In the MMO shooter Destiny, the 3 new subclasses are presented, and glimpses into the maps are given.
When Destiny launched in September 2014 with the 6 subclasses that every player knows so well now, another team was already working on three more. The 3, Nightstalker, Stormcaller, and Sunbreaker, will be introduced to Destiny players with the “Taken King” expansion.
By the way: Originally, there were plans to start with 4 character classes, designing a fourth base class in addition to Titan, Hunter, and Warlock, but that didn’t work out. After all, the character classes were intended to be distinct from each other and not exhibit too many overlapping abilities. So the decision was made to go with 3 base classes, and everything fit together.
Warlock was meant to be a Necromancer, became a Stormcaller
During the design process for the Taken King, new ideas for subclasses kept emerging, while old ones were discarded.
Originally, there was a plan to turn the Warlock into a “Necromancer” with the Taken King. He would have been able to resurrect defeated enemies and make them fight for him, but nothing came of that idea; instead, they opted for the “Stormcaller”.
It’s clear that the Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars inspired this class. “He is not very subtle, flies around, and distributes electrical shocks,” Bungie reveals. Enemies would learn to hate his melee attack. Because it has an enormous range when fully charged. As a Warlock, one should get used to working with the melee attack early on. Stormcallers would have high chances of winning in a melee duel.
In the talent tree, several builds for the Stormcaller will be possible. Stormcaller Warlocks can either deal increased damage to single enemies or be designed to control and harass a larger group of enemies. Another build focuses on mobility and has a Blink, a short teleport.
Hunter is subtle this time, but not too subtle as Nightstalker
For the Hunter, the initial design was thought to orient more around a classic “Tracker” version: a hunter who reads tracks and can see through walls. While thematically fitting for the Hunter, this version simply never played well.
Eventually, they settled on the Nightstalker. He will be rather challenging to play. His super is designed as a “counter ability” that can pin enemies to walls or the ground. He can evade attacks through a combat roll and uses smoke grenades.
A “Voidwall Grenade” also creates a barrier.
Star of the expansion could be the Titan: Billiards with burning enemies
In the first images and videos, incredibly popular: the Titan as Sunbreaker. The initial trailers elicited reactions like: “Oh God, I need a Titan, I want a flaming hammer.”
Many of the Titan’s actions ignite the enemy.
Bungie advises that rather than killing enemies immediately, it’s better to ignite them and knock them into their friends to create a chain reaction.
Caution: The videos in this article originate from the fan site PlanetDestiny. They are two months old and based on the E3 presentation, an earlier version. Therefore, everything can still change or may have changed by now. The text of the article, however, refers to new information from Bungie.
Read more about Destiny and the Taken King expansion on our Destiny theme page.
