The release of the Warmind expansion for Destiny 2 is coming soon. In anticipation of the 2nd DLC, the developers are sharing some information about the loot system for the upcoming Escalation Protocol event. Here are the details.
What’s it about? Ahead of the upcoming DLC II, there were still some open questions among fans regarding the loot distribution for the Escalation Protocol event. These uncertainties have now been clarified by Bungie’s Senior Investment Designer. He provided a comprehensive overview of the reward system for the new event in the official Bungie forum.
The Reward System of Escalation Protocol
What is the Escalation Protocol? With the upcoming Warmind DLC, Destiny 2 will introduce a new type of public event with horde-mode characteristics: Escalation Protocol. Here are the core features:
- Hive Escalation is a type of horde mode
- You fight against the Hive in increasingly stronger waves
- There are a total of seven waves
- Each wave has a mini-boss, while the seventh wave features the final boss
- There are five unique final bosses with their own loot, which rotate weekly
- There are 3 reward chests – after the third, the fifth, and the final boss in the seventh wave
This is how the loot system works: The rewards of the new event are divided into three categories: cosmetic rewards, weapons, and armor. Each category behaves somewhat differently in terms of the rarity and type of loot drops. This is meant to offer players more variety, different incentives, and clear goals during their loot hunt.
Cosmetic Rewards: These rewards have a low drop rate and can be found in any reward chest opened during Escalation Protocol.
The further you progress in the event, the higher the chance of receiving one of the exclusive items. Rewards include a ship, a Sparrow, and a Ghost shell.
Weapons: The Escalation Protocol offers three exclusive weapons as rewards: a shotgun, a sniper rifle, and a submachine gun.
With these rewards, grinding is clearly the focus. There is no weekly limit. You can chase the respective weapon throughout the week as long as you want.
The weapons have a low drop chance from the final boss at the end of the seventh wave. The loot pool also rotates weekly with the bosses. Each of the three weapons is tied to a specific boss. The other two bosses can drop any of these exclusive weapons.
The power level of the Escalation Protocol weapons goes up to 340. Once this soft cap is reached, they will no longer represent power upgrades.
Armor: Parts of the armor sets can only be obtained from the chest that spawns after defeating the final boss at the end of the seventh wave.
This chest can only be opened with an encrypted depot key. After completing the Warmind campaign, each character can craft one such key per week. The necessary Rasputin key fragments are obtained by participating in various Warmind activities such as:
- Heroic adventures
- Heroic strikes
- Nightfall strikes
- Raids or raid lairs
The key fragments can be handed in to Ana Bray. In return, you receive an encoded depot key. Afterwards, you must complete seven Escalation Protocol levels to decrypt the encoded depot key and receive an unlocked depot key.
The armor pieces from the chest have a fixed order: class item, leg armor, gauntlets, chest armor, and helmet. No duplicates will drop until you have a full set.
Shaders: The exclusive Escalation Protocol shader does not belong to any of the three categories. You receive it when you defeat the final boss of the event.
What do you think of the loot system for the Escalation Protocol event? Are you satisfied, or did you expect more?
