Bungie’s Destiny 2 Edge of Fate reveal stream this afternoon is promising quite a major restructure of how the game delivers content – one that’s going to sound extremely familiar to MMORPG and MMO fans who’ve seen this same content delivery cycle play out over and over in our genre.
Essentially, with its “Year of Prophecy” plan, Bungie is replacing its single expansion and seasons – and their temporary content – with more frequent permanent updates and expansions whose zones, content, and game mechanics stick around long-term. The new cadence means that players will get two paid expansions this year – Edge of Fate and Renegades – in July and December, respectively, with two rewards passes apiece. Four additional free updates launch in May (today, actually), July, September, and then March of next year.
Edge of Fate itself rolls out on July 15th, sending players to Kepler, “a new destination inspired by the puzzle-solving and pathfinding challenges of Destiny 2’s dungeons and destination design, which encourages deep exploration, mystery, and player-driven discovery.” Expect new dark matter-powered abilities, the reintroduction of the Nine, and two major characters, Lodi and Ikora. “The Edge of Fate will propel Guardians into a multiyear saga that will unfold across multiple expansions,” the team says.
The basegame update coming the same day as Edge of Fate will add the new “streamlined activity selection screen” called Portal, a revamp of the gear system, and new solo ops content.
The Renegades expansion, the second expansion of the year, is an official Star Wars crossover with full Star Warsy flavoring. Expect the proper reveal in September with launch in December. Preorders for both Edge of Fate and Renegades are already available.
Finally, today’s update, which is already live, is called Rite of the Nine. “Featuring three iconic dungeons, Prophecy, Spire of the Watcher, and Ghosts of the Deep, the event introduces unique twists to familiar encounters, including refreshed dungeon weapons with a striking Nine-inspired look,” Bungie says. “During the event, which acts as a prologue for The Edge of Fate, Guardians will reconnect with Orin, the mysterious Emissary of the Nine.”
We swung by YouTube chat during the presentation and it was basically a massive stream of poop emoji, tomatoes, trash cans, clowns, game-overs, and recycle icons interspersed with lots of Ls and a few Ws, and I’m pretty sure just watching it for a minute made us all dumber. Thanks.
