organizing their own private tournaments by using any of the existing game modes already available in Destiny.

Private Matches Can Support Up to 12 Players

Each Fireteam can only accommodate six players, but you can have a total of 12 people participating in a private match at any given time. If you want, you can also have less than 12 players in a match. While the game doesn’t provide any mode adjustment options, players will be able to set their own house rules to shake things up a bit. For instance, all players can decide to use only one type of weapon in the match to see which team fares better in such a situation.

Players late to the game can also hop into the private match at any point in time, so there’s quite a bit of flexibility to work with here.

Choose Any Game Mode for Any Map

This is one of the most exciting features of Destiny’s new private matches. Previously, certain game modes could only be played on a handful of maps. However, because the private matches give players complete control over the modes and maps they want to try out on their own, this means that you can mix up the two and play certain modes on a map that was previously unavailable.

Another cool thing to note is that players can change the day and night cycle of the map they’re playing on. You know, for maximum immersion.

When is it Available?

Private matches are now available in Destiny, though you’ll have to download the latest Rise of Iron patch first before you can access it. You don’t need the Rise of Iron expansion itself to be able to play private matches either; this feature is available to all players who own the base game.

Destiny is now available on PS4 and Xbox One. The new Rise of Iron expansion will be released on September 20.