Destiny's latest expansion, Rise of Iron, is set to release next month and Bungie has finally released a whole load of information detailing all the coming changes via an article in Game Informer.
The latest expansion will bring a new zone for players to explore called the Plaguelands, adding the usual mix of new enemies and quests for Guardians to complete and no doubt if Rise of Iron is similar to previous expansions, may hold more than a few secretes to be uncovered. The area will be inhabited by Destiny's new enemies, the Devil Splicers, which are a mutated form of the Fallen, corrupted by an ancient nano-virus.
Similar to the House of Wolves DLC, Bungie's new expansion will add another social space for players to explore, called Felwinter Peak. The new area will not be unlocked from the get go though, Guardians will have to defeat the new enemies, the Fallen Devil Splicers, to gain access to all the gear, bounties and vendors inside. To add to this Rise of Iron's creative lead, Christopher Barret told Game Informer, "There are lots of secrets. There's this whole portion of Felwinter Peak that is normally locked, except during special events. There may be some secret ways to get back there."
The House of Devils where known for splicing themselves with technology to get closer to their machine God. This not only shows in their new abilities, but may also hint at what to expect for the new raid boss, as the Devils worshipped a nano-plague called SIVA, which was a Golden Age breakthrough in self-assembling, self-replicating nanotechnology. The virus corrupted them and they used it to infect fellow Fallen, which may suggest we'll see some old faces in the new DLC, reimagined as infected bosses.
Rise of Iron will add a new cinematic story quest to Destiny, in which you explore the Plaguelands over five missions, but similar to previous DLC will not be particularly long. As Destiny players have come to expect the bulk of the content will come in the quests and missions you receive after completing the story.
It seems like Bungie are trying to refine their cooperative modes as well with the new challenge arena, Archon's Forge. The team has stated it will be similar to Prison of Elders' and Court of Oryx before it, but more robust and accessible, allowing guardians to fight easily alongside other random fellow players and not have to seek out specific team.
The new expansion will also see the level cap rise to 385, but not to worry Bungie has confirmed that any gear added from The Taken King onwards will be available to infuse up to the new light cap. They have also stated that the light level will raise again, when the hard raid releases, to 400. The hard raid is set to release a few weeks after Rise of Iron's initial release.
Gear and armour will also be having an overhaul. Rise of Iron will add Relics, which will are in-game items that will have a variety of effects, one of which, the flaming axe, was showcased in the Rise of Iron trailer. Artifacts will make a more significant difference to your character now, as they will give your Guardian new powerful abilities, imbuing weapons and armour with special properties. On top of this Bungie has promised some new cosmetic items that expand on the Chorma mechanic they added with the last expansion. Only referred to as Ornaments at the minute, it seems they will apply different skins and designs individually to your characters weapons and armour.
CEO Pete Parsons talked Game Informer about the struggle to keep up with fans appetite for new content and their future plans for Destiny saying;
"A hard skill we've learned is how to be more nimble and agile," he stated. "I'd love to be able to publish what we're doing for Destiny for the next two years. I think internally that's a goal that we have. We were playing catch up so much on just figuring out what we had made and how we were going to support it, and what tweaks we needed to make. We're getting ourselves in a position where we can start doing that."
Destiny's new expansion Rise of Iron will release on September 20 for PS4 and Xbox One, but will unfortunately not be coming to last-gen consoles this time.