With the release of the new autumn expansion Beyond Light, numerous contents from the game are rotating. Destiny 2 will become significantly smaller and lose 2 years of content. So what does the free-to-play version Destiny 2: New Light actually offer?
What is Destiny 2: New Light? This is the free-to-play version of Destiny 2, which went live on October 1, 2019, with the release of the Shadowkeep expansion. It offers many elements of the previous Destiny 2 experience completely free of charge.
So the free-to-play version currently includes
- the base game Destiny 2
- DLC 1 “Curse of Osiris”
- DLC 2 “Warmind”
Free-to-play Guardians also receive unrestricted access to all PvP content as well as various other selected content – even from year 2 and year 3. For example, the Menagerie is included, along with 5 raids and strikes from Shadowkeep.
The Forsaken expansion, the Shadowkeep expansion, or the seasons are not included and will remain paid.
In short: The scope was huge – especially for a free-to-play model. There was a ton of free content for which players previously paid a lot of money. With New Light, Bungie wanted to “tear down walls” and bring as many players together as possible in the Destiny universe to experience adventures together. But as it stands, there will soon be hardly any walls left to tear down.
What does the shrinking entail? Bungie’s action MMO cannot grow indefinitely. Destiny 2 has simply become too large with its architecture to be updated and maintained efficiently. The complexity and the previously constantly increasing size contribute to more bugs and fewer innovations.
Therefore, the game will soon shrink – despite new content. Because at the same time as the release of the new expansion Beyond Light, numerous contents from the game will rotate into the so-called Destiny Content Vault. This new system essentially represents a kind of gigantic resource pool from which the developers can draw at any time.
There, all previous and new content from Destiny 2 and Destiny 1 will be stored. They can be pulled out and reused as needed.
The soon-to-be-removed contents will not be deleted; they will just no longer be active in the game, but can certainly return.
All of this is disappearing with the release of Destiny 2: Beyond Light
Destiny 2 will become significantly smaller with Beyond Light and focus on the returning Cosmodrome as well as the new location on the ice moon Europa.
Which contents will be removed? From November 10, the 5 locations will disappear
- Io
- Titan
- Mars
- Mercury
along with all associated PvE activities like strikes or missions. Essentially, the entire previous onboarding experience will be removed – that is, what Destiny 2: New Light has previously consisted of, such as the campaigns “The Red War”, “Curse of Osiris”, and “Warmind”.
The forges, the Reckoning mode, as well as the Menagerie or Tribute Hall will rotate into the vault.
The story campaign of Forsaken and the expansion Season of Dawn will remain, provided you have purchased these paid, optional contents. Because free-to-play players will still have no access to them. But what will remain for New Light? What will replace the removed content in free-to-play?
What will remain for Destiny 2: New Light? The locations that will remain are
- Europa (new)
- Csuban (from the vault)
- The Moon
- Tanglevine
- The Dreaming City
- European Dead Zone (EDZ)
- Nessus
But what can New Light players do? Unfortunately, not much. So far, we know the following:
- Free-to-play players can tackle patrols in the listed locations in the open world (but cannot complete story missions there)
- They can play strike, Crucible, and Gambit playlists. The strikes will be based on the active locations. The PvP playlists are a “best of” mix of maps from Destiny 1 and 2. And Gambit and Gambit Prime are then combined in a single mode.
- They can complete the dungeon “Prophecy” – this is set to become active shortly after the release of Beyond Light
- They can participate in events such as the Winter Fest “Dawning” or the “Crimson Days”
A new onboarding for new players and veterans is coming
And essentially, that’s about it. Destiny 2: New Light offers quite a bit less than it did before. The only thing that can still be seen as a sort of replacement is the new intro.
Bungie is providing Destiny 2 with a revised beginning upon the launch of Beyond Light – also for New Light. This takes place in the Cosmodrome on Earth. New players will become familiar with the game mechanics and their first steps as Guardians through several missions.
However, this will likely only offer a fraction of the volume that was previously enjoyed for free in the form of the Red War campaign and the two DLCs Curse of Osiris and Warmind.
In short: If things stay the way they are, players will soon have to reach into their pockets much earlier if they want to continue with Destiny 2 or even take a closer look at it. Destiny 2 is getting smaller, and the hardest hit by this will be the free-to-play version.
By the way, the NPC from the new beginning of Destiny 2 could be an old acquaintance: A hated murderer might soon train new players
