Today marks the start of Season 6 in Destiny 2. It comes with more content than I initially thought.
Here was my expectation: Honestly, I didn’t expect much from Season 6 – the Season of the Drifter. When Bungie presented a roadmap with three upcoming seasons in November 2018, I considered Season 6 to be the weakest.
That’s why I didn’t expect much: The Season of the Drifter sounded quite lacking in content.
- It was only mentioned that there would be a new “Gambit experience” as the highlight.
- You would learn more about the story of the Drifter – which I thought was pretty cool as a lore fan and still do, but it doesn’t provide weeks of fun gameplay.
- And otherwise, there would just be the usual stuff. A few new items, a few new bounties, more triumphs, one or two events. Done.
- While Bungie announced new raids for Seasons 5 and 7, the content for Season 6 seemed sparse to me. Only for Gambit fans did it seem interesting, although it remained unclear for a long time how the new Gambit experience would be designed.
But when Season 6 was officially and extensively revealed, not only was I positively surprised. Also on Reddit, some wrote that this season would likely be better than expected. Why is that?
Season 6 surprises with a lot of gameplay content
That’s why many are looking forward to Season 6: As it has recently become clear, the sixth season is not only about Gambit. Instead, several new game modes, extensive quests, and a full program until May 2019 are coming:
- The “new Gambit experience” will likely be bigger than expected. It’s called Gambit-Prime and launches directly on March 5, but the mode will evolve weekly. You can assume special roles (Smasher, Collector, Guardian, and Invader). Special armor sets with unique perks enhance the role that you take on.
According to Bungie, Gambit-Prime will provide an intense player experience, where only one round (instead of 2-3 rounds like in regular Gambit) is played. In addition, the mode offers new gameplay elements that focus more on group mechanics and role distribution during boss fights. Bungie compares this to a raid. Thus, Season 6 will also deliver a raid-like experience. Read more about Gambit-Prime here.
- The Reckoning is the big surprise of Season 6. It is a completely new PvE endgame activity linked with Gambit-Prime. Through the Reckoning, you will obtain the armor sets that grant you numerous advantages in Gambit-Prime.
The Reckoning also has several “stages,” with the first one unlocking on March 5, the second on March 8, and the third on March 15. Each stage is supposed to become “more chaotic” than the previous one.
You travel through a portal into the Unknown Space of the Nine. This space seems to be located inside the large sphere that the Drifter pulls behind his ship.
According to the developers, the mode is quite fast-paced. In the Reckoning, you will initially find complete chaos. You have to move quickly, you need to kill quickly. You will be attacked from all sides. Memories of the Crota raid from Destiny 1 should arise here.
- The Invitations of the Nine were also surprising. You will receive the first invitation from Xur on March 15. You must complete tasks to learn more about the Nine and to receive powerful rewards. Xur will bring a new invitation every week for 9 weeks that can be completed once per character.
That the Nine would be so present in Season 6, perhaps no one expected. But according to Bungie, the Drifter has entered into a dangerous alliance with the Nine, which is why we will finally learn more about these mysterious beings.
- Story-wise, Season 6 will be quite interesting. Not only the Drifter, as initially thought, is in focus, but also the Nine. Additionally, a character named “The Shadow” will appear, who wields the Thorn as a weapon and apparently has to do with the Drifter:
- Furthermore, there will be two exotic quests – one leads to the Thorn – and a loyalty quest. In the latter, your loyalty to the Vanguard will be tested. Sounds pretty exciting; however, it remains to be seen how extensive these quests will be.
All of this is only available to Annual Pass owners
That’s why Season 6 won’t be exciting for all Guardians: However, the presented content has a catch: Only Annual Pass owners will receive them.
While all other Guardians will receive new items to chase, they will only be in the existing game modes. The cool stuff of Season 6 is exclusive to Annual Pass owners.
Those without an Annual Pass will benefit from many balance adjustments, bug fixes, improvements, and new top weapons in PvP, Gambit, and Vanguard activities; ultimately, however, you can only play the old activities.
If you want to experience something new in Season 6, you will be at a loss without an Annual Pass. All major highlights have been packed into the exclusive content by Bungie.
Only the two events “Arc Week” and “The Revelry” bring hope to introduce a little variety for all Guardians. So far, it’s known that the spring event “The Revelry” will take place in the Everforest, where you can loot new items.
Here you can find an overview of the content from Season 6 that will be free for all Guardians:
Information on bug fixes, improvements, and balance adjustments in Season 6 can be found here.
Are you participating in Season 6?
