Simpler explanation of how the new Trials changes work
All info comes from here: Heresy Crucible Updates | Bungie.net
People in my clan and on here keep getting confused as to how rewards in the new Trials are going to work, so I made this.
Pick one of two passages - Trials or Lighthouse
- Trials Passage - Pick this if you don't care about Adepts, and you just want to do the challenges for pinnacles and armor, farm normal weapons and engrams, and level up Saint. You will play against people with similar weekly performance, and this is stated to be most similar to playing Iron Banner but 3v3. You still have a chance for rewards even on losses but wins grant more rewards along with a low chance to earn a Trials ghost shell. You get bonus trials rep for wins and get can extra rewards for playing with clanmates and as a full fireteam.
- Lighthouse Passage - Pick this if you want to go to the Lighthouse and get a chance for Adept weapons and the exclusive aesthetic rewards like ships, sparrows, and emblems. Matchmaking is rng like normal trials has been. All you need to do is get 7 wins to access the Lighthouse, the number of losses you have does not matter. If you have a win streak on the card, you get extra rewards from the Lighthouse chest depending on how long the win streak is, and there is a set of bonus rewards for each win streak from 1 to 7 that you can earn once per week. If you play as a trio, you are guaranteed an adept every time you go to the Lighthouse, otherwise you need a 3 win streak (you can get two adepts if you play as a trio and get a 3 win streak). Once you have earned a 3 win streak, every trip to the Lighthouse guarantees an adept regardless of your longest win streak on the way. Aesthetic reward chances are unlocked at 5 win streaks.
If you choose the Lighthouse Passage, after you have gone to the Lighthouse you can continue to play on the passage and you will get bonus post game rewards. You will get matched against opponents with similar weekly performance, like how you currently do when you are farming flawed cards after going flawless. You get more rewards and better drop rates if your longest win streak is higher. The important win streaks for post game farming are:
- 2 win streak - unlocks additional material chances
- 4 win streak - unlocks chance to get adepts on wins
- 5 win streak - unlocks low chances for aesthetic rewards on wins
- 7 win streak - unlocks all possible rewards including armor drops on wins, highest chances of everything
If you have earned a 7 win streak, you will be on a Flawless Passage, which unlocks a new stat tracker for your "Flawless Win Streak" and tries to match you based on weekly performance but will fall back to rng matchmaking quickly so that it does not take too long. You will get the highest chance for aesthetic rewards and the new emblem on this passage.
That's pretty much it. Seems like a simple system but the way it was laid out can be confusing.
TL;DR - Pick a passage. If you pick the Trials Passage, just play like it is IB and try to play with clanmates or in a trio for extra rewards. If you pick the Lighthouse Passage, get 7 wins and if you are happy with your win streak keep playing. If not, reset the passage and try again until you are happy with your win streak, then keep playing.