We still have to wait about a month before we can get our hands on Destiny: The Taken King. However, new details have emerged about the Destiny expansion pack that should make it worth the wait.
Matt Miller and Ben Reeves of Game Informer recently described their experience with a hands-on of The Taken King and revealed several ways in which the expansion pack will change up gameplay in Bungie's hit first-person shooter game. It's important to keep in mind that they played "a work-in-progress version of the game," as Miller put it, so everything that they describe could be totally different once The Taken King is actually released. Still, their account of playing the expansion still provides some interesting insight into the upcoming release.
One change is that The Taken King will add new ghost shells into the game, one of which Reeves described as having "a cool orange/blue color scheme." However, these new ghost shells do more than just give you something nice to look at during the game. They actually impact the game with some beneficial attributes, such as the ability to increase your light level, intellect, discipline, strength or glimmer. They can also detect nearby resources.
A new item called Three of Coins will also be included in Xur's inventory, according to Game Informer. Players can purchase this item to have a better chance of an exotic drop on the next boss they battle.
Game Informer also described a few noteworthy changes to the new strikes in The Taken King. Players may be more inclined to replay strikes since Bungie has included features that make them seem fresh during each gameplay, such as multiple versions of the dialogue or the possibility of having a different encounter. Strike playlists are also now broken up into three categories: Vanguard Legacy (a list of strikes from vanilla Destiny and the last two rounds of DLC), Vanguard Ursa (list of heroic strikes with legendary marks and legendary engrams as rewards) and Vanguard Marmoset (list of strikes from The Taken King). Some changes may be in the works for the modifiers of Nightfall Strikes as well.
The Taken King also has a new light leveling system and a more comprehensive stats system. There's also new weapons, vendors, maps and bounties, which you probably expected from a new expansion pack anyway. Unfortunately, Game Informer didn't have any details to offer up about The Taken King's new raid, but when it has been touted as the "biggest raid" ever for the game, as Bungie's community lead DeeJ told IGN earlier this month, I guess you want to keep something like that under wraps for as long as you can.
Destiny: The Taken King will be released on Sept. 15.
Via IGN
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