On the Edge of Our Seats

destiny 2edge of fateexpansionyear of prophecyrenegadesrevealreaction
Written By Timothy Marasigan

Eager Edge. Storm’s Edge. Salvation’s Edge. Bungie seems to like keeping our anticipation on the edge, because this last week, their latest Destiny 2 expansion was revealed: The Edge of Fate. I’ve mentioned before that I wasn’t sure if I would continue playing the game after The Light and Darkness Saga concluded, so consider this month’s blog a reaction to the new reveal.

I’ll include the original stream here for anyone who missed it, but, since it’s almost an hour long, I’ll provide timestamps of major sections, stand-out items shown or mentioned, additional information from Thursday’s TWAB (oh, sorry, TWID), and my personal thoughts on that section. Here we go!

The Cinematic Reveal Trailer (00:00)

Stand-Out Items

  • New world, who dis?

  • The Nine extend an invitation (and they’re older than we think)

  • The Emissary’s breakout performance

My Thoughts

  • I’m glad to see that the Nine are coming to the forefront of the story. We’ve heard them mentioned multiple times in the lore, but they’ve rarely been a narrative focus. The two times I can remember them more overtly mentioned was during the Season of the Drifter and Dares of Eternity during the 30th Anniversary (check MyNameIsByf for accurate facts). Some of them were the reason Ghaul was able to capture the Traveler back in the Red War campaign, but did we know that? No, because that was hidden behind random lore. Bungie is bringing that element of mystery back into play, which is a major plus in my storywriting book.

The Fate Saga (05:06)

Stand-Out Items

  • The next multi-year story arc will be called The Fate Saga, starting with the first expansion: The Edge of Fate

  • Major Theme: Fate (do I decide, or do I follow…?)

  • What are the Nine? (#justiceforPluto)

  • Edge of Fate launches July 15, 2025

  • Renegades, the second expansion of the year, launches in winter

  • 2026 sees the Shattered Cycle and The Alchemist expansions

My Thoughts

  • Whether we wanted it or not, we’ve stepped into a war with the Nine on [redacted]… The idea of two expansions in a single year reminds me of Curse of Osiris and Warmind back in the base game. It does make me wonder: will Bungie keep the same quality as annual expansions, or are they biting off more than they can chew?

1st Gameplay Trailer (10:16)

Stand-Out Items

  • New voice, who dis?

  • Fallen on the horizon

  • Gordon Freeman from Half-Life 2 isn’t human anymore

  • Terrain-altering mechanics

  • Vex on the field

  • New guns

  • They fly now?!? They fly now!!!

  • Samus Aran confirmed?

My Thoughts

  • The first 9 seconds already have some lore references. I don’t remember where the “observe connect conceal” lines came from (again, ask Byf), but the subway train popping out of a portal? There were hints of the Nine taking things from the past and spitting them at us in the present. Probably what’s happening here.

  • Looks like the typical gameplay hype Bungie is known for in their trailers, complete with flashy abilities, fancy guns, new enemy types, and glimpses of bizarre imagery to generate interest.

The Edge of Fate Breakdown (11:41)

Stand-Out Items

  • New location: Kepler

  • “Metroid-vania” exploration style

  • Increased expansion releases = increased pace of major story beats

  • Flying Fallen are called Corsairs (fitting)

  • World Tiers (higher difficulty, better loot)

  • Playing earlier world tiers unlock harder world tiers

  • Updated quest content

  • Dark Matter (energy that allows us to alter the terrain in-game; not tied to subclass per se)

  • Robbie pronounced “shurikens” as “sharukens,” and I’m not comfortable with that…

  • Dark Matter smells and tastes like bleach and math (thanks, Drifter)

  • New character: Lodai (21:32; if Gordon Freeman was a “notice me” character, apparently)

  • Vex and the Fallen House of Exile are present

My Thoughts

  • They really leaned heavy on the Metroid part of “Metroid-vania.” Not only do our new powers alter the landscape, we’ll be able to turn into Arc balls and zip around tight corridors like Samus. This is one of three confirmed elemental applications to the new Dark Matter abilities (the others being Void and Strand). Not quite what I was hoping for in the build-crafting department, but it does open things up for exploration and puzzle-solving.

Rite of the Nine (24:43)

Stand-Out Items

  • Explorer Mode: guided play with traversal assists

  • Eternity Mode: higher difficulty and new challenges

  • Ultimatum Mode: contest-mode difficulty

  • Prophecy, Spire of the Watcher, and Ghosts of the Deep dungeons free for all players

  • Rite of the Nine acts as a prologue to Edge of Fate

My Thoughts

  • Wait, are there story beats in this event? I may have to call my old raid team…

Core Game Changes (27:40)

Stand-Out Items

  • Goodbye Director, hello Portal (streamlining menus)

  • Solo-Ops (activities built for solo players)

  • Fireteam-Ops and Pinnacle-Ops (geared around co-op)

  • Crucible-Ops (PvP)

  • All game modes within the Portal will help with progression (can earn high-tier loot in PvP, too)

  • 50 new gameplay modifiers (which you can mix and match)

TWAB Additions

  • The regular Director will still be available from the Portal’s “Worlds” tab

My Thoughts

  • Adjusting the difficulty of core playlist activities does sound interesting. Will I add in a bunch of modifiers for my own runs? Probably not, but it’s still interesting!

Gear Changes (36:07)

Stand-Out Items

  • Armor 3.0

    • Stat Rebranding

      • Weapons (reload speed and handling)

      • Health (increased HP regen when picking up Orbs of Power and flinch resistance)

      • Class (class ability cooldown and energy gains)

      • Grenade (grenade cooldown and energy gains)

      • Super (super energy gains)

      • Melee (melee cooldown and energy gains)

    • Stats benefit from going above 100

    • Armor Set Perks (2 from a set: one perk; 4 from a set; second perk)

    • New Legendary Armor has max energy right away

    • Something they can’t talk about…?

  • Gear Tiers

    • Weapons and armor will have 5 tiers

    • Bumps to stats with each tier(?)

      • Mod slots bumped up to 11

    • Unique shader treatments and kill effects for Tier 5 weapons

TWAB Additions

  • All players’ Power level will be refreshed at the start of The Edge of Fate

My Thoughts

  • If Destiny 3 was going to be a thing, these are the changes we would’ve seen. As interesting as these updates are, I do wonder how much adjustment buildcrafting will have. How much will I have to replace with new loot? How difficult will it be to earn Tier 5 gear as a casual gamer? Will my old gear still be relevant? Will I finally have more than 10 slots in my Vault open again?

Year of Prophecy (40:37)

Stand-Out Items

  • Expansion (new stories, locations, missions, weapons, gear, raid and dungeon)

  • Major Update (new and reprised activities, new sandbox meta, events, modifies, and challenges, and new gear and artifact mods)

    • Free for all players

    • Update size = Into the Light

  • Rewards Pass (legendary and exotic weapons, armors, and ornaments, cosmetics, and more…)

  • 2 Expansions in 1 year

    • The Edge of Fate expansion drops July 15, 2025 with Season 1 Reclamation

    • Major Update Ash & Iron drops September 9, 2025

      • Returning to the Plaguelands (SIVA? Bungie??? SIVA????)

    • Renegades expansion drops December 2, 2025 with Season 2 Lawless

    • Major Update Shadow & Order drops March 3, 2026

  • Paid seasonal content is…gone?!?

  • Heavy Metal available on May 9 (rewards the Gryphon, a combat sparrow)

    • Skimmer is Flash, Gryphon is Splash

  • Arms Week (focus on 1 weapon archetype with specialized rewards)

  • Shooting Range added to the Tower to test weapons and abilities (Carl can finally take a break)

  • Holo-foil treatment for event weapons (the Solstice holo-foil is already making waves)

My Thoughts

  • I’ve heard laments about seasonal story content going away despite some being so enjoyable. It’s nice to hear that they’re changing up that model in a meaningful way, like getting rid of that paywall.

Renegades Expansion Teaser (48:21)

Stand-Out Items

  • An integral part of the Destiny storyline…set in STAR WARS?!?!

    • Okay, more of an homage, but STILL…

  • Full reveal in September

TWAB Additions

  • Renegades will be a Destiny story with the Star Wars aesthetic

  • Vault space changes and QoL planned in this expansion

My Thoughts

  • As a major Star Wars fanboy, this looks good…

Wrap-Up (51:34)

Stand-Out Items

  • Edge of Fate raid drops July 19

  • Pre-orders available

  • Ultimate Addition (which is about $100) includes New Land Beyond sniper (formerly No Land Beyond), general cosmetics, and Star Wars inspired transmog items

  • Collector’s Edition has a rather large statuette and several other goodies

My Thoughts

  • Titans get a cape!!! Titans can be Vader!!!!!

    • $100 is a lot, though…better start saving…

Yes, this was the TL;DR version.

This reveal clarified and eased many of the concerns I had regarding the narrative direction and the buildcrafting changes. The idea of eliminating paid seasonal content is pleasing to hear, though I’m sure Bungie will find other ways to make up that revenue. Although I’m not quite as impressed with the Dark Matter mechanic, I’m hoping the overall updates do create a better quality of life for the game.

I guess you could say I’m…on the Edge of my seat.

Timothy Marasigan
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