King’s Fall Will Be Destiny’s Biggest Raid and Takes Place above Saturn
The heart of Destiny’s The Taken King expansion will take place on its primary new location, the Dreadnought which seems to be located somewhere around the rings of Saturn. The massive ship houses big bad daddy Oryx, the father of Crota, whom in case you haven’t heard, is pretty pissed. Just how big is this ship? Well for starters, you can patrol it like you would a planet. There are also new multi-stage quests and bounties that will keep you busy while exploring the Dreadnought.
While details on the raid itself is scarce, Bungie’s community manager, Deej, confirmed to IGN that it will be Destiny’s biggest raid yet. That’s a tall order to live up to considering how long and large Destiny’s already existing raids already take. Especially the Vault of Glass which has many different stages and elements including stealth sections and jumping puzzles. Will King’s Fall be more akin to that or more combat heavy like Crota’s End? We’ll have to wait and see.
The Taken King will Dramatically Change The Way You Level Up
Gone is strict light level based progression that occurred after reaching the level cap of 20 in vanilla Destiny. Taking its place will be the return of experience points. No more finding high level armor to increase your level. Everything you do will earn you EXP that will steadily take you to the new level cap of 40 as you play. Our senior editor Ishmael Romero thinks this is a great change that will shake up Destiny’s gameplay.
However we also learned that light levels aren’t going away either. Light levels will stay as a barometer of how powerful your character is. Your light level will be determined by your equipment’s defense and attack, and certain activities will have recommended light levels. So while you can grind easy activities to hit the new level cap, you’ll still have to make sure your gear is in tip top shape if you want to survive the new high level content such as King’s Fall.
Your Legendary Equipment Now Has an Expiration Date
Speaking of equipment, we hope that you aren’t too fond of your current legendary equipment because Bungie is in the process of phasing them out. If you thought the 2.0 weapon balance changes caused a stir, get ready for this one. Come The Taken King’s release date, your current legendary equipment will quickly be obsoleted by new The Taken King gear.
Sure you can stick with your old school Destiny weapons and armor like Fatebringer if you like, they aren’t getting deleted, but there won’t be a way to upgrade them to the year two level. They will forever be stuck at year one power, at least for now. Based on what Bungie has said in the past about Exotics however, there should be a way to keep those precious weapons and armor pieces up to date.
Court of Oryx Is a New Form of Public Event
Also revealed in IGN’s interview with Deej, there will be a new public event-like activity called Court of Oryx. Unlike regular public events, players will be able to trigger them and they seem to have a Prison of Elders like vibe to them as well: “The Court of Oryx is a player-instigated public event that pits you against different combinations of different bosses in different scenarios.” said Deej.
Court of Oryx looks to be part of the overall mission to make exploring Destiny more dynamic and exciting. Alongside quests and new bounties, it looks like Bungie is dedicated to making Destiny’s endgame revolve around more than just raids.
You Can Boost Yourself To Year 1 Cap
In an effort to get new players up and running in The Taken King’s new content, Bungie revealed this week that each copy of The Taken King will come with a boost that will instantly bring ONE of your characters up to speed. Probably the current cap of 34.
It seems a little unnecessary since Destiny’s grind isn’t nearly as difficult since the release of House of Wolves back in May. Hell, plenty of hardcore players delete and re-level characters just to get additional opportunities at raid drops. Bungie just must be really excited about their new content. Out with the old, in with the new.
Dinklebot Has Been Retired and Story Reigns Supreme
Bungie has heard the complaints about Destiny’s story or lack thereof. While it is true that there is a deep lore hidden away in the grimoire, the fact of the matter is, very little of that has actually reached the game proper. Bungie has been adamant about changing that and hammered that point home this week when they dumped Game of Thrones star and the voice of ghost, Peter Dinklage, in favor of well known video game voice actor Nolan North.
Not only will Nolan North be taking over for Ghost in The Taken King but Bungie is going as far as voicing all of Ghost’s current lines as well. The man who once said “that wizard came from the moon” will officially be completely gone come Sept. 15. It’s all part of an overall effort to put story and characters first, something Destiny hasn’t done yet. If The Taken King’s latest trailer is any indication, then Destiny fans should expect more cut scenes and a meaningful story than ever before.
What’s exciting about all this, is that there is likely still a lot that hasn’t been revealed yet. Waiting until The Taken King is released on Sept.15 on all currently supported platforms is going to be tough.
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