Destiny 2: Beyond Light is the next expansion coming to Destiny 2. The new expansion is not only expanding the in-game world of Destiny but it also drastically expanding the file size of the game itself.
During today’s Destiny 2 live stream, Bungie announced full details of the new Destiny 2 expansion Beyond Light and what the future of Destiny 2 holds once Beyond Light arrives this Fall. Beyond Light is ushering in an all-new landing zone called Europa. Adding to an already vast list of landing zones in the current game.
With Destiny 2’s current state, and with the upcoming additions of Beyond Light, The Witch Queen (2021), and Lightfall (2022) expansions packs releasing in the near future. Destiny 2 has become too large of a game to efficiently update and maintain, reaching a file size of nearly 150gb. Meaning that any and all future patches and updates will be immensely huge, making it super difficult for the Bungie team to further patch the game.
Destiny’s future is to just expand this current game instead of making an all-new game to implement all the new features. So the developers will be introducing what they call the “Destiny Content Vault”.
“With Destiny 1, we solved the “ever-expanding, exponential complexity” problem by making a sequel in Destiny 2. We left behind all of Destiny 1’s content and many of the features players grew to love. We believe now that it was a mistake to create a situation that fractured the community, reset player progress, and set the player experience back in ways that took us a full year to recover from and repair.” said Bungie in an official press release.
One of the main complaints from Destiny players once Destiny 2 arrived was the removal of a lot of useful gameplay mechanics and features from Destiny 1, turning a good portion of the Destiny community away from the sequel entirely.
“It’s a mistake we don’t want to repeat by making a Destiny 3. We don’t believe a sequel is a right direction for the game and for the past two years we have been investing all of our development effort into new content, gameplay, and new engine features that directly support a single evolving world in Destiny 2” said Bungie, thus the introduction of the DCV has been brought to the forefront.
Here’s how the developers at Bungie plan on maintaining a Destiny 2’s file size while implementing new content and a brand new content cycle.
To create a sustainable ecosystem where the world can continue to evolve in exciting ways, and where we can update the game more quickly, we’re going to adopt a new content model that we’re calling the Destiny Content Vault (DCV). Each year, usually at the expansion boundaries, we will cycle some destination and activity content out of the game (and into the DCV) to make room for new experiences.
The first cycle of Destiny 2 content going into the DCV begins this fall, with the appearance of the Pyramid ships in Season of Arrivals and the Beyond Light expansion, which we revealed today. Those events will usher in dramatic changes to the Destiny universe, affecting characters, destinations, and Guardians for years to come.
To set a new maintainable foundation for the game this fall and to create room for Beyond Light and the future roadmap, the first Destiny 2 deposit into the DCV will be larger than those to come in the future.
DESTINY’S PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE
The sole purpose of the Destiny Content Vault is to archive old Destiny content in order to make room for newer Destiny content. It’s essentially deleting old photos from your iPhone in order to make more room for an upcoming update or anything of that sort. But that does not mean that all of that archived Destiny content will just be put away and never be seen again.
“Content that goes into the Destiny Content Vault may return in the future, altered (if necessary) to fit the new state of the universe. Furthermore, we consider all Destiny 1 and 2 destinations and activities part of the new DCV and we’re going to be pulling from that archive – revisiting some of the most interesting places in Destiny’s history – from now onwards. It’s why the original Destiny 1 Raid – the Vault of Glass – will be returning to Destiny 2 in Year 4.” said Bungie
While old and new Destiny content will be walking in and out of the game at a consistent pace and it might displease some gamers while attracting others or even new players entirely. As expansions and seasons have now become and will further become a staple of Destiny and how Destiny content is presented and played. This new system will keep the game at a sustainable level to lessen glitches and bugs that will otherwise make gameplay a bit annoying. While also making the developer’s creative job much easier.
On the bright side though, The Vault of Glass Raid making its return is something that should get fans super excited about the future of Destiny 2 and the Destiny Content Vault. But let’s take a look ahead at what’s to come in Year 4 of Destiny and its DVC.
RETURNING FROM THE DCV:
- On September 22, 2020:
- Cosmodrome as a selectable, explorable destination (but not yet at full Destiny 1 parity on 9/22).
- Bungie notes that they’re looking to leverage the Cosmodrome’s initial return in order to expand the new Guardian origin story to the world of Destiny. Veteran Destiny players will also be able to experience that story as well when it arrives in Destiny 2.
- Cosmodrome’s Will of Crota strike will also be added to the strikes playlist for all players.
- During Season 13:
- Cosmodrome will be fleshed out to roughly Destiny 1 Year 1 parity.
- Cosmodrome’s The Devil’s Lair and Fallen S.A.B.E.R. strikes will be making a return as well.
- During Year 4:
- Destiny 1’s first raid, Vault of Glass, will return as mentioned above.
Destiny landing zones Io, Titan, Mercury, Mars, and Leviathan will be cycled out and no longer be accessible on September 22, 2020. This includes all PvE activities (including campaigns) on those destinations.
- There will be three raids playable this Fall, including a new one set in the Deep Stone Crypt on Europa as part of the Beyond Light expansion.
- There will be new ways to earn Exotics originally tied to destinations and activity content that have entered the Destiny Content Vault.
- Available strikes will be based on a pool of possible strikes from active destinations. When a destination goes into the DCV, so too will its strikes.
- The PvP Map playlist will remain a curated ‘best of’ mixture of maps from Destiny 1 and 2.
- Gambit and Gambit Prime are being merged into a single mode, with their original armor visuals available to earn from the Drifter.
For players concerned about their personal inventory containing their earned loot, gears and weapons should not fret as this Destiny Content Vault will not affect it. It is solely for the purpose of shifting in and out, new and old content this Fall, and in the coming future.
This fall, the future of Destiny begins with new adventures, locales, and stories dreamed up by the Destiny creative team, they can now forge a truly evolving world as it was always meant to be. These changes will give the developers the freedom to finally weave an overall experience for the Destiny universe that can truly live, starting with Destiny 2: Beyond Light. With new plot points that haven’t fully been developed since the beginning of Destiny 1, which includes the true nature of the Darkness and the Light, and how these can change a Guardian. Now it’s truly a great time to come back to Destiny or become legend for the very first time as the future of Destiny 2 is mighty and bright.
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Source: Bungie.net