Destiny post-release content
There are four pieces of downloadable content that were released for Bungie's 2014 first-person shooter video game Destiny. Each package of downloadable content added new player versus environment missions and player versus player modes, new locales to visit, and new items for the player to make use of. The first expansion was The Dark Below in December 2014, which was followed by House of Wolves in May 2015. The third, The Taken King, was released in September 2015 and had the largest effect on the game, as it changed much of the core gameplay. Upon the release of the third expansion, retailers issued Destiny: The Taken King Legendary Edition, which included Destiny and all DLC up to and including The Taken King. In December 2015, Destiny shifted to an event-based model, featuring more periodical limited-time events. The fourth and last expansion called Rise of Iron released in September 2016. Upon release of the fourth expansion, retailers issued Destiny: The Collection, which includes Destiny and all DLC up to and including Rise of Iron.
Although the first three downloadable content packs were available for all consoles that Destiny was originally released for, the fourth expansion, Rise of Iron, is only available on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. As per an exclusivity agreement with Sony Interactive Entertainment, Destiny and all of its expansions featured timed exclusive content for the PlayStation versions. The timed exclusive content that was available at the launch of Destiny, as well as the exclusive content of the first two expansions, became available for Xbox when The Taken King launched. The Taken Kings and Rise of Irons PlayStation exclusive content became available for Xbox in October 2017 after the launch of Destinys sequel, Destiny 2.
Overview
Prior to the official release of Destiny in September 2014, Bungie declared that a major component of the game would be a continuous release of new content. Bungie Director of Production Jonty Barnes said: "We're going to continuously update the game from now until the end of time. That's always going to be part of the philosophy of Destiny. We always wanted to build a new universe but keep building upon it, rather than to do a complete and utter restart periodically." By the time of Destinys launch, two planned packs of downloadable content had been officially announced: The Dark Below and House of Wolves. From the launch of Destiny, players could purchase the Destiny Expansion Pass, which included the first two expansions at a discounted price versus buying them separately. Players also received an exclusive sparrow if they purchased the Expansion Pass or The Dark Below by January 15, 2015. At E3 2015, Bungie officially announced a new, larger expansion called The Taken King. On February 11, 2016, Bungie confirmed a new, large expansion for September 2016 and a full sequel to Destiny—''Destiny 2—for 2017. The fourth expansion was officially confirmed as Rise of Iron on June 9, 2016.In the weeks proceeding from the release of Destiny, players were reporting areas that could be accessed by various glitches or secret accesses. These areas were described as appearing "half-baked", and were noted to often be devoid of items or NPCs. In an interview with Eurogamer, on the claims that these were on-disc DLC, Bungie president Harold Ryan replied that the content were incomplete resources intended to reduce download requirements for future DLC.
For Year Two, senior designer Derek Carroll explained that the studio wanted to shift towards an "event-based model" with "surprises" for players, available to all owners of The Taken King at no additional charge, as opposed to a timed roadmap, as had previously been speculated. Marketing director Eric Osborne further clarified its plans for "Year Two", stating that it would not consist solely of time-limited events as had been implied by others, but new "events, activities, content, and features", as well as an event planned for early 2016 that would be "far larger than anything you've seen since the release of The Taken King''."
Year 1 Expansion Pass (2014–2015)
An Expansion Pass was available alongside the release of Destiny, which granted access to the first two minor expansions of the game, The Dark Below and House of Wolves. While the expansions were available to purchase separately upon their respective releases, the Expansion Pass included the first two expansions at a discounted price versus buying them separately—the Expansion Pass was US$35 where the two expansions were US$20 each.''The Dark Below''
Destinys first DLC pack, The Dark Below, was released on December 9, 2014. The expansion added new content centering on the Hive race and their deity Crota, Son of Oryx, who had been referenced in the original game. Four story missions, a strike, and a raid were added. New bounties, equipment, and three Crucible maps were also added, as well as two Crucible modes: "Inferno", a modifier on multiple modes where points are solely scored on kills and the player's radar is disabled, and "Doubles", a two-versus-two version of Skirmish. Maximum weapon attack damage was increased to 331 for new legendary and exotic weapons, and the Light level cap was increased to 32. Although previous legendary items could not be upgraded to the new stats, exotic items earned prior to the expansion's release could be upgraded through Xûr with the Exotic Shard material, however, players lost all previously earned perks, requiring them to relevel their exotics. An additional exotic weapon and another strike were timed exclusives for PlayStation platforms until September 2015. A hard mode for the raid was added on January 21, 2015.Plot
Shortly after destroying the heart of the Black Garden, Eris Morn, a former guardian and the only surviving member of a team who tried to previously take on Crota, comes out of hiding and returns to the Tower to warn of the Hive prince's pending return. Her first quest tasks the Guardian with killing a Hive Knight on Earth called the Fist of Crota. The Guardian then sets out to stop the Hive from overtaking Rasputin, who are led by a powerful Hive Wizard called Omnigul, the Will of Crota. After the Guardian destroys a massive ogre called the Might of Crota, Omnigul flees. Eris then has the Guardian travel to the Moon to stop the Hive from summoning their god. This the Guardian does and they destroy a crystal that contained part of Crota's soul.After returning to the Tower, Eris assigns the Guardian with two more quests. The first of these has the Guardian to fill an urn called the Urn of Sacrifice with the ashes of defeated Hive on Earth, including a powerful Hive Knight called Urzok, the Hated. The Guardian then takes it to the Moon to collect Hive eyes for Eris. The second quest has the Guardian destroy the remaining servants of Crota on Earth called the Heart of Crota, the Hand of Crota, and the Eyes of Crota. This leads to the strike, "The Will of Crota", where the Guardian hunts down and eliminates Omnigul.
Despite the Guardian's best efforts, including destroying part of Crota's soul, they were not able to prevent Crota's awakening. The expansion culminates with the raid, "Crota's End", where a team of guardians travel deep within the caverns of the Moon where they take on Ir Yût, the Deathsinger before completely destroying the Hive prince himself.
In the base game, there is a story mission called "The Sword of Crota" where the Guardian is tasked with destroying the weapon. When The Taken King released, it added a new questing system to the game and this mission became the first mission of The Dark Below quest line.
Reception
The Dark Below received a mixed reception from reviewers, who were critical of its content. It has an aggregate score of 63/100 for the PlayStation 4 version and 59/100 for the Xbox One version from Metacritic—no score is available for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions. Vince Ingenito of IGN, who gave the expansion a 6/10, stated that the only reason to purchase the expansion was for the raid. He said there was very little to do in the expansion, stating "I saw barely anything substantial that I hadn't seen in Destiny before", noting how the expansion's story missions were just recycled areas of the base game. He also criticized the story, saying it did not add much to the lore of Destiny. Justin Clark of GameSpot, who also gave it a 6/10, had similar remarks and criticized the amount of grinding needed to play the expansion's content. Clark, however, did enjoy the quest that involved killing Urzok, the Hated. Urzok is a powerful enemy that appears in the middle of a periodic event, a chaotic war between the Fallen and the Hive, and any player can participate. He said these are the type of events that Destiny should have more often. Tom Bramwell of Eurogamer, who also gave it a 6/10, was more positive of the story missions, but was critical of how all pre-expansion gear is effectively obsolete. All new gear featured higher attack and defense, but the old gear, with the exception of exotics, could not be upgraded. Although exotics could be upgraded, all the work players had put into maxing them out became wasted because they had to redo all the work to max them out to the new stats.''House of Wolves''
House of Wolves was released on May 19, 2015; the expansion added new content centering on the Fallen race, as players attempt to thwart a campaign by Skolas, Kell of Kells, to unite the Fallen race under his rule. The expansion added a new social space, which is the hub for the expansion's content, six story missions, bounties, weapons and gear, a new special weapon class, a strike, and three Crucible maps. An additional Crucible map was a timed exclusive for PlayStation platforms until September 2015. A revamped upgrading system was introduced: players could reforge new legendary weapons to try to achieve better perks. Upon obtaining the Etheric Light and Exotic Shard materials, players could "ascend" all legendary and exotic items, respectively, to the highest levels possible as of the expansion: Light level cap 34 and 365 damage for weapons. Because of the backlash of the first expansion, players did not lose any perks on their items when upgrading to the new stats. A limited-use weapon was added and is only available in certain missions: the "Scorch Cannon". Two new multiplayer modes were also added: Prison of Elders and Trials of Osiris.- Prison of Elders is a cooperative mode, in which a team of three players fights against waves of enemies with varying gameplay modifiers, culminating with a final boss. The level 28 version includes matchmaking, while the higher levels require players to have a pre-made fireteam, unless they want to attempt them solo. The level 28, 32, and 34 difficulty boss changes weekly, but level 35's does not. The Taken Kings April Update added a new Prison of Elders quest, bounties, a level 41 difficulty with matchmaking, and a level 42 score-based mode called "Challenge of the Elders"; players can purchase an "Elder's Sigil" scorecard from Variks, which has different weekly challenges and obtaining the weekly high scores rewards high-level gear.
- Trials of Osiris is a weekly, time-limited PvP event held between Fridays and Tuesdays, in which a fireteam of three members attempts to win as many matches as possible. Matches use the Crucible mode "Elimination": a three-versus-three, best-of-nine rounds mode that was also added with this expansion. A fireteam can continue participating until they amass 9 victories or 3 losses. Participating in Trials of Osiris requires the purchase of a "Trials Passage" scorecard from Brother Vance at the Vestian Outpost; items that can add a win to the card or indemnify a loss can also be bought with "Passage Coins" that are earned by playing Trials. Reaching varying numbers of wins on the score card allows the player to earn rewards—for example, reaching five earns a featured armor piece, and reaching seven earns a featured weapon. Going undefeated with nine wins unlocks The Lighthouse, an exclusive social space on Mercury with greater rewards. If a team amasses three losses, they can try again by buying a new Trials Passage. With the release of The Taken King expansion, Trials now has its own set of bounties with additional rewards.