Withthe tenth anniversary of the franchise,Destiny 2developers have revealed a partial Roadmap and their reasons for implementing several changes in the game. The Year 11 content will be called Frontiers and will be divided into two major sections Apollo and Behemoth.
Here is a listing of some of the things players should expect to see inDestiny 2Frontiers, alongside detailed information revealed by Bungie, a deep analysis of why the changes are needed, and what will be the positive outcomes of their implementation.
6Frontiers Will Bring More Free To Play Content
The Game’s Economy Might Change, But It Will Not Be Absolutely F2P
The first year 11 expansionCodename: Apollowill pave the way for many changes coming toDestiny 2in 2025, with two expansions delivered per year, and four major free-to-play content updates. Could this meanDestiny 2will finally take the leap and transition into a full F2P model? The answer is yes, and no. Though many are excited to know what is ahead of time, the devs have also disclosed that they will become more transparent in their ways of communication, sharing more and more information about the upcoming content as they work on it.
That’s a good thing and leaves little room for surprise. It seems that the shift in direction will probably bring other changes to how the company conducts business. This could also mean that the game could keep its current financial model of selling an annual season pass, while also ramping up free access content for the rest of the players.
5Changes In Activities And Interface
Some Much-Needed Changes That Will Bring QoL To The Game
Destiny 2 Frontierswill change the way players join and participate in activities, first presenting the new Portal System, which is part of the UI renovation that the devs will conduct in the game during year 11. One of the things that are critical for a game likeDestiny 2is its Core Activities. Assaults, Nightfall, Dungeons, Raids, Exotic Missions, Seasonal Activities, Gambit, and Crucible will remain part of the Core Activities inFrontiersbut the wayplayers access these activities will change: The Portal system will replace the Destinations tab, improving access toDestiny 2’smain activities for all players.
Additionally, the devs have spoken about the implementation of the Challenge System, which would effectively replace the Modification Rotation of Playlist Activities and will allow players to customize their group or solo play experiences with new and challenging mods that will also have their own rewards. The new system intends to be a new way to reward those players who seek a more challenging experience, with improved rewards for those masterful enough to try the hardest modes, so in a sense, the change will not be such a shock for those players accustomed to Grandmaster level activities. PvE activities will be a priority in the implementation of the new system. The Matchmaking system will remain operative, but it will be not possible to use the Challenge System with random matchmaking, since it will only be available for some preset difficulties. Crucible will represent an issue to be resolved, and in order for the devs to include it in this new array they will need to keep working on a different approach since PvP activities are not fit for Challenge Modifiers.
4Changes In The Reward System
Highly Requested By The Players, And About Time
Essentially, Legendary weapons and armor will change forever. Although all weapons will remain usable, there will be a new layer that will add a deeper range of quality to the items. For example stats, better perks, and traits. The devs mentioned this will work similarly to how Adept weapons are to base Legendary weapons of the same type, where the base items will be similar to current drops, while higher tiers will be equivalent to upgraded weapons. All new gear will have a corresponding visual effect to make it easily identifiable from previous rewards. This doesn’t meanthe previous weapons will be sunsetted, nor that the weapon crafting system will disappear. All weapons will be obtainable, including past rewards, and Deepsight weapons might be subjected to changes that they will share forward, as devs intend the weapon crafting system to be some sort of way for players to “catch up” with the weapons they missed in the past.
Reward pools will becomplete sets of weaponsand armor that correspond to each type of activity such as Strikes, or Crucible. While some of these rewards can be dropped from each of these activities, the majority of the rewards of each pool will be unique to one type of activity. Each Major Update will bring a refresh to the reward pool from each of the Core Activities that will be distributed like this: Core PvE (Strikes, and similar difficulty tier activities) Core PvP (Crucible Playlists and similar PvP-related activities), Pinnacle PVE (Dungeons, Raids, etc.), and Pinnacle PVP (Trials, and other challenging PvP activities).
3The Old Storytelling System Is No More
The End Of Weekly Content Locks
Destiny 2devs have shared that the way how players experience the story parts of the game will significantly change, with a new year-spanning saga beginning with theCodename: Apollo, which will be a non-linear gameplay experience. Players will be able to visit each section of this storyline without the weekly locks (aka breadcrumbing) and the progression will depend on the player’s advancement. This means a huge change forDestiny 2, and fans can expect great things about the way the game will evolve withFrontiers.
Though the format of the story might change according to the needs of each expansion, this effectively means that the story progression lock will disappear. Each expansion will bring a power level reset, as has been happening in each season. The devs will also experiment with better ways to implement storytelling on the go, which could mean there are yet many things to be revealed as they release more information in the upcoming months.
2Season Model Changes
A New Opportunity To Deliver A Better Experience And Renew Constantly
As mentioned before, instead of the three Episodes they planned to deliver, there will be four Major Updates per year, one per trimester. Each expansion will bring a Major Update at the beginning of each Season, and a second Major Update after three months to refresh the Meta. They also mentioned that there will be new and reprised content delivered withrewards from Dungeons, Exotic Quests,and weekly activity rotations.
Apollowill be followed byBehemot, and both will bring their distinctive activities: new dungeons, raids, strikes, and so on. In a small section of their lengthy Roadmap reveal,Destiny 2devs have teased the return of the Exotic Sniper Rifle: Icebreaker. It is unknown if it will be a seasonal weapon, but everything seems to point toward that conclusion. It seems likeDestiny 2devs have finally taken into consideration what other competitors likeWarframeare doing correctly, and will try to emulate a steady source of deliverables throughout the year.
1Testing New Things
It Is Always Good To Try A New Approach
Finally,Destiny 2devs have manifested that they are willing to “try new things” and that Frontiers will bring them a chance to experiment in new and improved ways to deliver content, story-wise and reward-wise. Besides the many changes mentioned previously, it is possible that there are other surprises waiting for players alongside the path. What we know so far could clearly indicate that it is time to abandon the Sol System and explore the universe. This was not only teased in the previous expansions The Witch Queen and Lightfall, but recently players saw Saint-14 and Osiris discussing their dream “to explore beyond earth.”
This narrative is reinforced by the fact thatEpisode Echoesis all about setting the path for a new Golden Age, aka the age of space exploration and expansion of civilization into the vastness of the cosmos. Another important clue is that the Conductor (Maya Sundaresh) who was one of the precursors of the constitution of the Neomuna colony is the “enemy to beat” in the latest episode. Although the conclusion remains to be seen, all seems to indicate that the outcome will bring forth a new and improved Failsafe (fed by the constant battle and scan upgrades players have been collecting so far) to lead humanity’s pioneers into the unknown. After the spot left by the Warmind Rasputin’s “death,” it would be great if the jolly AI trapped in the Exodus Black could finally lift her hypothetical wings and soar high once more since that was the purpose for what she was built. It remains to be seen ifDestiny 2devs will remain true to their words, and will be willing to test “getting out of the box” as they promised.
