Following Bungie’s announcement earlier this week that Destiny‘s next big update would be landing on April 12, the studio held a livestream yesterday, highlighting in more detail some of the new features Guardians will have access to when it becomes available.
Courtesy of Bungie’s weekly update, Destiny‘s Spring update continues after the successful defeat of Oryx the Taken King and focuses on the emergence of a new threat to the galaxy:
The battered remnants of the Reef are mopping up the lingering Taken forces throughout the system. The worst have been captured by the Awoken and await judgement in the Prison of Elders, but a pretender to Oryx’s vacant throne has escaped Variks’ vengeful grasp. Hunt the dark beast down before he grows too powerful and reap the rewards that await you.
With a new threat comes the need for powerful and diverse gear and, of course, an increase to the maximum Light Level cap. Bungie will be holding another stream next week, detailing all of the new rewards you’ll be able to accrue for beating the new content, but for now, here’s a list of all the gameplay features on the way.
Max Light Level Raised: New challenges demand that you become even more powerful to overcome them. Difficulty and Rewards have both been increased in Prison of Elders, Court of Oryx, Heroic Strikes, Nightfall Strikes, and in the King’s Fall Raid, as well as Iron Banner and Trials of Osiris.
Return to the Prison: For the first time, face the Taken and eight updated bosses in a Level 41 version of Prison of Elders. Visit Variks to partake in a brand new mode, Challenge of the Elders, featuring scoring, weekly boss battles, gameplay twists, and rewards. Claim an Elders’ Sigil from Variks each week in The Reef, and put your Fireteam to the test against three consecutive boss waves. The bosses and the gameplay modifiers change each week, for a total of sixteen unique encounters. Your score is tracked on the Elders’ Sigil, and on Bungie.net Leaderboards.
The Blighted Chalice Strike: The Taken King is dead. Yet still his armies yet claw at our worlds. Even as you led the assault on the Dreadnaught, a powerful would-be Taken Prince fled for the safety of the shadows. Hunt him down before he grows too powerful.
Taken Strike – Winter’s Run: A cell, from the Prison of Elders. The Taken now corrupt this territory where the Fallen House of Winter once attempted to raise a powerful Archon Priest. Fight your way to the cell. Stop the Taken surge.
Updated Difficulty and Rewards – King’s Fall and Court of Oryx: Kingsfall Normal drops increased to light level 320. Kingsfall Hard drops increased to light level 330. Court of Oryx Artifact Drops increased to light level 335.
You’re probably going to notice immediately that just one of these new features is brand new content rather than a re-purposing of existing content that’s been available for several months, but if Bungie can do enough to make it all feel fresh, everything should go swimmingly.
Players have been crying out for Bungie to add some new, permanent content, to Destiny ever since the release of the game’s Taken King expansion last year. From the information released so far, it seems that the Spring Update will go a long way in remedying that, but is it enough to last for the foreseeable future?
We’ll have definitive answer come April.