It all buoys what is probably the biggest and most impressive quality of life change with The Taken King – progression.  Engrams now drop like crazy and even purple (Legendary) ones are a lot more common than they once were. Xur still comes by with his weekly exotic loot, but he also gives you the ability to go out there and farm your own exotics with his new Three of Coins item. The aforementioned quests give you something tangible and guaranteed to work towards. Players can fairly easily collect legendary marks that will grant them high level gear. Also, Bungie has shown with the secret Black Spindle exotic quest that they are willing to try something different, do something unexpected, and reward people for completing something challenging instead of relying on luck. What all of this boils down to is that Destiny is a lot less depressing now. Leveling up is fun for the first time ever thanks to The Taken King.

Like any good MMO (or MMO-like thing), you’ve got to have a good endgame to keep people busy after hitting the cap. The Taken King’s endgame is definitely the most varied and diverse iteration thus far in Destiny. Court of Oryx is a new public endgame activity that challenges random people to work together and take out tough, Prison of Elders style bosses. It’s nice to not have to always feel constrained by putting together a raid group. You can head to the Court of Oryx with your friends or by yourself, and likely find a couple of other people to knock out some bosses with. Court of Oryx enemies drop engrams galore and overall feels like an effective (and fun) use of time when you’re not raiding but want to find some new stuff.

Finally, let’s talk about the new raid, King’s Fall. By far, it’s the most impressive activity that Bungie has added in Destiny to date. It’s a doozy, filled with bosses that have challenging mechanics and aren’t just bullet sponges, platforming (yes platforming skills are actually needed here) reminiscent of Crash Bandicoot, striking visuals, and extraordinary locales. Everything about King’s Fall is “epic.” Once again yes, raids do not include matchmaking which is bound to frustrate some. But unless keyboard communication is added somehow, I don’t see how King’s Fall can be completed under normal circumstances without the use of headsets by all six members. King’s Fall requires constant constant communication and that’s what makes it great. You’ll be talking to each other through mazes, platforming sections, bosses, optional secret chests/areas – and that’s what makes it such a memorable experience.

Really, one of my only concerns with Destiny: The Taken King is whether it’s enough. King’s Fall is a lot of fun, but are players going to have to wait for the fist mini-expansion to do something that new and great again? Hopefully Bungie continues to patch in new content like they did with Black Spindle to help make the time period between TTK and the next mini-expansion more bearable.

Year One Destiny was a well put together game that felt sterile, like all the personality was sucked out of it during development. The Taken King continues to build on what Year One Destiny did so well, namely its endgame content and excellent gunplay, and supplements it with a shot of desperately needed charisma. It isn’t perfect, but it’s much better than what existed before. The new content, namely the raids, subclasses, and progression systems all land exceptionally well. If Bungie can find a way to keep regularly pumping new features in throughout Year Two to keep things fresh, then Destiny might finally become the game that meets its lofty pre-launch expectations.

Score: 4.5/5