Yesterday, Bungie shared a lot of information on the upcoming Destiny 2: The Final Shape expansion. Previously slated to launch in February, it was delayed to June 4 to ‘deliver a bigger and bolder vision’.
In the developer preview, Bungie revealed that Guardians will combine the Light and Darkness for the first time with the brand new Prismatic subclass, which introduces new options to enhance and customize each play style with the combination of multiple element types. Luke Smith said:
This is an advanced subclass where you have more build-crafting options, more potential combinations, more fragments than you’d normally get, more fragments slots to socket than you’d normally get.
Also, each class will get a unique grenade that combines multiple subclass elements: Warlocks will have Stasis/Void, Titans will have Strand/Arc, and Hunters will have Solar/Stasis.
Players can now equip an Exotic class item, meaning Hunter’s cloaks, Titan’s marks, and Warlock’s bonds will have Exotic-level perks for the first time. These perks will be randomized, taking two features from existing Exotic class items (even some belonging to other classes) to enhance the Guardian’s ability to customize their gameplay.
Destiny 2: The Final Shape also introduces a new enemy faction called Dread, which employs the following units on the battlefield:
- Grim: A highly mobile flying enemy that slows and suppresses a Guardian’s abilities if they get too close.
- Husk: An acrobatic melee bruiser that sends a deployable geist enemy toward you unless you hit their weak spot with a final blow.
- Attendant and Weaver: By wielding Stasis and Strand, respectively, these units can instantly change the flow of the encounter and force Guardians to pay attention to their positioning on the battlefield.
To tide players over until the expansion, Bungie has released the free update Into the Light, adding a new wave-defense Onslaught activity, iconic fan-favorite weapons with standard and limited-edition variants, the new Hall of Champions social space, the old The Whisper and Zero Hour Exotic missions, a new raid boss gauntlet called Pantheon, fresh rewards, and more.
Even more interesting is that, as pointed out on the Gaming Leaks and Rumors subreddit, the Prismatic subclass coming with Destiny 2: The Final Shape was correctly leaked months ago by someone who also had information on Destiny 3:
Destiny 3 is (was? I don’t know) in development under code name payback. One of the big changes for Destiny 3 is (was, again, I don’t know) for classes to no longer exist and allow any character to spec into any ability since lore wise there is no reason you couldn’t (Hunters explicitly learned blink from Warlocks and blink isn’t tied to a single element, hence the logic there).
Sure enough, during yesterday’s address, Bungie’s Luke Smith dropped the following tease to fans:
Facing The Witness is not the end of Destiny 2, and it’s definitely not the end of Destiny. After you face The Witness, we’re gonna tell you what’s coming next to Destiny 2 and beyond.
