14 DAY TRIAL // Video game developer Bungie is announcing that it is planning to bring down the servers of its popular Destiny today at 9 AM Pacific Time, which is the equivalent of 5 PM Greenwich Mean Time, and that a maintenance period will be initiated and will last for four hours.
The information comes from the official Twitter account of the studio and does not offer any details about the changes that are planned for the social shooter or the tweaks that will be made to the network infrastructure.
Gamers who are still engaged in activities inside Destiny will be removed from all of them at 10 AM Pacific Time, 6 PM GMT, and they will be unable to collect any rewards or to continue their tasks before the maintenance period is complete.
All those affected will be announced via in-game messages to make sure that they have time to complete their current missions, if possible.
Access to the official site and application associated with the game will also be restricted but will be restored as soon as the social shooter is brought back online.
Bungie says that it plans to offer more information if the maintenance period takes longer than expected via Twitter and other social media channels.
Traditionally, such a downtime is a sign that the studio is getting ready to deliver a major patch for the game or that it has identified an issue that needs to be dealt with quickly via a hotfix.
Destiny has big plans for December
The four-hour maintenance period will make some gamers unhappy because it locks them out of their shooter for a while, but they will be ready to forgive the company as long as new content is introduced in the coming week.
In December, the company says that it wants to deliver a big update that will tweak the weapons system to make sure that gamers have reasons to try a wide variety of categories rather than focus on the pulse rifles.
Gamers will also get access to two new exotics, and there are also eight returning from the first year of Destiny, with updated stats and functionality.
Recently, the game has received a new Refer-a-Friend system that allows a veteran player to take a newcomer under their wing to show them the core elements of the shooter, with the pair able to get access to some legendary swords, emblems, shaders and more.
Fans are also speculating that Bungie is getting ready to announce a special event for Christmas, which will include more options for the various Guardians to change their appearance for a limited time.
The studio has implemented a new microtransaction-based system for Destiny via the Eververse Trading Company, creating a new revenue stream that means more resources can be used to prepare live events and free content.
Activision has already said that more traditional expansion for the social shooter might also be coming in the first few months of next year.
Rumors are also saying a full sequel to Destiny will be coming on the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 in the fall of next year.
Destiny will be undergoing maintenance tomorrow 12/03/2015 starting at 9AM PST. Expected completion is 1PM PST. https://t.co/Ocy0lEVMfq
— Bungie Help (@BungieHelp) December 2, 2015