More information is coming out for Destiny’s The Taken King, this time thanks to articles in EDGE and Official PlayStation Magazine. There’s a ton of intriguing information and we’ll try to recap it all below.
Bungie revealed that The Taken King will have 10 story missions with three class-specific missions. If you want to see all the story content on offer, you’ll need one Guardian of each class. A new Exotic auto rifle was also revealed called the Ukonvasara and it’s capable of firing Arc bullets that chain lighting between foes. Expect that to become coveted with the new auto rifle buff coming in update 2.0.
Other little details revealed include the doorway behind Sepiks Prime in the Devil’s Lair strike leading to a “monolithic tower” of sorts and an intriguing little mission feature which everyone is familiar with but turns into “a clever and unexpected rug-pull moment.” Is this Bungie hinting at the “Scan and defend Ghost for three waves” having some kind of variation? Regardless, it advises avoiding spoilers. New fireteam-focused bounties were also touted including “The Team That Works Together” which two or more players working together can get for killing 25 enemies.
However, arguably the biggest takeaway from these stories is information about the Court of Oryx. Described as a “public event controlled by the players”, it essentially allows you to summon different bosses using a variety of runes. The runes dictate the overall difficulty of these bosses which are completely randomized. Tier one enemies are fairly straightforward; tier two enemies throw multiple bosses your way; and tier three will offer enemies that are apparently as tough as raid bosses. There’s also a fourth tier and lord knows what that holds.
Some of these bosses are very interesting in their mechanics – an Ogre which can’t be damaged by bullets but can be hurt by Cursed Thrall explosions; three Hive Wizards which must be killed together, as leaving one alive for too long causes the others to respawn; and two Hive Knights whose shields can only be lowered when they’re brought in proximity of each other. It also seems that the best rewards for completing Court of Oryx encounters will be offered to those who sacrifice the runes. So even if other players join you from patrol, you’ll still get the best stuff (though everyone will receive something on completion).
There’s more good news for hardcore players. When it was revealed that not all Year One Exotics would have upgraded versions at launch, many got rightfully angry. However, it seems that there are plans to release missing Exotics over time. While Gjallarhorn may not make the jump – as it was already clarified to be staying at Year One levels – it’s highly likely that items like Heart of the Praxic Fire, Icebreaker and more do get upgraded, Year Two versions.
As for the King’s Fall raid, creative director Luke Smith is apparently designing Hard Mode first and then scaling things back for Normal Mode. But it seems there will be more than just those two modes on offer.
PS3 and PS4 players who will receive class-specific armour will be able to attain the same through Sublime Engrams, which will 100 percent net you these platform-exclusive items. That takes away a lot of the concern as to whether an engram will give you these items or not.
Destiny: The Taken King is out on September 15th for PS3, PS4, Xbox One and Xbox 360.
