5 Reasons to be Excited for Destiny: The Taken King

Destiny: The Taken King is coming to PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on September 15th and it's shaping up to be everything the original game should have been. 

Following the release of the expansion's launch trailer yesterday, we decided to take a look at five reasons any Guardian should be excited to take on Oryx. 

The Story 

Bungie has heard your complaints about Destiny's lacklustre campaign and appears to have put concerted effort into ensuring The Taken King doesn't repeat its mistakes. There are more cutscenes, the Towers' residents are more involved, and there's bound to be an epic confrontation as the Hive and Cabal do battle on Phobos (one of the moons of Mars) and Oryx's Dreadnaught. 

You can find out more about the evolution in GameSpot's preview. 

Nolan North is also replacing the voice of Peter Dinklage as Ghost and while the actor may be formidable as Tyrion Lannister his prowess never really emerged in his Destiny performance. 

King's Fall Raid

King's Fall is "objectively and emphatically" the biggest Raid in Destiny according to creative director Luke Smith. "It is a journey that we hope players and their friends are going to remember," Smith said. "We're really excited about it, and we think it will raise the stakes again for what the raid team is asked to deliver next time. It's big."

The King's Fall raid will also serve a narrative purpose, Smith revealed, commenting, "The name King's Fall is really like a shot across the bow in a game called The Taken King. That story of Oryx and his presence in our solar system is going to continue after the credits roll and were going to continue to tell you more about Oryx and his minions after you face them for the first time in the game. The raid is really the culmination of that story."

Senior design lead Sage Merrill recently added that the development team wants to "raise the bar" with King's Fall. "The way we developed King's Fall was different to the other raids," he explained. "We developed Hard mode first this time, then scaled to Normal. And we have one more thing we're not talking about yet that's pretty special. It's a twist I'm excited about."

King's Fall won't be available at launch, but neither was Vault of Glass. Hopefully Guardians won't have to wait too long.

The Raid for Destiny: The Taken King is done and will be released hot on the heels of launch. Gear up and get ready.

— Bungie (@Bungie) August 31, 2015

New Strikes 

One of the new Strikes in The Taken King is Shield Brothers, which sees players take on the Cabal after they've crashed their ship into the Dreadnaught. It's also a level 36 Strike, two levels above the current maximum and four levels below the max level in The Taken King so it's going to be tough. 

Strikes are often entertaining but once you've played through one a few times there aren't anymore surprises. This is set to change with The Taken King, where you'll have to fight other enemies or enemies which spawn from different locations. 

“Strikes: they’re an important part of Destiny. We know players are going to run them time and time again, so we want to make that experience less static,” Destiny design lead James Tsai explained. “And this room they are coming up into is one of the rooms that has a variable encounter and all the strikes now have several combat setups where you come into a room and they might be fighting Cabal this time, they be fighting [new enemy race] Taken another time and they’ll hear different dialogue. Enemies will spawn from different locations. So, every Strike’s going to be a slightly different experience and you’ll play the same one a couple times and get a different encounter.”

New Crucible Modes 

There will be a permanent Trials of Osiris multiplayer playlist in The Taken King, plus two new PvP modes: Rift and Mayhem. 

Rift is similar to capture-the-flag modes in other games, but you'll only have so long to carry the 'Spark' or flag before it explodes and kills you. Even if you lose, you'll still be rewarded, unlike most game modes of this kind. 

Mayhem on the other hand recharges supers, grenades, melee attacks, and ammo recharge incredibly quickly for a party game atmosphere which Bungie hopes players won't take quite as seriously as other modes. Mayhem may not be around however, with Bungie looking for feedback on what works and what doesn't once it goes live. 

Everything's Simpler

Are you a Vanguard player who's been locked out of buying Crucible gear? That'll no longer be the case in The Taken King, as Vanguard and Crucible Marks are being replaced with Legendary Marks in the expansion. 

Players were previously restricted to 100 Vanguard and 100 Crucible Marks per week and while you can have a maximum of 200 Legendary Marks at any given time there's no limit to how many you can make per week. The singular currency will also mean you can spend your Marks however you like at either Vanguard or Crucible vendors in the Tower. 

Leveling has also been simplified. In the past you could reach level 20 through normal XP progression, after which you needed to accrue 'light' by finding armour which boosted your light level. With The Taken King, it'll be possible to reach level 40 by gaining normal XP and while your light level will still determine your ability to take part in the game's toughest challenges, the whole thing will be a lot smoother. 

Xur's even going to help you find exotics out in the field and Bungie has promised a fairer reward system for the King's Fall Raid.