Finally today with the drop of Season of Arrivals a huge content reveal dropped in the form of a livestream for Destiny 2. An insane amount of information and content was released not only for the new Season available today but also for Year 4 and beyond.
The reveal itself opens with some promotional Destiny 2 material, as well as acknowledging the circumstances of the United States currently, with the tragedy of George Floyd. The team opened with a sobering 8 minutes and 42 seconds of silence to remember.
After this, the reveal itself is started. This is a huge amount of content, so today I will break it down into content for Year 4 and beyond, and the Season of Arrivals coming later today.
Year 4 And Beyond:
Fans in the past have been concerned that the team at Bungie’s dedication to Destiny 2 is waiving, or that they will soon have to start over when Destiny 3 is revealed. Those fears have been put to rest, as the stream revealed a roadmap for the next three years worth of content.
This Fall 2020, players can look forward to Beyond Light, The Witch Queen in 2021, and Lightfall in 2022. There is speculation that after these three years, the story of Destiny will reach its end.
In Fall, Beyond Light will introduce a new subclass called Stasis. This subclass is Darkness themed and comes with a new energy type for the first time in Destiny to take its place alongside Sol, Arc, And Void.
This Stasis subclass will also feature much more freedom of customization. It seems that the team is returning to something more similar, if not on the exact same level, as subclasses from D1. Eventually, all other currently available subclasses will be updated to be more customizable as well.
The previously teased new destination Europa is also coming in Fall. This is exciting, as it is the birthplace of the Exos, and will feature a newly activated pyramid ship. The trailer itself showcased Eris Morn, The Stranger, and The Drifter all working together to investigate the Pyramid ship.
Speaking of the Stranger and her reintroduction to the series, it seems that she has come with a pet. A small floating fish-like creature accompanied her in the trailer and has been confirmed by the team to not be a ghost. This has led to fan speculation that the creature will be the Darkness equivalent of a ghost or a teaser for the later introduction of pets to the series.
There are also a total of three new raids coming this fall, two of which have been named. Players can look forward to traversing the “Deep Stone Crypt” on Europa, and returning to the Vault of Glass. There is also a surprise 3rd raid that has not yet been revealed.
Bungie also talked a bit about upcoming new consoles like the PS5 and the Xbox Series X. They confirmed that Destiny 2 will be available for next-gen consoles at 60FPS. The team will also support what they called intergenerational crossplay, meaning that PS4 and PS5 will be able to play together as will Xbox One and Xbox Series X.
The team still plans to introduce true cross-play between all formats of the game, and it seems that this will be the big goal for the developers in 2021.
They also announced the cycling out of certain locations and activities. In September 2020, Io, Titan, Mercury, Mars, and the Leviathan will be cycled out and no longer available. This includes all PvE activities on this destination. The locations might return in future updates but in a much improved and edited state with new activities.
Season 11:
Now on to what is coming today. Season of Arrivals is finally here, and the team described it as the prelude to the storyline coming in the Fall expansion. Pyramid ships are in our solar system and will be heavily featured in the story as predicted by the name leak.
There will be a new exotic quest for the Road to Ruin trace rifle. Additionally, a new public event and new dungeon will all be included in this season’s content.
The team behind Destiny 2 has given fans plenty to look forward to in the future, and plenty to keep us busy in-game in the meantime. We can all look forward to the expansion in the Fall and the seemingly bright future of the game compared to the last few seasons. Until then, eyes up guardians.
