The Destiny 2: Forsaken livestream was a non-stop tour of "praise the levitating space orb" moments for long-time players, but it also had some encouraging additions to tease for more casual players. The new expansion will kick off the second year of Destiny 2, and when it does, a whole lot is going to change. Ever wanted to wield three shotguns at once and fight monsters and your fellow Guardians at the same time? Well, Bungie's making it happen - read on to find out how.
Gambit is a PvE/PvP Destiny microcosm
Gaze upon the first true fusion of PvP and PvE in Destiny history. It's a lot bigger than a new Crucible mode - in fact, Gambit will appear as its own node on the Director alongside Crucible. It works like this: two teams of four drop into separate arenas, killing waves of enemies and scooping up the motes they drop to advance toward killing a final boss. You use your motes to temporarily lock out the other team from banking theirs - it's an indirect kind of interference, like sending extra blocks into your opponent's field in Puzzle Fighter. But you can get more hands-on, too: collect enough resources and one member of your team can temporarily invade the other arena for direct, PvP combat. Time it right and you could knock the other team on its ass… but play smart, because it'll be four against one over there.
The Destiny Annual Pass has a bunch of mini-expansions
Already dreading the day you clear out the last little morsel of Destiny 2 Forsaken? You sound like an ideal candidate for the Destiny 2 Annual Pass, a tweaked approach to DLC that will deliver more activities, loot, and general endgame excitement throughout Destiny Year 2 with three set "premium content releases": Black Armory in winter 2018, Joker's Wild in spring 2019, and Penumbra in summer 2019. These will come alongside regular free updates that will be available to all players throughout the year. And yes, you will need to pay extra for it. Destiny 2 Forsaken will be sold on its own for $39.99, or bundled with the Annual Pass for $69.99.
The Collection is your all-in-one tracker
Feel like you've run out of stuff to do in Destiny 2? The new Collection screen coming in Year Two (it'll be available to all players, naturally) will likely beg to differ. Bungie is building out Collection to be part catalogue, part to-do list, and part reward system of its own. Pretty much everything you could think to do in the game will be tracked here: how many weapons you've collected (not just Exotics), how much progress you've made in Gambit, how many lore objects you've collected, it goes on. Completing certain collections will give you special rewards like titles, or you could check in for instructions/hints on how to acquire those last few missing items.
Random rolls and flexible weapon slots change the gun game
On the other side of the "collect everything" coin is the return of random rolls! Where Destiny 2 made each weapon drop the same - making ideal character builds easier but much less interesting to create - Destiny 2 Year 2 will mix up all the perks and stats on gear again. And if that wasn't enough arsenal upheaval for you, Bungie will also significantly rework how the weapon slot system works. Bungie didn't get too deep into specifics, but you will be able to, for instance, equip three shotguns at once. We'll have to wait to find out more about how this will work in terms of ammo and damage types. Oh, also? They're adding bows.
Dreaming City is a new Raid and end-game destination
Remember how Vault of Glass and King's Fall were woven into their respective destinations in the original Destiny? It sounds like Dreaming City will do that, but even harder. Bungie is pushing Dreaming City as a new destination built entirely around the end game. It's not just a raid: there will be other activities to partake in, and puzzles you need to solve, but the Raid is central - even if you don't participate in it yourself, you'll notice the zone gradually change to reflect the events of the Raid. Bungie says the Dreaming City you explore when the expansion goes live will probably not be the same as the Dreaming City you find a few weeks later. Cool!
See how these changes line up with our list of 20 things Destiny 2: Forsaken needs to add, change, and fix.
