The new DLC “Darkness Lurks” for the MMO shooter Destiny launched at 10:00 AM our time.
Exactly at 10:00 AM this morning, the servers opened and there was an immediate buzz on the servers. No download was needed, nothing was glitching, it started right away.
We found the Twitch stream from ProNDC for you, where you can see how some Guardians experience the first hours of the add-on, visiting the vendors, playing with the new weapons, running around aimlessly, in short: experiencing all the madness of the first hours of an add-on.
We will keep you updated at mein-MMO on what is happening in the world of Destiny.
10:05: “Black Wax Idol” – there was speculation beforehand about whether the old ones could still be used – yes, they can. They are now needed to purchase items from the new vendor “Eris Morn”. “Black Wax Idol” is actually a standard drop from “The Hive”.
10:10: Yup, the legendary light armor goes up to a light value of 33. We discussed this extensively yesterday.
10:45: Because many were speculating whether something cool is happening in the “old” raid, “The Vault of Glass.” Yesterday, there was a tweet from the raid designer: There is no “new difficulty level” in “The Vault of Glass.”
@DoDEast @DestinyNews_net There is neither a “new level 31 hard VoG,” nor a “third difficulty for VoG” in The Dark Below.
— Luke Smith (@LukeWasRight) December 8, 2014
10:50: Standard question that is now often asked. The “bounties” of the Vanguard or Crucible are available when you level up your reputation ranks with the respective factions from rank 3 onward.
11:00: There seem to be issues with the new weekly Nightfall strike. Everything is still fresh at the moment, and there is little information from Bungie yet. But it seems that one of the new strikes has been selected as the Nightfall strike (the PS-exclusive strike “The Immortal Spirit” even) and that you cannot easily access it. Players without the expansion cannot access it at all. Players with the expansion probably need something from Xur. Everything is quite confusing right now, we will keep you updated as soon as we know more. It looks like the weekly Nightfall strike will not start until Friday on December 9th.
11:10: Oh, the Murmur (The Whisper), the fusion rifle that can switch between Solar and Arc damage, is available directly as a legendary item. In the meantime, it was thought that this item evolves from a green one to a blue and then eventually to a legendary. This means that the Necrochasm will not do that either. The Whisper, however, needs an “ornate core” to be upgraded further.
12:10: Oh wow, reports are already coming in from the new raid. It seems that gear with a maximum light value of 36 will indeed drop, so the current maximum. Let’s see if all new raid items will be available there, or if Destiny is also saving something for the Hard Mode raid in January.
12:15: Eris Morn currently gives out two bounties in a first step (one of which requires Xur and can only be completed from Friday). Additionally: When the first mission “The Cleansing” is completed, she gives out three more assignments. Some say that once these three bounties are completed, you can already get into the new Nightfall strike.
12:40: Yup, it looks like it’s really possible to go into the Nightfall strike already. So it’s possible before Friday too. We will then provide the usual post about the weekly Nightfall strike in Destiny on mein-mmo. It has a tradition already. We shouldn’t break that.
13:50: Oh! Here is the post about the new weekly Nightfall strike: Destiny Nightfall: Weekly Nightfall strike on December 9 is possible, requires DLC + prep work. Later, something is also planned about the new armors that you can now buy from the vendor.
14:20: We will provide a more detailed post about this later, but: The legendary armors and weapons available for purchase from the vendors of the Crucible and the Vanguard are impressive. We speculated about this yesterday, and that is indeed what has happened. The armors have a guaranteed maximum light value of 33. The weapons have a base damage of 272, which increases up to 331. For the weapons, chest and helmet, a “Vanguard commendation” or “Crucible commendation” will always be needed. Gloves and boots are available even without this recommendation. The mark costs are 150 for weapons, 120 for the helmet, 75 for chest, boots, and gloves.
15:00: Currently, there are already rumors that a chest in the new raid “Crota’s End” might be accessible even solo, with tricks and stealth. Allegedly, there could be exotics inside, supposedly it spawns randomly. Who knows, who knows. This video is definitely available about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfmg7no5-U4
15:05: Not to be confused with this video that has been found everywhere for Destiny for 2 days. But umm … well …
16:40: It’s actually obvious, but we’ll mention it anyway. If you turn in exotic bounties now, you will receive – as expected – the new version of that exotic weapon. They start at 302 and go up to 331.
16:50: Not confirmed, but should give everyone hope. Allegedly, there have already been drops of raid armor pieces (with a max light value of 36) for three slots in the “normal” mode of Crota’s End, namely for chest, gloves, and boots. The helmet is still missing at the moment. That would be the same drop schema as in the old raid “The Vault of Glass” in Destiny. If that is the case, it will now be possible to reach level 32 already if one has extreme luck and can upgrade an exotic helmet from Xur on Friday or get a new one. As mentioned: If that’s the case. Nothing is confirmed.
16:55: What should also be added: So far, only good things have been heard from the raid. It seems to be quite intense and spooky. In our stream with ProNDC, the guys are also pushing through. However, it should not be omitted that the mood among the Guardians in the forums is currently tense. Because players need the DLC for the Nightfall strike, some feel almost extorted.
19:10: As expected, the raid Crota’s End has already been cleared for the first time. Six men, seven hours, and some painful deaths were enough to finish Crota’s End in Destiny for the first time. There was loot too: legendary weapons with 272/331 damage, thus as high as legendary weapons from vendors. And a new legendary ship, the “Light Abyss.” The team had already included a level 31 and also recommends that other teams first reach 31. Then they deal more damage to beat the enrage timer.
Kill Confirmed: Crota has met his end. RT @LtJohn5: World first repeat? @Bungie @InvigorateINV pic.twitter.com/Mmt1i97RfM
— Bungie (@Bungie) December 9, 2014
19:20: So far nothing has been heard about a raid helmet drop, it could really be that it will only be available in the hard mode in January.
20:20: There is now an official statement from Activision regarding the “Nightfall only for buyers” thing, which they provided to GameInformer. This is not exactly a very enlightening statement. It amounts to the fact that players without the DLC can do a lot of new things, receive continued updates, can buy from new vendors, have new weapons and events. Periodically, of course, in the first week of the DLC, the Nightfall from the expansion will be in rotation.
22:20: Our friends from ziro.tv have a tip for you if you want to grab a treasure chest in the raid Crota’s End: Die often.
http://youtu.be/fB0SKIESu40
00:15: We now have a clearly stated statement from Destiny as a tweet: Expansion content from Darkness Lurks is now part of the rotation for daily and heroic activities. There will also be some non-expansion content coming back. This means: A week like this week, where players without the DLC cannot do a Nightfall strike, will happen again. But it will not be every week.
Expansion I content is now part of the rotation for Daily and Weekly heroic activities. Launch content will also be featured weeks to come.
— Bungie (@Bungie) December 9, 2014
