In Destiny , the expansion Rise of Iron should actually usher in Year 3. But Bungie is downplaying it.
A year ago, “The Taken King” was on the horizon, and one could hardly escape the “Year 2” hype. In every statement from the developers, it was made clear: We are starting Year 2 now. Everything will be different. Destiny Year 2 is Destiny 2.0 – that was a promise.
Destiny doesn’t need a revolution
In an interview with the US site Polygon, Bungie’s marketing head Eric Osborne stated at the beginning of July: “We don’t really use the Year 3 label. And I think that happens deliberately. Because Year 2 – the reason we emphasized that was to signal to players that we are overhauling a lot. The light system has been revamped, the way we tell stories has been revised. How quests work or how we led players to hunt for new item upgrades has all been revised based on player feedback from Year 1.”
Destiny 2.0 was indeed a big deal for Bungie. But the “Rise of Iron” expansion is not seen as Destiny 3.0, as they believe the game is functioning well, the systems are all in place, and they can expand cautiously. They don’t need a major overhaul, but are launching a new campaign with new items – it seems Bungie does not feel the need to reinvent Destiny. Bungie wants to build on what is currently working well.
How Bungie puts the facts in a new context
Mein MMO says: The official PR version is clear: Everything is okay. We don’t need to change the systems – they work.
However, the “skipping” of Year 3 can be clearly attributed to the delay of Destiny 2. Initially, it was supposed to be released now – and with Destiny 2, much deeper changes would certainly have come, which would have justified a “Destiny 3.0” or a “Year 3” label.
This example shows how a company’s PR takes the facts “We don’t have Destiny 2” and turns it into an advantage: “We don’t need a revolution. Everything is running great,” by changing the perspective and tone behind an expansion from the outset. The fact that they aren’t making a revolution is not because they simply weren’t ready, but because they don’t need one. One can clearly see the statements and methods employed to provide the “facts” with the right narrative framework.
Revolution or not – it is clear that players now wish for a substantial, rich content update after a long dry spell that gives them as much new to do as possible. And at the moment, it does not necessarily look like Rise of Iron will meet this expectation. This makes the way Rise of Iron is presented often so elusive.
Nostalgia items are at the forefront, the Gjallarhorn, the Thorn, and the like are expected to return – a lot of visual improvements and the introduction of the “Private Matches” feature. However, the hardcore players of Destiny are more interested in the new raid and whether it will meet high expectations – Bungie has traditionally been silent on this, keeping it as a surprise until the last moment.
A specific disadvantage of foregoing Year 3 for the players is: It could be due to the lack of Year 3 that the PS-exclusive items are delayed on Xbox by another year.
