Destiny 2 has continued to grow and evolve over the years since its release, with numerous seasonal updates and expansions. Along the way players have discovered new elements of Destiny 2's universe, seen stories unfold, found incredible loot, and participated in a range of new activities. Not all of the changes or new content have been well received by the game's community, but developer Bungie has continued to iterate and listen to the feedback from its community to steadily improve Destiny 2.
Now, Bungie has given fans their first look at Destiny 2's The Witch Queen expansion, slated to release early next year. Like the previous expansion, Beyond Light, The Witch Queen will deliver a bevy of new content to the looter shooter, as well as kick off a series of seasons that will continue to bring new content and story to Destiny 2. Bungie has already shown off quite a bit of The Witch Queen, and here is everything that is known about the expansion so far.
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The Witch Queen Continues Destiny 2's Narrative
The Witch Queen revolves around Savathun, a Hive God that Destiny 2 has been building towards for years now. Any Destiny 2 players who are very cued into the game's extensive lore will likely have a good idea as to where the expansion's story will head. It has already been revealed that Savathun has been manipulating the guardian Osiris to use him to lead people of the Last City astray, and it seems likely that she could be influencing other characters as well. Interestingly, Savathun has also managed to manipulate the light on her own, allowing her to have a ghost as well as imbuing the Hive with it.
The Hive having the light is definitely an intimidating prospect and could have some sprawling impacts on the rest of Destiny 2 and its narrative. Savathun being able to manipulate the Light herself was leaked ahead of its official reveal, but was dismissed by many for seeming implausible. However, it is true, and fans cannot be blamed for being intimidated by the 23-foot tall Hive God. The expansion's story will continue the ongoing narrative of Destiny 2's world, and will play into future expansions. Bungie has confirmed that The Final Shape will end Destiny 2's 10-year storyline, so it will be very interesting how The Witch Queen starts building to the storyline's conclusion.
Destiny 2's New Gameplay Systems Coming in The Witch Queen
The biggest change brought with Beyond Light was the introduction of a player subclass that utilized the Darkness, known as Stasis. Stasis was also unique in that it allowed players to customize their abilities and benefits through an innovative new system that allowed players to unlock their abilities through a variety of different activities and the expansion's main questline.
Bungie has announced that The Witch Queen will introduce a similar system, but instead, will use it to revitalize the Light-based subclasses that Destiny 2 players are already familiar with. The update will first come for Void subclasses, with Solar and Arc following suit in subsequent seasons. It will undoubtedly be a massive change for Destiny 2 and will be one that Bungie will have to be very careful to balance well as the introduction of Stasis dominated the game's PvP meta for months following its addition.
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Another massive new feature coming with The Witch Queen is the introduction of weapon crafting. Weapon crafting is a system that players have wanted for some time now, and its introduction in The Witch Queen will likely change Destiny 2 forever. The system allows players to craft their own versions of weapons that they have found throughout the game using all of the stats and perks they have previously found, including the new Glaive weapon type being added in The Witch Queen.
That way, players are able to produce the exact god roll for weapons that they want, rather than having to grind out loot trying to find the exact weapon they're looking for every season. However, Destiny 2's recent transmog system was poorly received amongst the game's players for being very restrictive and expensive, so hopefully, weapon crafting won't share the same fate.
New Content Coming to Destiny 2 in The Witch Queen
Destiny 2's previous year of content also saw the return of the iconic Vault of Glass raid, and Bungie has said that another raid will be receiving similar treatment in Year 5. The hints seem to point towards the remastered raid being either King's Fall or Wrath of the Machine, but it also could be a raid that Destiny 2 players don't expect. Bungie has also said that Destiny 2 will receive a new dungeon or raid for players to master every three months this year, including a brand new raid with The Witch Queen, so it sounds as though there will be more activities than ever for players to dive into.
The Witch Queen will also include an entirely new six-player matchmade activity that Bungie describes as being at the heart of the struggle on Savathun's Throne World. It is not clear what players will be doing throughout the activity, but Bungie's recent seasonal activities have been fairly well-received by players, so hopefully, the developers can keep that streak going with The Witch Queen's new activity as well.
The Witch Queen will also introduce a new Legendary difficulty that Guardians will be able to select when starting activities or missions. This difficulty will be available at launch and aims to challenge the highest level of Destiny 2 players. The expansion will also introduce a new system that will scale mission difficulty based on how many players are queued together. The idea is to ensure that players are able to play through the expansion at a challenging level regardless of whether they want to do it with friends or on their own.
Everything Bungie has revealed about The Witch Queen so far looks pretty great, so it is no wonder that players are looking forward to it as much as they are. Hopefully, it doesn't disappoint and helps Destiny 2 continue to evolve and improve in a way that all of its fans are happy with.
Destiny 2 is available now on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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