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Destiny 2: Vault Of Glass Is Returning, But Old Content Is Going Away

Bungie revealed details about how it'll shelf some Destiny 2 content in order to make room for future expansions.

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Destiny 2 is getting a big new expansion this year with Beyond Light on September 22, but in addition to finding out what new stuff is coming into the game, Bungie has revealed how it'll be cycling out older content from the game. Starting in the fall, some destinations and content will be removed to shrink its size and make room for the new location of Europa and other content coming in the expansion.

Bungie revealed some of the details on its livestream detailing Beyond Light, where director Luke Smith explained the new "Destiny Content Vault." The DCV is where Bungie will shelf some content for periods of time, pulling it out while other content is cycled in. But the vault will also allow for Bungie to pull old Destiny 1 content and update it for Destiny 2, cycling it back into the game. The changes as to what content will be available in Destiny 2 will change once a year with the release of its next three fall expansions: Beyond Light in 2020, The Witch Queen in 2021, and Lightfall in 2022.

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Now Playing: Destiny 2 Beyond Light Expansion, Season 11, & Next-Gen Launch: Everything You Need To Know

Smith confirmed after the livestream that one of the first things coming back to Destiny 2 from D1 is the Vault of Glass, Destiny 1's first raid. We're also seeing the return of the Cosmodrome, one of Destiny's first areas, along with its three original Strikes. Those pieces of content will come to the game with Beyond Light in the fall.

Leaving the game with the release of Beyond Light are several current destinations and their activities: Mars, Io, Titan, Mercury, and the Leviathan. Bungie says there will still be ways to earn Exotics linked to those destinations and their activities, though.

Bungie says the DCV approach is a step to avoid letting Destiny 2 continue to grow until it becomes unmanageable. The idea is that the developer can remove some content to make way for new stuff so that the game client size doesn't grow exponentially, or make updates too difficult for the team to implement.

"We will always do our best to give early notice of what's being cycled into the DCV, to help you and your friends plan around how you want to complete your collections and build up your account before the new Destiny year starts," Bungie wrote on its website explaining the DCV. "The vast majority of content we choose to vault will also be from destinations and activities that have been free for all players for several months prior to their departure. For example: the Curse of Osiris campaign, which has been free since Shadowkeep launched in October 2019, and part of the Destiny 2 experience since December 2017, will go in the DCV later this year."

The rundown also includes other key details about what content will be available in Destiny 2's Year 4:

  • There will be three raids playable this fall, including a new one set in the Deep Stone Crypt on Europa as part of the Beyond Light expansion.
  • Available strikes will be based on a pool of possible strikes from active destinations. When a destination goes into the DCV, so too will its strikes.
  • The PvP Map playlist will remain a curated 'best of' mixture of maps from Destiny 1 and 2.
  • Gambit and Gambit Prime are being merged into a single mode, with their original armor visuals available to earn from the Drifter.

Of course, there are a lot of players who aren't excited about the idea of Destiny 2 content ever being reduced. Players are already wary of changes that are coming to the game--starting in the Season of Arrivals that kicked off on June 9, Bungie is starting to sunset past weapons and armor, putting a limit on how long they'll be viable in endgame content. Even though Bungie says placing some content in the DCV is necessary for the game to continue to grow, some see it as losing content they've paid for. Similarly, with a live game, less content means less variety of activities over time. For players who play frequently, the reduction in variety can make the game get stale more quickly.

As with everything Bungie has been doing in Destiny 2, however, the developer refers to the DCV as an experiment that will likely change over time, so we'll need to see how the system develops once Bungie implements it.

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