The House of Wolves is the second expansion pack for Destiny, following last year's The Dark Below. Bungie has promised to fix some of the issues that players have complained about from that update with this new one, and despite the company's efforts to hold onto its secrets, several leaks have provided details on what The House of Wolves will include.
Here's everything we know. It should be noted that a representative from Bungie has cast doubt on the current validity of some of the leaked information, saying that much has changed in the game since the info from whatever iteration of The House of Wolves was leaked.
Story
Remember that cutscene in Destiny — one of the few that are actually memorable — where your Guardian visits those weird blue people (the Awoken) at the Reef. You meet the Awoken Queen, who offers you her help in exchange for bringing her the head of a hard-to-beat villain.
While you're there, you notice that the Queen keeps a whole bunch of Fallen as part of her army, including some that serve and protect her in her throne room. Those Fallen are the House of Wolves, which she assumed leadership and control of years ago after some kind of fight. When you suggested to her that the Fallen were too wild to ever truly be house-trained, she scoffed and relished her position of power.
In The House of Wolves, she's not scoffing anymore. Just prior to the story's beginning, the Fallen serving the Queen have revolted, killing many Awoken in a successful bid for freedom. Being the not-exactly-forgiving kind, the Queen wants them all dead, and she enlists the help of the Guardians in hunting them all down.
Content
The main Story, introduced above, consists of three missions. The first, "Pact of Wolves," takes place in the Cosmodrome on Earth; the second and third, "Tracky Quarry" and "Path of the Traitor," are set around Venus' Ishtar Sink.
The DLC's one new Raid is set in a brand new location. It's called "The Arena," and it takes place somewhere in the Reef itself.
House of Wolves includes one new Strike, the game mode that many players consider to be the marquee feature of Destiny. This one is, like the one in The Deep Below, set somewhere in the Moon's Ocean of Storms. It's called "Belly of the Beast." There's also a new Strike Playlist for Level 28 players and above called 'Vanguard Dragon."
The Crucible is getting some love in the form of four new maps. They are "Black Shield" at Firebase Thuria on Phobos, "The Timekeeper" at Meridian Bay on Mars, "Thieves' Den" at Ishtar Sink on Venus, and "Widow's Court" at the European Dead Zone on Earth.
A trio of new Locations will be opened up for exploration and play: "Dusk Warren" and "Traitor's Ketch," both at the Moon's Ocean of Storms, and "The Terminus" at Venus' Ishtar Sink.
Intriguingly, House of Wolves may debut the first new Social Hub for players aside from the Tower. A leaked screenshot indicates the presence of a new "social area" located in the Reef, where players can interact in a non-violent environment and shop for weapons, gear and upgrades. It would make sense, since the Reef is where House of Wolves begins. Perhaps the Queen opens up her personal stores of supplies for Guardians to buy and sell to, to aid in their quests.
Weapons & Gear
Bungie claims that "hundreds of new weapons, armor and gear" are coming in House of Wolves.
Most of the leaked information comes from a Reddit user calling himself "Megamanexe4." In addition to the data, he's also leaked a ton of screenshots of weapons and armor that House of Wolves will bring to the table. English is not Megamanexe4's native language, so his screenshots appear to be taken from the Chinese version of the game. Don't bother looking for names, but you can get some ideas of what the new gear will be like, including some stats. The screens mostly show off new Vanguard armor and weapons.
Modes
House of Wolves is bringing Destiny players a whole new hardcore-style gameplay mode called "Inferno." Inferno is all about leveling the playing field. It's a form of play where your radar, bonuses and super moves are taken away. It appears to be about seeing just how good you are — even when your unique advantages are taken away. Inferno's flavors come in three distinct sub-modes: Inferno Clash, Inferno Control and Inferno Salvage.
The leaked information suggests that Inferno Salvage will be the only mode exclusive to House of Wolves. The others could arrive sooner and be part of a regular update.
Leveling
Ah, the all important levels: the ultimate Destiny status symbol. Loved, despised and debated ad nauseum, they were given a makeover in The Deep Below that didn't sit very well with longtime players.
It looks like Bungie is trying to make up for that with House of Wolves. The last DLC raised the level cap a paltry two points, to 32; Wolves will let players max out a whopping seven points higher, at Level 39.
Release Date
The House of Wolves was originally scheduled to release in March, but Bungie has postponed its arrival until the horribly vague window of "between April 1 and June 30." Megamanexe4 has speculated that the actual release date will be May 19, 2015, but it's unknown what he's basing that estimate on.
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