Destiny 2: Five clues to its crucial future - Xbox Wire (2023)

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This week they arePart 2The showcase event featured plenty of news about Bungie's ongoing sci-fi action MMO, from new features coming to the game to the launch of a brand new season, as well as an in-depth look at the next expansion.Destiny 2: Final shape,will arrive in February 2024. If you missed the event but want to see it for yourself, here it isrepeating. In the meantime, here are five exciting ways to do just thatPart 2it will change in the future, and every Guardian will want to know about it.

Final shape

The Witness arrived, and with it the gears were set in motion for the Guardians' epic confrontation. Indeed, the addition of The Final Shape toPart 2is the final chapter in the saga of Light and Darkness that has been going on since the release of the originalDestinationin 2014, years of preparation and anticipation led to this conflict, and now, in "The Final Shape",Part 2Players will fight directly against the Witness in an attempt to thwart his evil plans for the universe.

"[The witness] sees a lack of purpose and meaning [in the universe]," he saidPart 2creative director James Tsai at the Showcase event. "He wants to solve it all. He's trying to bring the universe into this frozen perfection where everything is exactly as he thinks it should be. This is the final form."

To achieve this, the Witness plans to use the Traveler's Light to reshape the universe as he sees fit. In the Final Shape campaign, the Guardians track Paleheart's Witness to an entirely new locationPart 2– where they will encounter a surreal world transformed both by the Witness himself and the memories of the Guardians' own experiences. Longtime players will notice numerous references to previous Destiny moments, such as the Tower from the original Destiny.

Along with old Vanguard allies such as Ikora Rey, Commander Zavala, and the returning Cayde-6 (voiced again by actor Nathan Fillion), players will pursue the Witness throughout the campaign as they prepare for the confrontation that will take place during the initiating raid. after the release of The Final Shape. How will this story and final conflict end? Well, Guardian, you'll have to experience it for yourself when The Final Shape begins development on February 27, 2024.

All that power

The Guardian's power level has long been a measure of a player's progressPart 2; a shortcut to help players understand their experience level, and a key to access demanding, high-quality in-game content. With The Final Shape expansion, the Destiny team wants to change things with the Force to make it easier to understand and allow players to enjoy more activities together, regardless of their Power level.

With this refined Power system, there will be a number of activities for which Power is constant, meaning players of all Power levels will be able to jump in and play. Additionally, a new feature called Fireteam Power allows players to invite friends to any dungeon or raid in the game, regardless of their Power level. With Fireteam Power, the player with the highest Power level in the event automatically increases the Power level of the other fireteam members, giving more players than ever access to Destiny's most rewarding (and most challenging) content. Some events, such as Nightfall attacks and raids, will continue to use Power level requirements and will focus on the traditional Destiny Power climb that many players still use.

Fireteam Seeker

If the Power changes are all about allowing players of different skill levels and experience to adventure together, the upcoming Fireteam Finder feature coming in November 2023 will enable Guardians to find, connect, and collaborate more easily than ever before and completely in-house . game.

One of the highlights of the Fireteam Finder feature was revealed duringPart 2The Showcase Event is a new tag system that allows players to assign themselves tags that describe their play style and general gaming preferences, as well as inclusion tags, such as tags for color blind or hard of hearing players.

Once the Fireteam Finder roster is published, players will be placed in a lobby where they can chat with other people who are also looking for a party to play with. "We wanted to make it as easy and convenient for players as possible to not just stare at the screen for a long time while their playlist actually fills up," said May Ling Tan, Destiny 2's Director of Social Systems Design.

Timeline reflections

Now available to everyonePart 2Players, Timeline Reflections is a new feature designed to help players catch up on Destiny's long history. Timeline Reflections are designed to give a new player (or anyone looking for a quick refresher) an overview of the most important moments in Destiny's recent history.

Three playable missions form the core of Timeline Reflections at launch and cover key momentsDestiny 2: Forsaken, Destiny 2: Beyond Light,WDestiny 2: The Witch Queen. These missions feature gameplay highlights and cinematic summaries of these key moments, helping players understand Cayde-6's legendary status, the fascinating charm of Stasis, and the deadly effects of the Witch Queen's light-bringing minions, Lucent Hive.

"We worked closely with the filming team to create a one-minute introductory video for each mission to give you a quick overview of what you found yourself in there, and a one-minute final video to highlight key narrative insights," said Destiny 2 lead designer Kevin O'Hara. . “This meant that the player didn't have to play through the entire mission, just the juicy middle of it to get a taste of the exciting battles before moving on to the next one.

"Players who play them won't be able to say, 'Now I know everything that's happened in the last 10 years,'" O'Hara said. "But they should be able to say, 'I know who the Witness is, what he did, and I'm ready!'"

Witch-hunt

If The Final Shape is part ofPart 2Season of the Witch is set in the near future, and Reflections in the timeline are designed to help Guardians catch up on Destiny's past. Season of the Witch is largely in the present. New season available nowpart 2,watches the Guardians fight alongside and on behalf of their ally Eris Morn in an attempt to track down the Witness.

To kick off the season, the spirit of the Witch Queen, Immaru, presents Eris with an offer: help Savathûn defeat her sister, the Hive God of War, Xivu Arath, and she will provide the key needed to unlock The Witness and follow what lies ahead. in Traveler. . An epic season of mysterious space forces and thrilling adventures against the ruthless Hive begins.

Season of the Witch includes two new activities. The first, Altars of Summoning, is a three-player activity where players use Swarm magic to summon multiple waves of tough, high-density opponents, defeat them, seize their power, and give it to Eris Morn while she prepares to confront Xivu Arath. Spire of Savathûn is a three-player matchmaking game where players travel to the spire-like reliquary of the Witch Queen, a mysterious tower where she experimented to learn to wield Light.

Both seasonal activities allow players to use the Deck of Whispers, a secret deck of cards that players can collect throughout the season. At the beginning of each activity, one card is randomly selected from each player's accumulated deck, which grants upgrades to all players participating in the activity. The Whispers deck is a mysterious twist on Destiny 2's traditional Guardian progression system and will be a key part of building throughout the season.

When they're not building decks or taking on dozens of Swarm enemies, Guardians can also take part in the next repeat heist - Crota's End - coming on September 1st. At Crota's End, the Guardians will face Xivu Arath and Savathûn's brother: the demigod Crota. To celebrate the launch of this revamped raid, Bungie will host the world's first race for Destiny players around the world to compete to be the first fireteam to complete the raid.

An all-new season is here, quality-of-life features are coming in the near future, and the climactic gameplay of a decade is on the horizon. take a look atPart 2Let us know if you missed it live, and we'll see you online, Guardians!