After yesterday’s preview into the futuristic future of Destiny 2, one piece of information especially caught the guardians’ attention. Bungie officially announced the end of the Content Vault and promised that Destiny would soon be “fully playable from start to finish.” MeinMMO tells you what this exactly means, why it is only happening now, and which contents are now free.
Destiny 2 is heading towards an impressive future. For this reason, all interested gamers were invited to the big showcase worldwide yesterday. And Bungie indeed had quite a lot to offer. Most notably, a mega preview for Lightfall, the DLC, which is set to be released in February 2023.
- Lightfall takes place in the new destination “Neomuna”, a futuristic, neon-glowing city.
- A new race comes into play, called “Cloudstriders”, somewhat similar to the guardians.
- Players will learn the new ability “Strand” and perform a Spider-Man-style movement.
- Calus, the new minion of Darkness, is back with his newly formed army.
- There will also be so-called “Tormentors”. Powerful enemies who will operate similarly to the Lucent Brood from “The Witch Queen” – but with different, obviously torturous abilities.
- Additionally, there will be an in-game LFG system and a commendation system for experienced guardians.
- And the Witness will bring everything he has to bring down the Light.
Bungie has packed Lightfall with new, cool things that guardians can expect in 2023. However, one piece of information from the showcase was almost better for many players.
Here you can watch the hot Lightfall trailer again:
If you missed the entire showcase, you can watch it again on Twitch and experience the most emotional moments for yourselves.
In the future, you can always play everything
Joe Blackburn, Bungie’s Game Director, and Justin Truman, Bungie’s General Manager, announced that they have been working behind the scenes on the engine and that no expansions of Destiny 2 will be locked away in the Content Vault anymore.
We have been working behind the scenes on the Destiny engine, preparing our technology and our game so that it will last for many, many years. Because Destiny 2 is not going anywhere, and neither are your expansions. We want this story, since we first communicated with the Darkness on the Moon, to be fully playable from start to finish. Therefore, we are excited to announce today that we do not plan to stop releasing further expansions.
said Justin Truman, Bungie’s General Manager at the showcase presentation
The end of the Content Vault is sealed: Some players had actually expected that Bungie would soon transfer the expansion “Forsaken” into the Content Vault. However, this will not happen after this announcement. They want to preserve the narrative of Light and Darkness that began in the DLC on the moon.
However, it does not mean that the Red War or Curse of Osiris will return. This change takes effect only now and applies only to the current content.
Was the second least popular system for years: Since the Content Vault became active in June 2020 with Destiny 2, players have been frustrated with its all-consuming nature. It took away some of the best expansions of Destiny 2, so they could no longer play them, which felt even worse than weapon sunsetting.
The reddit of Destiny 2 has been regularly flooded with complaints about the Content Vault for the past 2 years.
- That Bungie even has a Content Vault is rather unorthodox.
- After all, other games manage without it.
- Comparisons with World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy were made as a better example.
- Bungie should make this content permanently accessible through the timeline or legacies.
Hardly anyone understood the system, and some players even parted ways with Destiny 2 and stopped playing altogether because of it.
Why was the Content Vault nevertheless important? The main reason the Content Vault existed in the first place and was necessary is that Bungie needed to develop Destiny 2 further.
This led to fundamental changes in Destiny 2 that will positively affect the game both technically and visually in the future. Old contents and expansions were removed from the game, and a number of engine overhauls were carried out.
- The lighting engine and some effects were updated
- Much of the old “spaghetti code” was likely disposed of.
- Afterward, Bungie rebuilt many parts of Destiny 2.
- Speculations say they simply did not have enough time to rebuild everything.
Thus, the Content Vault was a viable solution for the developer but a poor one for the players who loved their old content.
After the introduction, many things improved: For example, the speed with which Bungie could now bring updates into the game. Visually, one could also see how Destiny 2 changed. It was obvious that there was quite a bit of work done behind the scenes. Fire effects during mockery changed, and environments received sharper and better details.
Players were still not happy, even though the bare numbers probably showed that the old contents were hardly played anymore. It was rather the fact that as a player, you suddenly had something taken away that you once paid money for.
Bungie was already working on the Destiny universe back then: After players could now look into the future of Destiny 2, it is clear: Bungie was likely already working on this new vision for the Destiny universe back then.
Destiny 2 will grow and transform into a vast universe. No Destiny 3, but much more than that.
We want the Destiny universe to grow, and we will continue to do everything we can behind the scenes to enable this with our game engine.
Justin Truman added to the announcement
Apparently, Bungie has now reached the point where the Content Vault is no longer necessary. The paths for a massive game world in an even larger Destiny universe are obviously set. And there was a small gift with this announcement.
Play Destiny 2 for a week for free now
As a bonus, Joe Blackburn announced that Destiny 2 is now also available on the Epic Game Store since yesterday. Additionally, all Destiny 2 expansions will be free to play on all platforms for the coming week.
- This means interested players can play all expansions of Destiny 2 for free until August 30, 2022.
- In addition to the latest “The Witch Queen” DLC, this also includes “Forsaken” and “Beyond Light”.
- Moreover, Bungie has confirmed to MeinMMO that you can keep all exotics earned during the free period.
If you are interested in Destiny 2, you now have the opportunity to get started. Perhaps a small recompense for the fans of the loot shooter disappointed by the Content Vault.
However, once the trial period ends, players will need to purchase the expansions to continue playing the content.
What do you think about Destiny 2 now abolishing the unpopular Content Vault? Can you now understand why it was necessary? Or are you annoyed that you couldn’t play the old content for 2 years just because Bungie had to rebuild? Let us know in the comments.
And at the end of this week, there will be even more free stuff when Bungie makes the most legendary raid of all time from Destiny 2 accessible to players:
