At long last, the Destiny 2 Final Shape DLC showcase is less than a week away. Bungie has announced this will be the final DLC of the “Light and Darkness Saga” for the game, however, Destiny 2 will still continue into a new Saga. With the excitement at an all-time high, there’s no better time to discuss the top 10 things we want to see from the Final Shape showcase.
PSA: This list is in no particular order.
A Third Darkness Subclass
With the arrival of the Lightfall DLC earlier this year, we received our second Darkness Subclass, Strand, which has been a huge success thus far. However, this leaves us with three Light Subclasses and only two Darkness ones. It would be very disappointing and odd to end off the Saga with the unbalance of not having three of each.
That said, recent rumors and leaks suggest we will indeed be receiving a third Darkness Subclass, and it will be red. Unfortunately, there’s no way to predict what the Subclass will end up being, as there’s no correlation between Strand and Stasis. Either way, we’re very excited at the possibilities of the power this new Subclass will bring.
Core Activity Updates
The three Core activities, Strikes, Crucible, and Gambit, have been at the forefront of debates within the community for quite some time now. Simply put, players want to see several Strikes, Crucible Maps, and Gambit maps return from the DCV in some shape or form. On average, we receive only one or two new Strikes per year, and Gambit hasn’t received virtually any updates in years.
Bungie has already announced some updates regarding the Crucible and Gambit like a dedicated PvP team and even a map pack containing numerous maps that we will receive in one go sometime next year. However, Bungie has all but forsaken Gambit, and has stated they have no updates planned for it anytime soon. Meanwhile, there has been no word on updates for Strikes. Hopefully, we’ll see something similar to the map pack with Strikes, so that way the playlist feels fresh again.
Update the Free-To-Play Experience
The Free-To-Play (F2P) experience has been one of the most significant pain points of discussion within the player base. If a brand new player wishes to continue playing the game post the first free missions, they will be blocked by a giant paywall of needing to own virtually every DLC the game has had. At this point in time, that can cost up to, if not more than, $200 after seven years of DLCs and add-ons. Simply put, unless you have the money to spare, it’s virtually impossible to experience Destiny in full without forking over your wallet in the process.
A solution to this could be to introduce some subscription service where new players can play for a certain fee, like $10 a month, to gain access to previous DLC and explore the game. Either way, something needs to change, as the game is losing more players than they are gaining back with new ones.
Re-Release Old Raids
It’s been almost three years since the Destiny Content Vault (DCV) was introduced with the Beyond Light DLC, removing a large majority of activities from the game, including Raids. A lot has changed since then, and with the current Light and Darkness Saga coming to a close, now would be a great time to finally un-vault the older Raids that have remained dormant for so long.
Perhaps in an “Age of Triumph” celebration from Destiny 1, they can be brought back with new Ornaments and updated perks. Either way, it’s high time to bring them back.
Reveal The Reprised Raid
We know that in the upcoming Season 22, a reprised Raid is returning to the game. However, we still don’t know which reprised Raid it will be. Leaks highly suggest that it will be the Destiny 1 Raid, Crota’s End. Last year, during the Lightfall DLC showcase, the King’s Fall Raid was confirmed to be returning with the Season of Plunder. While we expect the same to happen during the Fina Shape showcase, we’d like the confirmation to happen a little earlier than the week before it releases.
Seasonal Model Changes
Season 22 goes live right after the Final Shape showcase next week, and many players have high expectations for it. For quite some time now, players have been exhausted by the never-changing seasonal model. Every Season thus far has been more or less the same, where we get one or two new activities, a story that lasts around six weeks, and maybe a new Raid or Dungeon.
Bungie has announced previously that they have heard their player’s plea for changes to the seasonal model, and in Season 22, their changes will go live for it. With that in mind, we highly expect them to announce during the showcase what changes they plan on making. Hopefully, this will lead to an overall healthier state of the game leading up to the launch of the Final Shape.
Guardian Rank Changes
Introduced with the Lightfall DLC, the Guardian Ranks system was an excellent way for players to pursue further challenges and show how good they are. However, when you hit the final rank, Paragon, there is no reward for completing all of the gruesome challenges. Sure, you get a shiny gold outline around your name, showcasing you hit the max rank, but there’s nothing else to show for it.
Thus, we think Bungie should implement a new reward system, giving players exclusive drops for hitting certain ranks. For example, hitting Paragon should grant players an exclusive Emblem and more.
However, simultaneously, the requirements for hitting Paragon should be updated to be more challenging. For example, instead of needing to hit a specific commendation score, players should be required to gild a specific title or complete particular Raid triumphs. Becoming a Paragon is an achievement of its own, but it shouldn’t be as “easy” as it currently stands.
Raid Ornaments
It goes without saying that Raids are the pinnacle of PvE content in Destiny 2, and while they provide an abundance of rewards for Guardians to obtain, we feel they could use a little more. Bungie has made strides to improving Raid rewards like Shaders, Emblems, Ships, and more. However, the main request for an abundance of players are exclusive Raid Ornaments.
For example, last year, when the King’s Fall Raid was brought back as the Reprised Raid during the Season of Plunder, many players were hoping that the exclusive Raid Ornaments from Destiny 1 would also return. Unfortunately, they did not, making it a missed opportunity for Bungie to capitalize on the hype. The same applied when the Vault of Glass Raid returned during the Season of the Splicer two years ago.
Adding Raid Ornaments gives players more incentives to Raid even after they collect all of the weapons, and the Ornaments can be locked behind specific challenges to make them all the more enticing.
New Enemy Type
The Final Shape DLC is the last expansion of the Light and Darkness Saga in Destiny 2, and until now, we’ve been fighting the same enemies essentially the whole time. We’ve had exceptions here and there, like the Scorn during the Forsaken DLC, and the Lucent Hive during the Witch Queen expansion, but those are simply add-ons of pre-existing enemies. The Scorn are dead fallen who have reanimated, and the Lucent Hive are Hive enemies with Light powers.
As we reach the finale and square off against The Witness, it’s time we see a brand new enemy type. What it ends up being could be anyone’s guess, but an enemy directly born from the Darkness would be excellent. If not the Final Shape, then the new Saga should absolutely bring new enemies into the game.
A Satisfying Story
The Lightfall DLC was not met with great reception regarding its anti-climatic ending to the main story; as Bungie stated, they’re trying a new strategy by carrying Lightfall’s story across the Seasons. So far, we know that Cayde-6 will be returning in some shape or form, but aside from that, we’re pretty much in the dark. While we won’t find out how it ends during the showcase, we should get a rough idea as to where the story is going, and hopefully it will bring a satisfying end to the first Saga of Destiny 2.
Published: Aug 18, 2023 10:00 am