It’s 2024, and there’s an argument to be made that Bungie has, by now, re-released virtually all the big, important bits of content that got sunset with the release of the Beyond Light DLC. Regardless, there’s quality Destiny 2 content that’s left behind still, and I aim to highlight it.
Back when Bungie first announced it’d sunset (i.e. delete) large chunks of Destiny 2 to make room for new content, there was a huge amount of trepidation over what that might mean for the game’s health in the long run. It didn’t take long for the players to begin resenting sunsetting, of course, but it kind of worked out in the end, as Destiny 2 is now in a great spot thanks to the lovely Final Shape DLC.
Could Destiny 2 be in a better spot still? Oh, most certainly, and I propose that could be brought about by Bungie returning even more previously sunset content into the game.
Destiny 2’s best sunset content
#10: Curse of Osiris, Warmind, and Forsaken campaigns
Yes, I am bundling all of these together. The reasoning is simple: if you’re going to bring back one of the early Destiny 2 campaigns, you really ought to bring back all of them because if we can have Shadowkeep still present and accounted for, there’s nothing wrong with keeping Warmind around as well. Now, it’s exceedingly unlikely that Bungie will get around to reimplementing old Destiny 2 campaigns, of course, but if it does end up happening, I’d expect a truncated and streamlined version in lieu of the old (often grindy) original.
#9: World-building post-campaign Adventure missions
One of the features of the first and second years of Destiny 2 was that after you were done with the campaign, a fairly chunky roster of post-game Adventure missions would appear. Some of these helped the plot along while others seemingly went nowhere… until they became relevant anew. One example is that of Io, where Asher Mir and the Guardian went through many different hoops to stifle the flow of Vex, Cabal, and Taken forces. A particularly relevant Adventure was when Asher installed a backdoor into the Vex network, which is almost certainly the reason he could help Guardians once again later on, during the Season of the Splicer.
#8: Menagerie activity
Destiny 2 has had no shortage of awesome seasonal activities over the years and, indeed, some of them are prominently featured in this very article. The Menagerie itself, from the Season of Opulence, remains a high point for the series and a relevant point of comparison for veteran players. It’s easy to see why, too: it was the first time you could target-farm specific loot you were after, and there was a sizeable list of unique mission permutations and objectives the Menagerie would cycle through to keep things spicy.
#7: Riven’s Lair activity
If the Menagerie was great due to its sheer variety, scope, and loot selection, Riven’s Lair from the Season of the Wish maintains a similarly high standard when it comes to novelty factor. Riven’s Lair was, in essence, a rogue-lite version of Destiny 2. A rotating dungeon-like combat mission that kept changing and evolving as the Guardians loop through it repeatedly? Yes, sir. Add temporary bonuses and buffs to the mix, and you have a winner.
#6: Bespoke seasonal story missions
Activities are all good, but it’s a simple statement of fact that for all of its (many) sunset DLCs, Destiny 2 has an even greater list of sunset seasonal content. From the introduction of Destiny 2‘s Seasons back in the Forsaken era, until they evolved into the current Episodes, we have lost twenty seasons‘ worth of content, and much of it was extremely important for the game’s overarching narrative. It’s impossible to get all of it back at this point, but the bespoke seasonal story missions, such as the Season of Dawn‘s original meeting with Saint-14? Those feel like a more reasonable bet.
#5: Inaccessible patrol zones
More so than most things, it’d just be phenomenal if we could get back the old, now sunset patrol zones. These are, specifically, Titan, Io, Mars, and Mercury. Relaxed, almost contemplative (yet very much grindy) patrolling across combat zones is an instrumental part of the Destiny gameplay experience, and adding more variety here is never going to be a bad idea.
#4: Leviathan Raid
It’s got to be some kind of crime that Destiny 2‘s original raid – the Leviathan – is not present in the current build of the game in any capacity. There’s not much more that needs to be said here: the Leviathan was fun and engaging, and it remains a key aspect of the experience that I’m hoping to see return sometime down the line.
#3: The Red War campaign
Though it had its faults, the Red War campaign of Destiny 2 was an excellent introduction to the franchise for newcomers and a solid early showpiece of what the game would grow into. Having it back as an onboarding option for new and returning players would be a hoot, and it would round off Destiny 2‘s current campaign roster in a satisfying and meaningful way.
#2: Removed Strikes
Destiny 2‘s current Vanguard Ops playlist has a big Battleground-shaped problem that I’ve talked about at some length before. Basically, we’ve got too many Battlegrounds, and too few Strikes, and bringing back the Strikes that have been taken out of the game would help even the odds. For context, we are talking about no less than nine Strike missions that were solid at the absolute worst, and this includes the excellent Festering Core Strike, which was only available for one year if you can believe that.
#1: Scourge of the Past Raid
The only reason the Scourge of the Past is higher on this list than the Leviathan is its accessibility. This is the fastest, most approachable Raid Destiny 2 has ever had, and it was not only loaded with good Black Armory-style loot, but it was also a whole lot of fun. Having it back would be a huge boon to Destiny 2‘s already admirable Raid roster, and I’m hoping that it makes a triumphant return sooner rather than later.
Published: Jul 20, 2024 09:40 am