Destiny is approaching its first birthday, and developer Bungie is looking to celebrate by releasing the largest expansion yet for its social sci-fi shooter. Filled with brand-new story missions, a new environment to explore, new strikes and new enemies, The Taken King is bringing more new content to the game than ever before.
But that's not all. In addition to new content, much of what was original Destiny is being retooled for 2015. From character progression to the Ghost, nearly every aspect of Destiny has been modified in some way. Players returning to the game are likely to find it's a brand-new beast, while first-timers will discover an all around superior game. If you are looking at diving in, here is everything you need to know about Destiny: The Taken King.
There is a bigger emphasis on story
If you played Destiny's The Dark Below expansion, you'll remember its big bad god, Crota. Players may have prevented a dark Hive ritual from bringing Crota to our dimension, killing his soul in the process, but now Crota's father Oryx has caught wind of his son's death. He is launching a full-scale invasion of our solar system from his massive Dreadnaught ship to avenge his son, and he has an army of Hive and a new breed of enemy to help him. It will, of course, be up to players to stop him. Players can look forward to hearing from Hunter Vanguard leader Cayde-6 (voiced by Nathan Fillion) in cutscenes throughout the expansion, as Bungie looks at crafting a more cohesive storytelling experience for The Taken King.
There is a new breed of enemy, even if it looks a little familiar
All of the familiar alien races of Destiny will be returning for the expansion, but with one addition: the Taken. These new, interdimensional beings may look like the Fallen and Cabal you've fought before, but they have a wide range of new abilities. Oryx has ripped these beings out of existence and brought them back as members of his dark army. A Taken Psion, for example, has the ability to multiply, while a Taken Captain can throw out moving orbs of darkness that will blind players. These new foes will be featured throughout both old and new content in The Taken King.
Peter Dinklage is out, Nolan North is in as Ghost
Bungie caught a lot of flak for Peter Dinklage's performance as the player's AI companion Ghost in the original Destiny, so much that the character was nowhere to be seen in the two following expansions. Ghost is finally returning for The Taken King, only this time it will be a new voice actor behind the flying, talking box. Nolan North has replaced Peter Dinklage, and not only that, but Bungie had Nolan North redo all of the Ghost dialogue from the original game as well. You'll find Ghost more useful than ever before, too, as players now have the ability to scan environments with the AI to learn more about the game world. Players can also find skins to customize the look of their Ghosts, and these skins even have stats and special abilities (like the ability to find certain resources).
Character progression is streamlined
Gamers who frantically raced for the level 20 cap in the original Destiny likely found themselves a little confused. In order to progress their character from that point forward, players had to find and equip gear with the "Light" attribute to continue their journey. The more Light the higher the Light level, allowing players to tackle more difficult playlists and activities. Bungie has realized that was all a little confusing and at times frustrating, so with The Taken King, Light levels are being retooled. Characters will now earn levels all the way to the new cap of 40 by gaining experience points from killing enemies, completing missions and turning in bounties. Light levels will still exist, but will now be an average of all your character's attack and defense. Certain activities will have a recommended Light level, allowing players to gauge at a glance where their character stands.
Every class has a new subclass
If you've played Destiny, you noticed the third, unoccupied subclass slot on the character screen. That space is finally being put to use with three new subclasses, one for each class. The Warlock can now wield the power of lightning with the Stormcaller subclass, which features a powerful chain lighting ultimate attack. Titans will be able to wield the power of the sun with the Sunbreaker subclass, equipping a throwable, flaming hammer upon using their ultimate attack. Then there is the Nightstalker subclass for the Hunter. This new subclass will allow players to equip a bow pulled from the void itself that can one-shot most enemies into oblivion.
Expect a ton of new content
The bulk of The Taken King can be found in the new zone, quests and crucible maps that are coming with the expansion. Eight new story missions will take players part way through the narrative of The Taken King, chronicling your Guardians infiltration of the Dreadnaught and assault on Oryx's minions. That is only part of the tale. Upon finishing these story missions, additional tasks and quests will open up to the player (including quests to unlock the expansion's new subclasses), all building toward the new raid, King's Fall. Along the way players will fight through four new strikes. The Fallen Saber takes players to Earth to battle a super-powered Shank, while The Shield Brothers strike involves preventing two Cabal warriors from destroying the Dreadnaught, along with all the Guardians on board. The Sunless Cell has players hunting down a Hive who rebelled against Oryx, and last but not least is Echo Chamber, a strike that tasks players with defeating a Vex machine called the Restorative Mind. Three old strikes will also see new life, as Bungie is adding the ability for players to encounter the Taken.
If player vs. player is more your style, there are plenty of changes coming to the Crucible as well. Eight new Crucible maps are making their way to the game, as are three new game modes. Rift mode injects some modern-day sports into Destiny's gameplay by requiring players to run a ball of light into the enemy team's rift to win. Zone Control is similar to the already existing Control game type, only this time kills don't matter. You will only get points for capturing and holding the control points. The third new game mode is the appropriately named Mayhem. This game type reduces the cool-downs on player ultimates, melee and grenade abilities for what is sure to be some explosive multiplayer madness.
New exotic weapons and armor
At the end of the day, Destiny is all about getting awesome-looking gear for your character. It's the whole point of the game (other than having fun with friends, of course.) For that reason you better believe Bungie has cooked up some extremely cool new pieces of gear for players to lust after. We don't have time to go over them all here, but the developer has been teasing what players can expect to find via its Instagram account. It's not just new weapons, either. Some old weapons will be getting upgraded for what Bungie is calling Destiny "year two," with new stats and restructured ability trees. Just don't expect Gjallarhorn to be coming along for the ride.
Item management is better than ever before
Managing so many exotic items quickly became a hassle in the original Destiny, especially for players with hoarding tendencies. Not to worry; Bungie has more than doubled the vault space for weapons and armor, with 72 slots for each. That's not the only way Bungie is addressing inventory woes. New terminals for shaders, emblems and ships will let players clear up inventory space by putting these various items all in one space. Players can then visit these terminals to change their look whenever it's convenient, or browse to see how they can unlock new shaders and emblems. The terminal system is also being applied to old exotic weapons. Have you ever dismantled a piece of gear, only to regret it later? Or maybe you just had a terrible friend who thought it would be funny to delete all your hard-earned items? Now there is no need to fear, as all exotic pieces of gear are now "saved" as a blueprint. You can recreate these items at will as long as you have the given materials, meaning you never have to worry about losing an exotic forever.
Quests, Bounties and Factions make way more sense
The story of original Destiny is ... scattered, to say the least. Bungie is fixing that with The Taken King. Missions are now grouped into Quests, which flow seamlessly from one to the next. There are quests for the new subclasses, the base game, the first two expansions, the Crucible and more, now all easily trackable under a new quests tab. Bounties are also seeing some major improvements. Players can now hold more bounties, new bounties have been designed with the goal of not forcing players to go out of their way to complete them, and you don't have to return to the Tower to turn it in. It can all be done while on the move, which should save some valuable time for Guardians everywhere. Grinding experience for any given faction will now be easier as well. No longer do you have to wear an ugly class item just to farm reputation. Now simply pledge your allegiance to a faction (for a fee) and watch the reputation go up as you go about your various activities.
Expect better loot and more of it
Players who played Destiny at launch will remember the Cryptarch and his stingy ways. It seemed like no matter what color engram you possessed, the Cryptarch would always present you with an useless item of poorer quality than the engram had you believe. That is now a thing of the past, as the Cryptarch is set to more reliably provide rewards that match the engrams you provide. Destiny will now also take notice of the gear you already possess when shelling out new gear, meaning less repeats and more varied item rewards. You'll also be able to feed items to make another item more powerful with the new Infusion system. This gives players another option outside of throwing an item in the vault of immediately dismantling it for materials.
There is still PlayStation exclusive content
The Destiny year one PlayStation exclusive content may be arriving for Xbox players with the arrival of The Taken King, but now there will be new content exclusively for those playing on Sony's consoles. The Echo Chamber strike and Sector 618 map will be PlayStation exclusives for a year, along with a new exotic scout rifle, the Jade Rabbit, and an exclusive set of armor for each class.
The above are all the major changes coming to the game, so be sure to stay tuned to Tech Times for more Destiny news and features in the coming weeks and months. Destiny: The Taken King releases for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on Sept. 15.
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