Destiny 2 is removing another destination and an entire campaign next year
The Destiny Content Vault, launched in 2020 with the Beyond Light expansion, is a place where Bungie can store "less actively played" destinations and activities. According to the studio, the Vault is necessary so that it can add new content without making the game unmanageably bloated. When the Vault first went live at the start of Destiny 2 Year 4, Bungie moved Mars, Io, Titan, Mercury, the Leviathan, and pretty much all their associated content went into it. Today we learned that in February 2022, when Year 5 gets underway, the Forsaken campaign and Tangled Shore destination will also be added to the vault. Which is to effectively say deleted from the game. The Dreaming City location, thankfully, is being spared for now.
"Vaulting this content will allow us the space to launch The Witch Queen expansion and its new Throne World destination, as well as new features like weapon crafting, the new Legendary difficulty campaign option, the new Glaive weapon archetype, plus all the additional content we have planned for the four new Seasons to come starting in February," Bungie explained.
That process will also mean the loss of the Presage and Harbinger exotic missions, which reward the Dead Man's Tale and Hawkmoon weapons respectively. Not a huge bummer for veterans who've had ample time to acquire those guns, but certainly a loss for new players—particularly because they're some of the game's coolest activities.
Some stuff from the same era of content is sticking around though. "While most of the Year 4 Seasonal content will be vaulted, certain Year 4 content will persist in Year 5, including the Proving Grounds strike and the Battlegrounds activities," Bungie continued. "Beginning in February, the existing Battlegrounds will be combined with strikes into a new 'Vanguard Operations' playlist that will be free for all players. In addition, the Warden of Nothing strike will remain in the game and will be available to all players for free. Lastly, all of Spider’s currency exchange function will be taken over by Master Rahool in the Tower when the Tangled Shore is moved into the DCV."
I'm not sure anyone trusts that shifty bastard Rahool to be any straighter of a dealer than Spider was, but we shall see.
To ensure everyone has a chance at digging into the excellent, Western-themed Forsaken campaign before it's vaulted, Bungie will make it free to all players from December 7 until it goes away in February 2022. Right now Forsaken is part of Destiny 2's premium content, and sells for $25/£20/€25, which frankly feels a little cheeky given how short we now know it's shelf life to be. December 7 will also see the release of the Forsaken Pack, which will include access to the Last Wish raid and the Shattered Throne dungeon, all Forsaken exotics, and three Forsaken Ciphers. Anyone who purchases Forsaken prior to December 7 will get the pack automatically.
It's unusual for an MMO to yoink away large sections of paid content from players, a point we noted when the Destiny Content Vault was first announced; and not everyone is happy about it.
I won’t stop thinking that DSV does more harm than good, I will never support removing content/campaigns from the game. I think it hurts his identity. That said, why are we removing Presage but keeping Battlegrounds??? Like, Presage was the best mission we got this year…October 7, 2021
Ehhhhhhhhhhh, I've always understood the need for some amount of vaulting in Destiny, but I really do miss planets when they go. As someone who often goofs around in lost sectors trying out builds, just having less to choose from does make the game feel that much smaller.October 7, 2021
The reactions aren't unreasonable: If I was still a Destiny 2 player I might be a little cranky too if my favorite content was being cut simply to make life a little easier for Bungie. At the same time, Destiny 2 is now four years old, and Bungie clearly knows what it's doing, given how well received recent seasons have been. In particular, this year has seen the story side of things make substantial strides, becoming something akin to a weekly soap opera for lore nerds. Also, not many four-year-old games are still getting major expansions leading into multi-year seasonal campaigns, and that content pile-up no doubt creates some serious maintenance and balancing headaches. Destiny 2 is arguably a unique beast, and requires unique treatment as a result.
For all that said, it's hard not to argue that less is ultimately less when it comes to the planetary destinations. Cumulatively, the loss of Io, Mars, Leviathan, and the Tangled Shore, as well as the missions for Outbreak Perfected, Whisper of the Worm, and now Presage, certainly represents a shrinking of variety, and put even more pressure on things like the creaky Strike playlist, which have to stick around in perpetuity.
Destiny 2's next big expansion, The Witch Queen, is set to go live on February 22, 2022—that's right, 02-22-2022. Here's everything we know about it.