Destiny 2 had its big gameplay reveal today via Twitch live stream and while we’ll learn more after our Features Editor, Ishmael Romero, comes back from going hands-on, we still got a ton of information from the live stream event as well. Let’s run through the biggest Destiny 2 news from the event.
Destiny 2 News: The Tower is Going to Hell in a Handbasket
We knew that the Tower was doomed AF for a few weeks now, but during the live stream we got to see exactly how screwed the Tower is. The answer is very, very screwed. Despite the valiant efforts of Tower leaders such as Commander Zavala, Ikora Rey, and Cayde-6, they are not able to hold the line and the Cabal are able to conquer the Tower thanks in part to the direct intervention of Cabal leader, Dominus Gaul.
At some point after the invasion, the Tower’s leaders will be scattered, and it will be up to the Guardians to get everyone back on track.
Destiny 2 News: New Guns, Supers, and More
With the arrival of a new threat, Guardians will have lots of new weapons and abilities to take on the Cabal army and maybe even retake the Tower (or what’s left of it). We will probably get a better sense of Destiny 2’s new super abilities and equipment after we’re able to go hands-on, but we got a little taste during the live stream, as well.
We were able to pick out a few new note worthy super abilities. First, there was Dawnblade, which is exclusive to the Warlock class. When its super used, you’ll unleash a fiery sword and rain down hell on any poor saps that get in your way.
Next for Titans was Sentinel, which allows you to whip out a void shield, Captain America style, and fling it around just as you might imagine the Marvel hero would do.
For Hunters, there was the Arcstrider, which features an electrified polearm of sorts that lets you quickly mow down single targets.
Finally, we also got to see some new weapons in action, too. Most notable, we got to see a destructive new mini-gun rip shred through enemies. Weapons in Destiny 2 will be classified differently now, as Kinetic, Energy, and Power weapons. Kinetic weapons appear to be your standard burn-less weapons while Power weapons will be where previous special weapons lived such as snipers, fusion rifles, and the new powerful grenade launcher. In the Kinetic and Energy weapon slots, players will be able to use the same weapon types if they wish.
Destiny 2 News: Improving the Quality of Familiar Activities
Lots of familiar activities will be returning in Destiny 2. This includes Strikes, Nightfall Strikes, Patrols Raids, and of course the Crucible. However there will be some changes to how you play those events. Bungie didn’t go into a ton of detail on each, but they did spill a little. First, they appeared to admit that activities such as Raids were too exclusive, and they want them to be more accessible to everyone this time around. Part of how Bungie plans to achieve that will be through an overhauled clan feature (which we’ll get to in a second).
A beefier, more memorable campaign seems to be very high on Bungie’s list for Destiny 2. There will be more cinematics and more missions than ever before as compared to the original.
The Crucible will get a bit of an overhaul, as well. The development team wants more intimate and strategic battles, so 4v4 will now be the new standard game type. The hud is going to be more helpful, and will include new information such as the status of your opponent’s super to inform how you approach the enemy instead of walking into an instant death you had no way to avoid. There will also be a new Attack/Defend mode, called Countdown, which we’ll have hands-on access to later today.
Finally, there was the reveal of an improvement that will make every guardian happy; no more going back to orbit for everything. Get to what you want to do from wherever you are. Hurrah!
Destiny 2 News: Clans Are Getting a Major Facelift
You’d be forgiven for forgetting that clans were a part of Destiny 1 as they served no real purpose. That will change in a big way in Destiny 2. Clans will now see greater in-game support, and will come with some new features such as in-game rosters, custom banners, and a new reward system that allows all players in the clan to contribute to an overall clan-wide goal that will grant everyone a reward if achieved.
Also new is a mercenary-like system that will allow clans members and the clan-less to work together to clear activities in a more convenient way. Called Guided Games, solo players can find clans that need an extra person or two to clear difficult content, such as the Raids or PvP and vice versa.
Destiny 2 News: New Activities, Adventures, Lost Sectors, and More
It’s not just old stuff though of course in Destiny 2, there will new activities as well. During the live stream, Bungie highlighted two that are interlinked together, Adventures and Lost Sectors. Players can go on Adventures that are essentially side story missions that offer up loot and bits of story content.
These Adventures can lead to the discovery of Lost Sectors, which sound similar to dungeon content that you would find in other MMOs. You’ll be able to explore these dungeons, which contain a treasure chest that holds valuable rewards and, of course, a boss that holds the key.
We will be getting hands-on time with a new Strike, Inverted Spire, later today and will update this post with our impression of that when it’s ready. There was of course mention of the new raid with an extremely brief glimpse of it, but we’ll have to wait longer for that.
Destiny 2 News: New Worlds to Explore
We were pleasantly surprised to learn that Bungie was very comfortable letting us know the new areas that we will be able to explore: The European Dead Zone (EDZ), Jupiter’s Moon Io, Saturn’s Moon Titan, and a planetoid object known as Nessus.
Each world will of course have their own unique quirks that make them worth exploring. The EDZ is where humanity decided to set up camp after the Cabal booted them out of the Tower. Io is a sulfuric area that is a locale of importance to the Warlocks and Ikora Rey. Titan is a world awash with massive methane oceans and will be where players will eventually work with Zavala. Not much is known about Nessus yet other than it is a Vex machine world that Cayde-6 eventually finds himself in trouble at.
Destiny 2 News: Destiny 2 is Joining the Blizzard Family
It’s not news that Activision and Blizzard are joined at the hip. They have been part of the same family for quite some time now. However, what we weren’t expecting is the announcement that Destiny 2 is going to be exclusive through Battle.net (or Blizzard App if you prefer) on PC. It will join the likes of Overwatch, World of Warcraft, Diablo 3 and StarCraft 2 as games that are able to be played through the launcher.
That does it for our round up of the biggest Destiny 2 news from today’s live stream. We’ll have even more Destiny 2 news and impressions once we complete our hands-on demos later today, so stay tuned!
