“I Don’t Have Time To Explain”

In the mission “Looped”, you’re tasked with hunting down Cayde-6 after he got into a fight with a Vex teleporter (and lost). Upon meeting Cayde trapped in mid-air, one of his lines is “I don’t have time to explain what I don’t have time to understand!” Which seems to be a callback to the Exo Stranger’s line, “I don’t have time to explain why I don’t have time to explain” from Destiny 1. This isn’t exactly better but it’s a nice little reference for veterans.

Another Character

In Year 1 and 2 of Destiny, one thing became abundantly clear – if you wanted to get the best loot out of raids, you’d better make multiple characters of the same class. Given how bad the drop rates were for Vault of Glass and Crota’s End (especially when it came to helms), many players resorted to creating the same class and completing the game numerous times for chances at more loot.

When Bungie first announced its PlayStation-exclusive content deal for Destiny, it was revealed that Xbox players would receive the content a year later. It wasn’t really much at the time but it began to build up as Year One progressed.

Eventually Xbox players received the content when The Taken King came out – one year later as promised – and it was assumed that the PlayStation-exclusive content releasing with the expansion would follow the same pattern. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

In an interview with IGN (at 7:50), Bungie announced that this content wouldn’t be out until “Fall 2017”. If you were hoping to see the Echo Chamber strike, Jade Rabbit exotic or Sector 618 map with Rise of Iron’s release on September 20th, you’ll be disappointed.

It’s even more interesting because Destiny 2 is slated to release in Fall 2017. Also, what’s going to happen with the exclusive content coming with Rise of Iron? Let us know what you think of the whole situation in the comments.

Last year, Bungie offered a unique set of challenges for Destiny players with the Moments of Triumphs. Those who completed the Moments of Triumph before the release of The Taken King would earn a unique emblem, Sparrow and shader. The Moments of Triumph have returned for Year Two and there are even more rewards to be earned, namely two emblems and two shaders.

The challenges this time include creating an Exotic sword, killing Oryx on Hard Mode in King’s Fall, killing Oryx in the Story, finishing the April Update story missions and so on. Each two Moments you complete will net you a reward and you can check out the full list of Moments below. If you wonder where you currently stand in your progress, just head over to your profile on Bungie.net to learn more.

It should be noted that you have till September 20th to complete the Moments of Triumph which is when Rise of Iron launches. What are your thoughts on the new rewards? Let us know in the comments.

Apparently leaks of Bungie’s next expansion for Destiny, Rise of Iron, being leaked – along with an image showcasing the Lord Saladin with a flaming axe – weren’t enough. According to sources that spoke to Kotaku (which confirmed The Taken King‘s existence in the first place along with details for Rise of Iron), Destiny 2 has reportedly been “rebooted”.

It also seems that there’s been a staff reorganization and Luke Smith, director of The Taken King, is currently leading development on the sequel. How much of the original game is still in the sequel remains to be seen.

Of course, the problem that arises is that this is pretty much the same thing that happened to the original Destiny. Bungie scrapped several years work of story material, causing writer Joseph Staten to leave, and it left the company a year to put everything together. This resulted in content from The Dark Below, House of Wolves and The Taken King being removed from the base game and sold separately as DLC. Once again, take all of this talk with a grain of salt.

What will Destiny 2‘s fate be? Stay tuned for more information.

Weapon Balance

The April Update ensures one thing – your favourite weapons are becoming even weaker than before. Bonus damage with The Last Word while hip firing? Gone. High caliber rounds to stagger fools with MIDA Multi-Tool? Gone. Maybe you liked carrying enough Special Ammo to successfully complete phases of the King’s Fall raid (which pretty much makes sniper rifles mandatory). Gone, gone, gone. SUROS Regime will probably be better but that just puts us right back at the beginning before this whole nerfing frenzy. Even Thorn wasn’t as underpowered then as it is now. The worst part is that Bungie’s desire to balance in PvP is adversely affecting PvE.

That makes it hard to really work towards any of the new gear and Exotics, especially when they’ll probably just going to be nerfed in the future anyway. Then again…

What New Gear?

Bungie is often accused of recycling old gear and equipment on a fairly regular basis. That’s because it does precisely that, all the time, in Destiny. If you played close attention between expansions, you would see vendors recycling old Dark Below gear as new in House of Wolves. In The Taken King, each faction’s new “gear” was essentially a retread of gear from the past. Though the April Update will sport two new gear sets with Spektar and Desolate…welllll, the latter is pretty much Prison of Elders gear with a new Taken paint of coat.

As for the weapons and gear, it’s practically nothing you haven’t seen before. Bungie did put new perks on weapons like Shadow Price and The Devil You Know, so forget about them being as glorious as they once were. The kicker is these Year One weapons were left behind when The Taken King came out – not to mention going out of circulation with vendors, making it impossible for players to buy them – and now Bungie is just giving them back to players? Did we mention there are very few weapons or gear that’s actually new? Have fun with Lord of Wolves for another four months. There is the Zen Meteor but surprise, exclusive to PS3 and PS4.

Prison of Elders

Remember Prison of Elders? The one piece of content that literally no one was asking to be brought into Year Two? So that’s coming back but Bungie has taken to “revamping” it with “new” Taken enemies and a score system to grade your performance. Aside from the fact that the levels themselves have seen next to no changes, the bosses are nothing spectacular either. You can now fight a large Taken Knight as opposed to a large Hive Knight. Sick.

But that’s not even the biggest issue with Prison of Elders. The problem is the mode itself and how it’s a poor excuse for Firefight. There is no true randomness…except for what Bungie allows on a week to week basis (and as its recent track record shows, it’s nothing you haven’t done in Year One). Prison of Elders could be a good excuse for fun now that getting gear is easier – the Challenge of the Elders has guaranteed rewards after all – but there’s still no matchmaking for random players. On top of that, you’re still fighting through the same waves of repetitive enemies.

Is There Anything New?

Destiny is an interesting game in that it can do so much with so little. And no, that’s not a clever barb at the game’s lack of content – it’s amazing how some of its changes manage to mix things up significantly for the player base. Adjust a weapon here and nerf a weapon there and suddenly you have a new meta. The new revive and overshield rules will make a pretty significant impact on Trials of Osiris, for instance.

But in terms of actual content, what’s new? A new Strike has been added, one that seemingly takes place in the Shrine of Oryx (an age-old location at this point). There’s one new baddie to fight. Maybe there are a few new missions which will take you to other older locations before the confrontation with the big bad. Then there’s Winter’s Run, reimagined in Taken form. Awesome. For as much as we hate on the recycled gear and the “meh” Chroma, at least there’s a lot to collect. In terms of content, especially for PvE, there isn’t a whole to get you interested in. And even if there was…

Where’s the Story?

Malok is your brand new threat for the April Update, attempting to usurp Oryx’s kingdom. Let’s leave aside the fact that the Taken are still alive since Oryx is the only one who possesses that power or that something else can control them. Our attempt to stop Malok will be concluded in one Strike. Remember that epic quest to defeat Oryx? Now reduce that by about…90 percent. Don’t expect any story in the Prison either.

And that’s one of the greater failings with Destiny. When you see its worlds and experience its gunplay, you think back to the game that was hyped up in 2013. A world where limitless stories could take place. The only thing really limitless now is the extent to which Bungie and Activision will exploit the game for that sweet micro-transaction cash. It’s a shame that with all these months to work on such a large update, we couldn’t have had a large story quest to complete (and no, Petra’s PlayStation-exclusive nonsense doesn’t count).

Another weekly reset has come and gone for Bungie’s Destiny and contains…pretty much all the same content you’ve been doing for the past few months. Let’s get straight to it then.

This week’s Nightfall is the Dust Palace. Modifiers this week include Void Burn, Brawler, Grounded and Trickle. So in addition to Void attacks hurting you more (and the Taken foes have plenty of Void attacks), you’ll take more damage in the air and have a horribly slow recharge rate for your Super and abilities. What fun.

Meanwhile, the King’s Fall Challenge Mode for this week is Golgoroth. The challenge itself is straightforward enough – each person in the fireteam must hold Golgoroth’s Gaze once during each damage phase. You can still use only orb for most of your damage and have the Gaze change between each member of your team quickly enough.

What are your thoughts on this week’s activities? Let us know in the comments.

Not impressed by the fireteam that four-manned King’s Fall Hard Mode in Destiny: The Taken King? Or that time they did so as a full six man fireteam but wearing Festival of the Lost masks while setting other challenges? How about that one guy who soloed Oryx? Or the three players who beat the Oryx Challenge Mode on Heroic?

Well, if that’s not enough, then The Great Gatsby and Commander Cuesta are back at it again to casually two man the Oryx Challenge Mode on Heroic. Yes, you read that right. Two players. Now try not completing it with a full fireteam and come back to us.

The completion of this challenge relies on exploiting blind spots where the Light Eater Knights can’t steal the Corrupted Light orbs. If you watch the video below, you’ll see exactly where the placement of these orbs has to be but there’s still tons of coordination required on the part of both players.

Thoughts on this particular feat? Let us know in the comments.

It’s that time of the week again when Destiny’s servers undergo a weekly reset, thus bringing new activities and challenges for players. Of course, at this point, it’s the same stuff you’ve been doing for months on end now.

Regardless, the Nightfall this week is The Sunless Cell with Alak-Hul the Darkblade as a boss. Modifiers include Berserk, Chaff, Small Arms and Airborne. Perks like Angel of Light and Empyrean Bellicose will come in handy since they let you hover in mid-air for a short time, thus allowing for precise aiming with Small Arms and dealing additional damage via Airborne. Make sure to watch each other’s back though – the Darkblade without a radar is no small foe.

The Challenge mode for this week is Warpriest with the objective being to have a separate Aura holder for each run. This means the same person can’t hold the Aura of the Initiate throughout. It’s not a tough challenge by any means and nets you 310 Light level loot on Normal and 320 Light level loot on Hard mode.

It’s been documented several times over the past few months how starved Destiny players are for content. That hasn’t stopped the most dedicated players from finding ways to keep themselves entertained. The Great Gatsby, for instance, soloed the final encounter in the King’s Fall raid against Oryx. You know, the one that would normally be impossible without players to stand on the platforms?

However, The Great Gatsby, Senior Snubby and Commander Cuesta from The Legend Himself clan have outdone themselves with this latest feat. The three man fireteam basically completed Oryx Challenge mode on Heroic. This is the challenge that requires the fireteam to detonate at least 16 Orbs of Corrupted Light together. You can read up on the full strategy used here but it essentially boils down to baiting Orges to a blind spot where the Light Eater Knights can’t reclaim the Orbs. This was only possible after Bungie patched a glitch where Ogres would randomly teleport from their spawn.

What are your thoughts on Destiny’s Oryx Challenge Mode being completed by only three players? Let us know in the comments.