‘Destiny 2’ Year Long Roadmap Shows Off TONS of New End-Game Content
Destiny 2’s initial campaign was all about our guardians trying to regain their Light. In many ways, this mirrors Destiny 2 and Bungie’s journey over the past year. After losing momentum and releasing some less than stellar expansions, Bungie finally got its spark back with the release of “Forsaken”!
Besides the grittier tone, this expansion gave players a plethora of things to do not only in the base campaign, but also in terms of “end-game” content. New exotic quests, puzzles, game modes, titles and the game’s first dungeon we’re just some of the end-game additions this expansion saw. Though now that Destiny 2 has its spark back, can it keep it going? Well judging by today’s roadmap reveal, the answer is Yes!
Constant Content – Seasonal Events, Power Increases & Annual Overview:
This week marks the season reset for Destiny 2, which not only means Rank resets, but also new pursuits to chase that award powerful new weapons. The following weeks will see the max Light level increase to 650, the Dawning, loads of new triumphs/ lore to chase and Crucible activities to compete in (Ie: Iron Banner & Crimson Days). In fact every seasonal reset will see a similar release schedule along with additional goodies such as new exotic quests, Light Level increases and new PvP maps FOR ALL PLAYERS!
That’s right! Everything detailed above is just the free content that doesn’t require the Forsaken Annual Pass. As for what the Annual Pass brings… well… buckle up. In addition to even more Exotic Quests, Triumphs, Weapons, etc, the Annual Pass will provide major content drops thematically tied to each season.
The first, “Black Armory” – which I’ll detail more in the next section – ties into the Season of the Forge and will focus on lost age weapons. The second, “Joker’s Wild” will tie into the Season of the Drifter and will focus on the shadiest new addition to the Last City (the Drifter) by adding onto the Gambit experience. Not much is know about the final content drop (“Penumbra”) and that’s on purpose as its focus will be all about secrets. Based on the concept art though, it looks as though this expansion will have guardians finally meet Calus – the Cabal emperor who’s taken quite a liking to us. Though what we DO know is that this expansion will feature a brand new Raid as well as an entirely new 6-Player Activity – and more.
Black Armory In-Depth Reveal – Forges, New Weapons & City-Based Raid:
As I started saying in the last section, “Black Armory” will focus on discovering lost weapons and this quest will introduce us to Ada-1, the exo keeper of an ancient armory with weapons that have been sealed away for ages. Why? Because she is not too trusting of Guardians. This is sure to lead to some incredible backstory and lore – which thanks to “Forsaken” are now all held in one place (the lore books). Though even if you’re not hooked on the lore of this world, perhaps these new weapons will draw you in.
There are a total of 3 Forges (each based on Norse, Japanese and French respectively) and from the looks of it, these separate forges will act like new horde mode activities where you fight back waves of enemies WHILE forging new weapons. From the looks of it, each Forge will have it’s own loot pool of possible rewards to build – from various new Black Weapon type weapons to potentially the Forge’s pinnacle Exotic weapon. Whether a brutal Sniper that can rival the Whisper of the Worm (by combining all 4 rounds into one overpowering DPS shot), a Bow version of the infamous Thorn (that can blanket enemies in poisonous fog), or an arm mounted fusion-rifle that basically turns you into Megaman (we’re serious), there is tons to discover! Though if that’s not enough, the trailer teases the return of the fabled Last Word hand cannon – which from a lore standpoint I’m sure will help set up the 2nd content drop “Joker’s Wild”.
And it looks like you’ll need all the high-powered weapons you can get as this expansion also comes with a Raid, which will take place for the first time in a cityscape. It’s being described as a very ‘Wrath of the Machine’s’ style raid, which is promising since WoTM was one of the high points of Destiny. From Sparrows to what appears to a Fallen imitating the Hive, I’m very intrigued; and also happy to hear that the phrase “Raid Lair” was not used once. This is a full blown Raid, which makes me think the Raid Lairs have been replaced by the new Dungeon activities like Shattered Throne – which I’m totally fine with.
All in all, this was a really promising reveal that shows that Bungie isn’t just listen to the community but also the competition. The Devs repeatedly mentioned how they want to have their existing world keep growing once the base game is over and not have it be a static product anymore. This sound very similar to what the upcoming new BioWare IP Anthem has been promising and what the recent Assassins Creed installments have been delivering. “Forsaken” showed that Bungie can definitely live in that world as well; and this Annual Pass looks to go even further!
The Season of the Forge has already begun and “Black Armory”/ Annual Pass content officially kicks off on the December 4th Reset. So eyes up Guardian! A year full of new challenges await!
Joe primarily covers video games news (i.e.: Pokemon, Spyro & Destiny) as well as the occasional ‘Theory Thursday’ pieces. Before writing for FanFest, Joe was the Creator & Editor of TheInsightfulPanda.com. He is also an illustrator and is currently working on Season 3 of his not-for-profit, fan-art crossover series PokéRangers on Instagram.
