In the days since Activision and Bungie split, a lot of news has been getting pushed through the press, but what no one’s really asking is quite clear: What’s next now that Bungie is free? Here are our thoughts about some major changes that could be happening later this year.
Since Activision and Bungie split, there’s a lot of news being pushed through the press. We’ve seen companies already talking about some minor changes that have already been made, some of which include a few tweaks to the game Bungie wished to do, theories about Microsoft and Bungie buddying up once again for some Halo magic, and we’ve even seen a few beginning to question the possibility of a 2019 roadmap change.
We’d even gotten a good idea of what was to come with our year two content, the annual pass, and what Destiny 2 would have to offer up until this August when we’d see Destiny 2: Forsaken draw to a final conclusion as a second major expansion would find its way out the door with a Year 3 Annual Pass and a Destiny 3 announcement for the fall of 2020 alongside an announcement of a next-gen console release.
But, as we all know, things have been thrown into a bit of disarray after Cayde Six and Zavala announced their friendship had come to an end after a fragile 10-year bond took place. But with the type of scheduling Bungie had planned, we can only wonder what our roadmap has come to look like as our Annual Pass for Destiny 2: Forsaken itself may have very well been altered, which could see our timeline change rather substantially in the upcoming days.
Some of us once-lapsed players have even found our way back into Destiny 2, growing hopeful that the microtransactions would eventually be removed, replaced by bigger and better offerings such as the Annual Pass type feature to allow for some form of income for the studio. We can almost be guaranteed that the Annual Pass content will be delivered as Bungie and their director, Luke Smith, promised, but after that? Your guess is good as mine.
If the plans have truly changed, we can begin to wonder what will come of the series. Bungie has already expressed their interest in remaining independent and self-sufficient without the support of another major publishing label overseeing what they do. With Activision out of the way, we now have to begin to play a guessing game as to what is left of Destiny 2 or if Luke Smith and the team are heading back to the drawing board to deliver something truly meaningful.
But our question is now: What else? What else can Destiny 2 have to offer? Let’s theorize based on what we know.
Destiny 2’s Annual Pass might get extended to finish out 2019 and set up Year 3 for 2020
As we all know, Destiny 2 was off to a rocky start. It failed to keep player interest, content was lacking, and the endgame was non-existent for even the most hardcore of players. Unfortunately, the grind became more real than it may have been intended, forcing players to slowly level up through the use of Clan Banners and activity while also undertaking Flashpoints and Weekly Challenges in order to get the highest light level gear.
While that’s still much the case today, it’s not near as bad, and there are a plethora of ways for Guardians to gear themselves up. Whether it’s factions, weekly bounties, or some other way, there’s still a lot of opportunity for them to power up their light levels, get into the end-game content and even cap out at a light level of 650 in itself.
Now, the most likely path we’ll see is that Year 2 is about to get expanded even further, finishing out the year a year from now. While it’s an odd thing to say, it’s the most likely thing they will do, if they don’t drop a few micro-DLC’s between now and then. There’s already plenty of content on its way including Xur Weekly Bounties, Iron Banner Events, two new raids, new Gambit maps and encounters, new exotic quests to unlock, and even new Joker’s wild quests and event to enjoy.
The likely thing that could happen. Let me stress this fact – could happen is that we see a new branch added in, filling in the Sept-December gap which may feature a brand new set of events including the Winter Solstice event and a Destiny 2 – DLC II: Warmind style DLC into the bundle for an extra few dollars here or there.
We could see some of the planned content drops get removed from the roadmap
Another likely event is as you read just above. They could be planning to cut some of 2019’s content altogether. We could see some of the minor content cut. A removal of – let’s say an exotic questline or something of the likes could be on the way. While this would aggravate some players, it would also give Bungie time to plan out their next big move in order to continue moving forward with the game they’ve already had shipped out the door.
Or perhaps they’ll cut the power increase in our light level and or requirements for future content. While this might be a bummer, this is a less-than-destructive way they could alter their plans for something bigger moving forward. Sure, the likely chance – as I said – could be a micro-story DLC that sets up their plans for Year 3 content drops.
As long as they don’t remove the promised content from the Year 2 Annual Pass, no harm, no foul, right? I mean… It can’t be that bad, can it?
A Warmind or Curse of Osiris DLC could actually solve the problem for the rest of Year 2’s duration
A Curse of Osiris or Warmind DLC would solve a few problems including new story content to help narratively push Destiny 2 forward, but also it would add in some fluff for a short bit while the team plans out what their next few steps ahead actually are. This period would also give Bungie a bit of time to create something truly magnificent when the next expansion arrives.
While some may not like the idea of a Mars-sized Patrol Zone or even a micro-DLC, it’s better than nothing, and the added content would allow them to tie in another story-piece into Destiny 2: The Black Armory and help narratively drive that aspect forward. After all, what if our Mysterious Stranger is actually linked to them and there’s something shady going on over at Braytech?
This time would truly be something essential for their team to have going forward as it seems that things may be slightly scattered after the Activision split. Not that this is a bad thing, this new found freedom gives them a lot of room to do something truly magnificent with Destiny 2.
Bungie could take a long-deserved break and just deliver the seasonal patches
One of the big things, but unlikely, is that Bungie could just take a break. Whether you know it or not, they’ve been working their rears off over the course of the past year. We’ve seen countless content drops, stability patches, and even events get pushed out the door on what feels like a daily. Even as a lapsed Destiny 2 player who has just only begun to return to the game, there’s a lot of fun to be had thanks to the massive amount of content that was delivered with Destiny 2: Forsaken – Black Armory.
While we have plans all the way into August, I’m not going to be surprised if we see a tail-ended treatment for Destiny 2 until Year 3 begins. Even as someone who has eagerly awaited Year 3, only having skipped out on a good portion of Year 2’s content due to reviews, I still feel that events like Festival of the Lost, The Dawning, and various other events would work to keep players sated until the next big expansion.
While this could spell trouble for die-hard fans, it would give Bungie the much-needed time to plan things out and deliver the expansion we’ve been waiting for in recent times. Many of us had our complaints about Destiny 2 and how empty it felt until the launch of Destiny 2: Forsaken and now, we have reason to think this approach might be for the best.
After all, Activision isn’t holding the reigns to this sleigh anymore, it’s Bungie, and Bungie now has the needed freedom to set a schedule they prefer, a schedule that will allow them to deliver quality over quantity as far as content is concerned. Before you get a little red in the face, consider this: Activision had Bungie running thin and vice versa. Each of them had a vision for the future of Destiny as a franchise.
It’s massive, it’s beautiful, but it still has a lot of work that needs to be done to make it even better and allow Destiny 3 to follow suit when and if it hits shelves this generation. It’s a series that has only seen a cloud of negativity surrounding it since its launch and it drew the ire of more casual players before the launch of Forsaken.
The Conclusion
The biggest thing to remember here is the fact this is all speculation. While some of it is wishful thinking as a returning Destiny 2 player, I do have a lot of hopes for the future of the series even as I begin to prepare to sink my teeth into BioWare’s competitor title Anthem and Ubisoft’s upcoming title Tom Clancy’s The Division 2, both of which will offer unique and diverse worlds to explore, raids to enjoy, and even unimaginable foes to face down against.
My only concern is that Bungie, while independent, could follow in the mistakes they made before, they could risk everything they worked up to – to this very point and take two steps back. Something I hope they don’t as I truly, truly, loved Destiny 2: Forsaken and have only begun to wrap-up my review of in recent days and soon to be diving into the Black Armory content itself.
Destiny 2: Forsaken is now available on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One today.
About the Writer(s):
Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter or Facebook.