House of Wolves will make Destiny's loot grind much more manageable

Destiny's House of Wolves expansion may not have a Raid, but it does have a neat new way to make beloved old gear just as cool as the new stuff. And hey, if it means you can keep rocking your classic gear from The Vault of Glass and Crota's End all the way through House of Wolves, then that's plenty good.

Bungie previously noted that the new expansion would add a unified system for boosting old items, but a developer stream earlier today gave it a name and encouraging details. If you have the required resources, you can Ascend any legendary or exotic weapon and armor up to the new maximum stat values - it's as simple as that.

Meanwhile, certain new Legendary weapons can be reforged by the Tower's Gunsmith, which will randomize their perks - you could end up with an awesome new set or near-useless combo, if you care to try your luck.

In other convenience-boosting news, House of Wolves will also add "currency exchanger" to the Speaker's duties, as players will be able to hit up the mysterious masked fellow to trade resources for stuff like glimmer and motes of light, and vice versa (though there is, naturally, an exchange fee).

Bungie plans to host two more live Twitch previews in the coming weeks, before it releases House of Wolves on May 19 for all platforms.

Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.