In the MMO shooter Destiny, two events, the Iron Banner and the Queen’s Wrath, have concluded. Could the next “Trials of Osiris” be waiting for players?

One wonders what is still to come for Destiny until December. The two major events ‘Queen’s Wrath’ and ‘The Iron Banner’ were planned, announced, and completed, and since then there has been silence: Do they have anything in store to keep fans engaged until the launch of ‘The Dark Below’ in December? Maybe. It is already known through data mining that another one of these “big events”, the Trials of Osiris, is being prepared. What do we know about it? Quite a bit. We summarize the essentials – but nothing has been officially confirmed yet.

When will Trials of Osiris come?
No one knows. It could come now, or it could also start in December with the expansion or even later.

What is the event about? PvP or PvE?
The event is basically what one thought the Iron Banner would be – the high-end crucible event in Destiny, meaning PvP against other players. In Trials of Osiris, there will likely be better rewards this time, but that was also the belief with Iron Banner.

New PvP map and heading to Mercury in Destiny

How does it work exactly?
The Iron Banner could only be played in control mode, while Trials of Osiris will probably only run in skirmish mode and on the map “The Burning Shrine” on Mercury. So it is going to a new planet. This should be a relatively small map for three-against-three matches full of Vex architecture that also obstructs vision.

What will be played on the map? Do level bonuses count?
It will probably come down to three against three matches. The question is whether matchmaking will be in effect or if players can only participate with pre-made teams. That is still unclear. Also whether the level advantage counts – as it did with Iron Banner – and if so, to what extent is still not clear. This can’t be inferred from data mining. Due to the inadequate advantage from an equipment lead, there was quite a bit of trouble at Iron Banner.

Without matchmaking, people would complain about being excluded from the event – like they currently are with the raid. With matchmaking, flames would be inevitable, as players would always end up with noobs and thus lose (the so-called “League of Legends Elo hell” syndrome). You just have to envy the designers of Destiny.

What is special about the mode?
The special thing is that players need to “buy” their entry. A ticket, an “Osiris Coin”, can be purchased for a “Mote of Light”. With this ticket, one can participate in the event until they lose three times. Afterwards, they will likely be paid out and need to buy a new ticket if they want to try their luck again.

Many think that through this mode, players who are very successful would get a chance for better equipment with each victory. And that seems reasonable, as it is in games like Hearthstone, which also has this “entrance fee and win streaks” mode.

It’s all about the win streaks in Trials of Osiris

What items will there be?
The rewards are quite similar to those of the Iron Banner – in terms of selection. There are shaders, emblems, a legendary jump ship, legendary weapons, and armor. Pictures of armor are currently not very helpful, as only generic text accompanies them. Data miners suggest there are 11 armor pieces per class. Two each for chest, legs, and feet, and even three for the head. And there are also special class items again. For the weapons, almost one of every type is expected to be new in Destiny, only an auto rifle is missing, so eight legendary weapons are anticipated – if the data miners have captured everything and assigned it correctly.

Again, the tricky question is whether this time the armors can be upgraded to a light level of 30 or if the raid remains the only source for that. Armors with a light level of 30 are necessary to reach the current maximum level of 30. But if Trials of Osiris comes only with the expansion and there the maximum level is raised, that wouldn’t matter anyway.

Additionally, with Trials of Osiris there is an Exotic Bounty connected, which at its end rewards an exotic scout rifle, the Fate of all Fools.
To obtain the scout rifle, players must first complete an as yet unknown challenge, and then either win 10 games in one run (before losing three times) or win a total of 25 matches in the Trials of Osiris. Additionally, in a third step, players must achieve headshots and killing sprees with a scout rifle.

As mentioned, the information is currently not entirely conclusive but provides an opportunity for a preview. It might be a good idea to be somewhat frugal with the “Motes of Light” and to search for two friends early on. That can never hurt.

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In Destiny, there is still much to achieve with the raids. The developers are very satisfied with the first one; in an interview, the lead designer of the raid talks about the individual design decisions.

The next time you wipe in a raid, you can thank Luke Smith for it. He is the lead designer of “The Glass Chamber,” the only raid so far in Bungie’s MMO Destiny. Kotaku had the opportunity for a long conversation with Smith, who has done such a good job of torturing and challenging you that he has even been promoted.

Ghost is silent so that the raiders can communicate

One of the most common questions about the raid is: “Why is Ghost so silent?” Was there no time left for voice recordings, or what? But according to Smith, that has nothing to do with it. Throughout the game, Ghost is the voice that the Guardian hears. But in the raid “The Glass Chamber,” five other voices can be heard, those of the teammates. You should be able to focus on them.

The raids were created with the firm requirement that Guardians overcome them by talking and communicating with one another. Over time, the conversations and commands changed. Commands like “Oracles up!” would arise, until they are no longer needed, and then one could talk about their day or simply be silent. However, at the beginning, communication is incredibly important to make progress.

That’s why Bungie seems to struggle with the players’ demand for a matchmaking system or even a raid finder. In response to a corresponding question, Smith rather avoids it.

The raids take a pioneering role in Destiny

Due to the players’ ability to talk to each other – which is not provided for in the rest of the game – the raid design team had the opportunity to introduce new mechanics and ideas: “The foundation of the raids was that both teamwork and communication are required.” This opened up gameplay principles that the Kotaku interviewer cannot find anywhere else in Destiny.

In a sense, the raid team, according to Smith, becomes a kind of “pioneer group” that tries and tests gameplay mechanics that may later come to other parts of Destiny.

Players should learn through the raids

One of the guiding themes in raid design is for Smith to teach players something slowly and to familiarize them more closely with the game. It is important not to frustrate them: “It is easy to make something incredibly hard. But it is difficult to design something in such a way that players try it, fail, improve, and have fun the whole time.”

For the future, Bungie apparently has a lot in store for the raids in Destiny. Each raid is supposed to show players something new, teach them something new. They are already looking forward to this.

For the current raid “The Glass Chamber,” Destiny has received a lot of praise – the design team responsible for it is still together, has received reinforcement, and things are going well for Luke Smith: the raid was so well received by fans that a promotion was in store for him. This means that not only will raids play a bigger role in Destiny in the future – but so will Luke Smith.

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In Destiny, the Timestream ability of Atheon is likely to be changed as early as next week, making the battle more difficult because it will be more random. This frustrates some fans and dominated the discussion about Destiny over the weekend.

Timestream now selects three random players

The most important ability of Atheon, the raid boss in “The Glass Chamber”, for the battle’s course is the “Timestream”. Until now, the three Guardians farthest from him are thrown into another time plane. There, they need to make their way back to the portal as quickly as possible, or the raid will wipe. The other three players must try to open the gate in the present, or the raid will wipe. It’s not as simple as it sounds, as there are surrounding circumstances and difficulties, the trickiness of the object, so to speak. At the end of the article, you will find a video that explains the battle mechanics of what is considered the hardest boss fight in Destiny in more detail.

Since it was clear beforehand who would be teleported and who would not, players could agree in advance on who would take on which task. One was the “Away” team, the other the “Home” team. The players accepted their roles, could prepare for them, and eventually mastered them.

This classification is exactly what Destiny wants to abolish in the next hotfix. Atheon is supposed to randomly select three players. The specialization of players into individual tasks does not suit Bungie. Everyone must be able to do everything; after all, Atheon represents the climax of the raid, as stated in the announcement for the fix.

Why are players so upset about this?

Chaos or order – Boss mechanics require a different procedure

Such boss mechanics, where a raid splits in advance and assigns specific tasks, have been known in MMORPGs for years. For example, in early boss fights, a tank had “Add duty” and only had to take care of the adds, having no idea what the “Main Tank” was supposed to do.

In World of Warcraft or other MMOs with raid traditions, it is quite normal that before the pull, it is already clear which player will “go into the portal” to take on a special task there. In such fights, it ultimately only requires “practice”, as each player does the same thing at every pull until everything works well enough for the boss to go down.

However, there are also always boss encounters in MMOs where it is random which player has a critical task during a pull. These “random” elements often annoy “normal” raid groups—especially in loot runs with numerous players. Because in every raid, there are “weak links” who struggle to fulfill special tasks. Others groan when they hear: Darkhexx0r23 now has the buff and must give the princess twenty-four hand kisses, but definitely not twenty-five. Because they know: Darkhexx0r panics when he has to do something like that and always loses count.

The introduction of a random element into the equation and the breaking of routine makes it more difficult to learn a boss. However, the fights are more dynamic and often count as highlights of a raid. Especially demanding boss fights at the end of a “raid tier” not only require automations that can be practiced but also players’ ability to react quickly and correctly to randomly occurring events while maintaining raid coordination.

So, both “boss mechanics”, both random distribution and a more static one, are fundamentally common and normal. And they alone wouldn’t be a reason for the current frustration—even among players who are rather inexperienced in raids, which can be assumed in Destiny.

Problems with the change lie in scheduling and communication

The planned change with Atheon annoys Destiny players because it clearly complicates the “mechanics” of the boss fight and Bungie has not communicated this. It is dismissed as a “fix”—just like the prevention of knocking (which was a clear bug).

This change to the Timestream is not a bug fix but a retroactive change in design. Bungie has changed its mind.

“We are making the boss harder after he has already been established for 5 IDs” is a rather unusual approach in raid design. In most games, bosses become significantly easier over time. However, Bungie is still new to boss design—and with only 6 players, it might be realistic to expect that everyone can handle all tasks. Some “chaos” in the process and a more hectic gameplay is surely beneficial for a shooter like Destiny. Although it would have been better to design the boss like this from the start.

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In the MMO shooter Destiny, stunts with the Sparrow remain incredibly popular. Now, a Guardian has even jumped over the huge hole in the moon in the style of “Evel Knievel” or Jackass.

The Sparrows, a type of hover-bike, bring a lot of joy to players in Destiny. They are the stars of quite a few videos. And even though one might think they’ve seen it all, players come up with new ideas all the time. Currently, a video is circulating of a Guardian jumping over the “Hellmouth”. This is the huge crater that the Hive has dug into our moon. Apparently, they took on all the drilling stress just to provide the backdrop for this impressive stunt in Destiny.

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