Today marks an anniversary for Destiny – exactly one year ago, Xur brought the most coveted weapon in the game.
What comes to mind for you when you think back to the first year of Destiny? Atheon and the Glass Vault? For sure. A confusing story? Probably that too. But one thing has probably burned itself into the brains of all “Year 1” Guardians forever: a very special rocket launcher, the “golden crowbar”, the little horn, the G-Horn, the biggest gun in the game, the weapon with the most wolves – or simply: Gjallarhorn.
The entire community was in Gjallarhorn fever for a year: because this rocket launcher had so much power that it was the best choice for nearly every challenge. Who needs tactics when you can handle the situation with a few shots from Gjallarhorn? On social media, having a Gjallarhorn was often a prerequisite to even get to play.
Those who had the necessary loot luck and got the Gjallarhorn were fortunate in Destiny. However, numerous Guardians were not blessed with luck, and they anxiously watched week after week to see if the Exotic vendor Xur would finally end their bad fortune. But no, the Agent of the Nine disappointed every weekend. A website was even set up just to answer one question: “Is Xur selling Gjallarhorn?” And the question was always answered with a big “No.”
However, Xur was not as stingy with Gjallarhorn as one might think. In the second week after the release, he already had the exotic rocket launcher in his inventory. However, back then, it was not known that this weapon would become THE dominant gun in the first year. The opinion was: “I’m not giving up my exotic slot for a stupid rocket launcher!”
But then the Guardians came to the realization that the thing had quite a bit going for it. And the hype took off. However, Xur did not want to play along anymore. For months, he brought everything – except for what so many Guardians had eagerly been waiting for.
But on 08/14/2015, it finally happened. Xur redeemed the Guardians. All dams broke in the forums.
Holy Shit, Xur is Selling Gjallarhorn!
Finally, the moment arrived that countless Guardians had been waiting for. Major gaming sites like Kotaku headlined about the unusual event with “Holy Shit, Xur is Selling Gjallarhorn!” It was a true major event, both in the game and in the media.
People seized the opportunity and stocked up on multiple Gjallarhorns (note from Ttime: I bought three!) – because finally, all those strange coins had a purpose.
But was it really a coincidence that Xur had Gjallarhorn on that day? Bungie repeatedly emphasized that it was all pure coincidence. Xur is a mystery, nobody knows what he is selling.
However, many users did not quite believe the story. Because at that time, “The Taken King” was around the corner, and there were allegations against Bungie that they wanted to get all those former Guardians to pay attention again. In addition, there was a common belief at that time that Gjallarhorn would lose significant value in Year 2, which is why Xur was supposedly only allowed to bring the coveted rocket launcher just before the end of Year 1.
This weekend in 2016, Xur’s appearance was quite unspectacular compared to the previous year. On reddit, there was partying in the past few days. Some forum rules were lifted, and users took advantage of this joyfully. There were countless posts along the lines of: “At so many upvotes, I’ll do something crazy.” One wrote that he would delete all his 335 characters at 1000 upvotes. In no time, he had over 6000 upvotes and three fewer Guardians.
The following video was dedicated to today’s date:
Yes, it is indeed already a year since this event occurred. How did you behave on 08/14/2015?
With “The Rise of Iron” Gjallarhorn Returns – with a fresh look.
