Destiny 2: A Retrospective

It’s no secret that Destiny 2 is getting its Last Live Service Update today. While I’m sad it’s happening, I’m grateful I get to keep playing the game with friends. There won’t be any more new content, but there is still plenty of old content I haven’t touched. This is my way of putting a cap on my coverage. There’s just a little left to go now.

But there’s been massive calls to action. There’s a petition for Destiny 3. But we’ll only get anything more if we show Destiny isn’t a dead game. Join the surge today. Keep playing after. Invest into Eververse with Silver. Treat your Guardian to those Armors, Shaders, Emotes, and Finishers you know you want.

I’ve been covering Destiny 2 since it’s launch. While I didn’t get in on the Alpha, I joined in the Beta. I had a lot of fun there. I bought the game at release full price. I’ve continued to get the edition with all the expansions and passes since those were announced. That is a lot of stuff to cover. Some of it isn’t very bright in my memory, but I’ve been there for all of it. But let’s take a little time to look back over the 29 seasons we got. There’s too much to write a lot about each so it’s very much summary.

Going all the way to the beginning, our first “Season” was the initial launch. This is normally referred to as the Red War now. When Ghaul and his Red Legion ambushed the City and sealed the Guardian away from the Traveler. You had to regain your powers and found them changed from the start. You needed to help the Vanguard rebuild themselves and recover their own powers. After that, it was a push to clear the Red Legion out of the City. For all our efforts, we did defeat Ghaul. We were also introduced to the Pyramid Ships for the first time. For all our efforts we got the first raid: the Leviathan.

The Leviathan raid remains like almost no other. It was laced with secrets. You could bypass a number of introduction and interlude encounters. The Gauntlet was a personal favorite as a Hunter main (love me lots of running and jumping).

The Leviathan held a lot of secret passages as well as secrets. Getting the Exotic Shotgun “Legend of Acrius,” was a challenge. You had to grind the Raid, run strikes, and hunt Cabal. This culminated in a prestige (the highest difficulty of the time) run through the Leviathan. The reward was a very powerful short-range shotgun.

All of the encounters called for a very solid level of coordination. It was nerve wrecking and very rewarding each time I ran this. The first time I cleared the raid was with an LFG team. I had to bounce between my PS4 and Vita to keep in it with my role in the final encounter changing accordingly. We were tenacious and were rewarded with Victory.

And already I’m hitting a point of contention. The base Destiny 2 had issues (mostly loot related) but people took plenty of issue with the next two expansions.

The Curse of Osiris was the second expansion released. I really enjoyed it. The new play area, Mercury, was small. The public event was all but impossible to avoid but it was engaging to do. This was the first time we were forging weapons and unlocking them.

Following the Legends Lost quest you are lead deep within the Infinite Forest,. If you put the time in, you could find the body of Saint-14.

We also first touched the Infinite Forest. This vast space continues to hold so much potential because it’s a massive Vex Simulation. That means every alternate reality we could think of sits within it.

This is also the expansion that we got our first Raid Lair, the “Eater of Worlds.”

With “Eater of Worlds” it was a much simpler affair than a full raid. Still 3 encounters, and each successively harder. You needed to navigate a jumping puzzle, defuse mines, break the shield and then defeat the massive Vex at the core. It was shorter than the Leviathan but offered amazing challenge. Good, but not great.

The Warmind was regarded as a return to form for Destiny 2. This got us some amazing weapons with the IKELOS series. I still use a descendant of the IKELOS shotgun I got from back then. The expansion added substantial content and the very popular Escalation Protocol public activity.

This also brought back a fan-favorite weapon: The Sleeper Simulant. This was a challenge to complete. There was a lot of grinding for the enemy kills. There was the hunt for the Sleeper Nodes (and getting the Resonant Stems to open them). Running a few strikes and grinding through some waves of Escalation Protocol. All this culminated with completing a special version of the Will of the Thousands Strike fighting Xol (massive Hive Word God).

We’re about halfway through the Raid Lairs now with the release of the Spire of Stars. I dabbled in this one, so not much to say. Lots of coordination with things. But again, short compared to a full raid.

But there was one other thing I need to mention here: The Whisper. This was a hidden Exotic Quest you could engage in on Io if you knew EXACTLY what to do. This let you get the powerful Whisper of the Worm Exotic Sniper Rifle. That Sniper Rifle, when used properly at release had INFINITE AMMO.

It also had a mechanic that people would love to see come back with the IKELOS weapons: The Warmind Cells. These offered a lot for build potential and were a fan favorite. It’s been hinted they’re back with the final update.

For the up and down we just hit, now we come to what is regarded as one of the peaks of Destiny 2, Forsaken. The Dreaming City and myriad secrets were opened to us. The introduction all starts with that gut-punch of the death of Cayde-6. After that, we’re off for revenge. We also meet our favorite Black Market Dealer: Spider.

We are introduced to the first new species: The Scorned. They rose from a Wish that Prince Uldren Sov made. He became their “Father.” These were scary to fight and the ease of which they could be resurrected was startling. The Guardian hunted each down and killed them. Eventually we fought our way to Uldren Sov, finding him corrupted by the power of his Wish.

For the record, I’m technically still hunting for 1 of the 10 cats. Got all the others.

The Last Wish was THE raid to beat when it got introduced. This could be an article unto itself and I’ll likely write a fresh Guide for The Last Wish. This is the source of one of the pinnacle weapons, “One Thousand Voices.” Some encounters are fun to just play through. Some are very challenging, namely the Vault.

I’ve only every cheesed Riven (clipping her nail) and done the Queen’s Run. But I’ve written a guide on the raid itself. It calls for a lot. I would personally recommend trying Riven as intended. Have the viewer, fight the Taken and run through the Symbols. It’s epic to do. It’s a challenge. It’s exactly what you should experience.

The Shattered Throne was introduced here. The first dungeon of Destiny 2. It would become a favored run of mine in time. As me to run it, I’m usually down for it. But it’s not the one I won’t turn down. Solid challenge is offered by it while learning. It’s the first and it shows. So little in terms of what we’re used to today. But it’s always good to go back and see how it all began. Still, would have loved a little update to it.

After Forsaken’s release, Destiny 2 saw the focus shift over to a Yearly model with seasons throughout. The beginning of Forsaken was the beginning of the very first proper season: Season of the Outlaw. So I’ve already talked about that. After that, was the Season of the Forge. This added my favorite bow, Le Monarque, to the game. We got to play in the forges for amazing looking weapons and armor.

Season of the Drifter isn’t a season with a lot to say about it. I liked it, Gambit got a solid update with Gambit Prime. This would become the base form of Gambit over time. Unfortunately minus the Gambit specific armor available that offered particular benefits to a “role.” Additionally, we got the Reckoning. Only completed it a few times but it was challenging and fun.

The highlight for me here was “Zero Hour.” The secret Exotic Mission that had you revisited the original section of the Wall that the Guardians would land at. This would let you get “Outbreak Perfected”, a Destiny 2 version of the very powerful “Outbreak Prime.” This remains a challenging mission to run with its numerous puzzles and challenges. Also, TR3-VR. I hope we get some montage videos of deaths or hair-raising escapes from him.

Season of Opulence, after the meh of “Season of the Drifter,” this was a treat. This got us back on the Leviathan. More importantly, we got the Menagerie. Once again we were scurrying through the Leviathan and there was a lot of challenge to it. You could farm the weapon you wanted and have a good fight along the way.

The Season of Opulence got us the Raid Lair, “Crown of Sorrow.” It had an interesting exotic with the Tarrabah. It also had an exotic mission that I enjoyed: The Other Side. This got you the Bad Juju Pulse Rifle. This is a perpetual favorite of mine. It was a one-time mission. I would have run it again given the chance. But that was before we could generally replay a lot of those.

Shadowkeep was the first Hive focused expansion in a while. The best part was getting more of Eris Morn. We actually learned more about her and helped her confront her own ghosts to lay them to rest. All this tied decently well to the season that came with it...

There was just one season I didn’t really provide coverage, and that was the Season of the Undying. While the Vex made a push from the Moon to reach Earth, I just merrily fought them. Always meant to write more but there were other projects that needed my time. It was a good bit of story with Ikora Rey leading a push back against the Vex.

I documented the Raid “Garden of Salvation” and its corresponding Dungeon “Pit of Heresy.” Eventually wrote a guide on how to get the Divinity as well. And that gun, the Divinity remains on-hand for anyone who loves raiding or having an easy time finding a fireteam.

Season of Dawn had a great challenge. Osiris had commissioned the Drifter to build the Sundial, a theoretical device that would allow the return of Saint-14. The hunt and work for this was a challenge. But the community lifted it together and it was done. The activity the Sundial is one I’d gladly revisit. And the culmination, running through the corridors of time was a feat to do. Seriously, look into the Corridors of time. We got Bastion for our efforts and a new relationship started with this Saint-14 and Osiris.

Season of the Worthy added a favorite activity: Warmind Bunkers. On top of that we had to fend off the incoming Almighty, Calus’s Flag Ship that was on a crash course with the Last City. I hopping in the game to see it crash over the course of quite a long while. I knew I had my own small part in it.

Season of Arrivals was one I also enjoyed. This season introduced my second favorite dungeon: Prophecy. It took a run or three to get the mechanics down. But once I did, it was a blast to play through.

When Prophecy reappeared later on during the Rites of the Nine, after Episode: Heresy, I hopped straight in. I had get the gear and see the changes. And farmed to get at least a decent roll of each of my favorite weapons.

Beyond Light was an interesting time. This was the first time we got a Darkness Subclass with the unlock of Stasis. This changed how subclasses would work, giving us our present Fragment and Aspect system.

This got us the Raid, “Deep Stone Crypt.” One of Three raids I haven’t touched. But with things being what they are, I know people who love it and are willing to have a newbie run it with them.

Season of the Hunt offered a lot of great challenges. Not only did we get targets to hunt, we got the Exotic Mission: Harbinger. This gave us access to the revised Hawkmoon. Plus we met Crow, the reborn Uldren Sov in the service of the Spider. Dig into the story of Crow and Glint (aka Pulled Pork). There’s a lot there, way too much to even summarize.

Season of the Chosen was a solid story beat. Caiatl, the daughter of Calus, had come to Sol to conquer it. We resisted and instead forged an allegiance through ritual combat. On top of that, we got the Exotic Mission Presage with the Dead Man’s Tale Scout Rifle. Loved the horror vibes. Never got great at it, but do enjoy playing it.

Season of the Splicer was a treat. It had a strong 80’s neon aesthetic to it. On top of that, we got the Transmog system.

Season of the Lost is the middle of the seasons, being the 15^th. This was hunting the agents of Xivu Arath and pushing back against them in the Ascendant Realm. We didn’t know it at the time, but this would be the second longest season

We got the Exotic Quest: A Hollow Coronation, which got us the powerful Ager’s Scepter rifle that any Stasis class loves to use.

On top of all that, we FINALLY got cross-play. I didn’t need to have Destiny 2 on my computer to play with my friends who were PC gamers (never stopped them from giving me the occasional side eye for my console ways).

The Witch Queen delivered on one thing well: Secrets. This expansion focused on taking on the Queen of Lies: Savathun. The biggest twist is the Lucent Hive: Hive that have been granted the Traveler’s Light.

It was during this season we got one of the biggest changes: Crafting. Weapon patterns could be earned, crafted, leveled up and improved. Either you fought with the weapon in activities or invested materials to for progress.

We also got the Vow of the Disciple Raid. The first encounter to me is hellish to do, but very possible. The focus of this raid is on Symbol Reading.

Season of the Risen was okay. I enjoyed running the PsiOp Battlegrounds to capture the Lucent Hive and extract information. It was a good little grind. I’m happy those are around in the Strike Playlist.

Season of the Haunted was my favorite when it comes to story beats. The Leviathan had returned, empty. No sign of Calus, just overgrown by something. That something brought with it Nightmares. Calus’s Psychic connection to the Leviathan resonated with Zavala, Caiatl and Crow. Across the story, you needed to have them confront nightmare versions of important people to them.

Season of Plunder was amazing. This hit during the Pirate craze of the time in the early 2020’s. The Soundtrack slaps. VERY HARD. People would love to return to our plundering ways given half a chance.

On top of that, one of the most popular Destiny 1 raids was remastered for Destiny 2: King’s Fall. One of my favorite raids to run, I’ll gladly join a decent group any day to play it.

Season of the Seraph offered a lot of great activities. The story focused on Ana and the Warmind Rasputin as Xivu Arath’s forces closed in on Earth. A heartbreaking choice had to be made here.

We got the Exotic Mission: “Operation: Seraph’s Shield” with a breakout Pulse Rifle: Revision Zero. While I never ran Deep Stone Crypt, this drew inspiration from it. Not nearly as technically demanding, but you got a great craftable Pulse Rifle for your efforts. On top of that, it had a lot of potential for amazing builds because of its vast selection of perks.

Lightfall got a bit of a mixed reception. People loved the new Strand Subclass. The story was alright. The actives were good.

This got use the Root of Nightmares Raid. It’s one I’ve run a few times with my clan. A shorter raid and not too bad to do actually. Choose your roles, learn the call outs and what to do. Enjoy going Brrrr with the Thunderlord at the end.

Season of Defiance was an interesting one to cover. It ran parallel to the main story of Lightfall. The Coalition, an alliance between the Vanguard, the Reef and Caialt’s forces, stood against the Witness and their attempts to steal people from all over.

The one Exotic Mission I have a grudge against came with it: NODE.OVRD.AVALON with Vexcalibur (craftable). It’s a great mission and I love the challenges it offers. Just haven’t been able to beat hard mode with friends. It’s petty but it’s my reason.

Season of the Deep was a great one. People LOVED fishing. We were honestly sad when it had to go. It was fun to do the dives as well. The challenge of navigating the underwater sections was amazing.

This is also where we got the Wicked Implement. Tied to the fishing, you had to meet goals and then take on a Dive with particular statues you needed to activate. This would bring you into the secret Exotic Mission: The Whetstone. You then needed to face and defeat a powerful Tormentor to get the weapon.

Season of the Witch added one of my favorite things to hunt for, the Deck of Whispers. The tarot feel of it and just everything it offered. Having something to modify runs through Savathun’s Spire so I could play and feel confident in my build. Completing the Altar of Summoning was a welcome challenge as well.

But the big deal was the return of the raid: “Crota’s End.” While the original had become almost akin to a strike (I personally completed a 2-man run of it in Destiny 1 with someone who knew what they were doing). This raid had elements that were the same but itself was radically changed.

Season of the Wish would become the longest season in Destiny 2 history. Clocking in at 190 days, it’s hard to top. But the activity Riven’s Lair at least had variety to it. Still, it and the Coil were met with an alright reception by the end of it.

The exotic mission we got was Starcrossed. It’s one that’s nice to run, and offers a good challenge overall. A nice mix of puzzle work and combat.

Into The Light, a small limited event happened here, to be the bridge between Season of the Wish and the start of The Final Shape. This added in the activity Onslaught, giving us access to the powerful BRAVE arsenal. I got some great weapons off this and solid looking gear.

This little event also brought back The Whisper and Zero Hour Exotic Missions. Even better, the Whisper of the Worm and Outbreak Perfected became craftable. There were hidden Catalysts to earn for completing challenges within each of the missions.

Finally, this was the first time we got the Pantheon. It could be a brutal challenge for someone like me who doesn’t do a lot of raid (nevermind my clan was running regular Raids, I was busy writing!)

The Final Shape, the penultimate expansion for Destiny 2. It brought a lot to the table when we ventured into the Heart of the Traveler to drive out the Witness. New supers were added for Hunter, Titan and Warlock on top of Prismatic. Prismatic is a unique subclass for each that allows one to mix both Light and Dark abilities and freely use each. This is also where Destiny 2 (briefly) shifted to an Episodic model over the Seasons.

This expansion gave use the raid: Salvation’s Edge. This is a massive undertaking. I really can’t summarize this raid. It’s a really challenging raid.

Episode: Echoes had us chasing after an Echo that was released by the death of the Witness. It had found a home in the Conductor, Lakshmi-2, the former head of the Future War Cult.

This episode added the Exotic Mission, “Encore” to get the “Choice of One” auto rifle. It’s another I enjoy running for its overall challenges. The route is confusing at first but it got better after I learned the way. Plus a great boss fight.

Episode: Revenant offered more to what happened with the Echos released by the Witnesses death. Fikrul, the leader of the Scorn got one. Solid activities with the Tomb of Elders, the Exotic Mission Kell’s Fall, and the dungeon Vesper’s Host. Kell’s Fall had some great secrets to find. Plus, the Slayer’s Fang shotgun can be a blast to use for Void builds.

Episode: Heresy was the final episode and one I did enjoy. It was great Hive content with the Echo of the Navigator, a younger version of Oyrx, coming back. The Nether was a great exploration based activity and it was hard to go with a run through the Court of Blades.

The Edge of Fate was supposed to be the start of a new story arc for Destiny 2. Called out to the Mysterious Kepler, the Nine are bringing you into their schemes and plots to maintain the balance between the Inner and Outer forces.

This got us the Desert Perpetual Raid. Which hearkened back to the Leviathan for its central area concept. However, unlikely the Leviathan you could choose what order you did things. All leading to a massive fight at the end.

Season Reclamation felt like a footnote to everything else the series did. It was there also the update: Ash and Iron. It added in some new content with the Exotic Mission: Heliostat. Completing that unlocked the unique “sword”: the Wolfsbane Axe.

Renegades was an ambitious expansion/season (Lawless). It was the first full cross-over that Destiny did. The Star Wars elements worked decently well. The Cabal faction for the Barant Imperium was on point. The task of getting the Praxic Blade is epic and take serious effort. I enjoyed running through. The Lawless Frontier has been a solid activity. Also got us the Dungeon “Equilibrium”. It’s a good challenge and a solid playthrough. I like the mechanics and the scattered secrets.

Now we reach today. The Final Live Service Update. Pantheon 2.0 comes with it on top a LOT of changes. Each Class is getting a new melee option (some of the classes really need it).

No one knows if this is truly the end of Destiny 2. It likely is, but we can keep playing. It’s on the players to show the love we have for this game. It might sit well to buy stuff through Eververse, but that’s how they’ve been making money on Destiny 2: the cosmetics. Licenses aren’t cheap and development of even cosmetics takes time and money to get right.

There’s still stuff I want to write about Destiny 2. Just more secrets to uncover. A few more fragments and guns to find.

But I’m not done with Destiny. D&Destiny is still there and I’m a very active Game Master within it.

And for everyone else, I will finally say:

See you Starside.

Doug “ZiDaRose”

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