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Destiny DLC "The Dark Below" Launches December 9, Raises Level Cap

Single download to cost $20 (£20), Activision confirms.

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Activision and Bungie today announced that the first expansion for Destiny--called The Dark Below--will launch on December 9 across all platforms. It features new weapons and gear, as well as fresh story, co-op, and multiplayer activities. See below for full details on The Dark Below.

"Destiny was created as a living universe, which has allowed us to improve the experience post launch in real-time," Bungie president Harold Ryan said in a statement. "It also gives us insight into the things players are looking for in new content. We've seen from feedback that people want new activities, gear and weapons, and of course the immensely popular Raid. The community helps shape our development decisions and that’s really important to us."

Courtesy of Activision, The Dark Below will contain the following:

  • New weapons, armor, and gear to earn, including Legendary and Exotic items
  • Light Level cap raised to 32 and five additional Bounty slots added
  • New story quests and missions--after years hiding amongst the Hive shadows, a new character, Eris, has come forth bearing an ominous warning: The Hive seek to summon a god, Crota, to destroy the Earth. Find Eris in the Tower to take on special quests that include three new missions where you will increase your Light and earn new rewards
  • New cooperative Strike, The Will of Crota, pits you and your Fireteam against Omnigul as she works to expand the Hive army at the command of her master, Crota
  • Three new competitive multiplayer arenas
  • Pantheon--set deep within the Black Garden in an ancient Vex temple that features Vex-designed landscapes and tight corridors
  • Skyshock--an old interplanetary defense array that offers both vehicle and infantry engagements
  • The Cauldron--an abandoned Hive ritual site that offers close-quarter combat
  • New six-player Raid, Crota’s End, set deep within the depths of the Hellmouth
  • PlayStation platforms will also get access to an exclusive cooperative Strike, The Undying Mind, and more (timed exclusive until at least Fall 2015)

The Dark Below is the first of two announced Destiny expansions included with the game's $35 DLC pass. If you don't own the pass, you can buy The Dark Below for $20 in the US and £20 in the UK. The next expansion is called House of Wolves, though Bungie has not announced what it will feature or when it will be released.

Are you planning to buy The Dark Below in December? Let us know in the comments below!

Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com

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Avatar image for Romayo83
Romayo83

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Pass for me. New Crucible maps look OK but not worth the price. Oh and the Strike come on those look identical to whats already there with the same enemy's. *yawn bored already just thinking about it.

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jskrizl

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Activision.... making you pay more money to get the game you wanted in the first place...

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hereiam_hereibe

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DLC? What's that? My dang N64 won't play Destiny, should I blow it?

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mtm2490

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<< LINK REMOVED >> ya, I liked the game, it was fun and I still think the story could be epic. But they totally fell short with it. seems like they just sort of introduced it, then we just did some stuff. really disappointed in that aspect. multiplayer is fun though

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Gankstar_VX84

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no thank you, keep your pointless expansion !

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sokztymbarku

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yyyyyyyyyy... NO!


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gralvader

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"PlayStation platforms will also get access to an exclusive cooperative Strike, The Undying Mind, and more (timed exclusive until at least Fall 2015)" Until at least Fall 2015? So you are telling me that if Sony gives them (Bungie) more cash they might continue to extend the exclusivity indefinitely?

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hereiam_hereibe

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Yes that's exactly right! You jelly?

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gralvader

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<< LINK REMOVED >> No, I just think these kind of practices hurt the consumer.

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hereiam_hereibe

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Xbox started these practices so its only fitting, where you the guy goin "Hell ya! F&$@ you sony!" When call of duty was under there iron fist for YEARS!

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gralvader

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<< LINK REMOVED >> Your logic behind choosing a product and being treated a certain way makes no sense. No, I was not the guy going "Hell yeah!" I only bought DLC for Call of Duty once and after I realized how bad they were ripping people off I decided to never buy DLC for a Call of Duty game. I do not even own the last two Call of Duty games.


You seem to think as if justice is being done here, but in reality everyone here is a loser. You lose, I lose. Instead of fighting each other we should work together to avoid this type of thing becoming standard in the gaming industry by making our voices heard.

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hereiam_hereibe

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If you want to blaim anyone, you should blaim Microsoft for being such dicks to bungie the entire time they worked together, honestly i was reallt surprised to hear that Destiny would come out on Xone. And lets not forget that this has become common practice in the gaming industry all thanks to Microsoft as well. (Call of duty). If you ask me anyone willing to support Microsoft by buying therw consoles deserve this kind of treatment. When i owned a 360 i didnt agree with exculsivity while every other MS fan was like neenerneenerneener. So ya karma.

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Skarwolf

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Every strike including heroic can be soloed you don't need to group. In fact their easier solo because the bosses get harder the more people in your group.


Archon Priest - Stand up on the ledge. Thats is. When you come to the large area you're supposed to fight him just stay up on the ledge. Or you can go under the platform thats way up the left. Crawl under and shoot out. No npc's or adds can get you.


Nexus - Jump down and go immediately behind the large pillar you land in front of. Shoot out of it. When adds spawn the nexus boss won't even shoot, leave one add up on front of you and the boss floats in place.


Sepiks Prime - When you fight the waves stand of to the far side where the cave leads down with green colored crystals. All the npc's run to dinklebot and won't actually run to you. They will shoot but don't path to you. Vs. the tank stay in the upper right shoot down hallway. Against sepiks prime stand in the hall directly to the left and shoot around the corner, it will float in place and the only thing that will approach are shanks, other enemies don't come down that hall.


Mars - take the driveable vehicle use it to kill the guys guards, then use it to kill the tank boss. Head to boss and hop into the hole in upper right of room, shoot out of cracks between boxes.


Moon - Fighting waves you stay at the entrance to room and funnel all enemies to you. During the behemoth fight just run in and out of the first room you look at him. Once the shrieker/screamer spawns run out, sit down. All adds will despawn, then shoot the boss.. .repeat til dead.

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Starhopper4

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Waaaaaaahhhhhhh!

I assume that sums up 99% of the posts on this thread? I can almost smell the butt hurt from here.

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DrDuncs

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I will be trying the first two expansions as I got the pass with the limited edition I bought. I enjoyed playing through the single player the first time and enjoy the multiplayer, but I don't enjoy the grind your expected to do if you want to play some of the extra strikes etc.


My Titan is only level 23 after about 30hrs of playing. I missed doing the Queens Wrath missions as my level wasn't high enough. The only thing I have got above a rare item, is one legendary item that's for a Hunter which is just annoying that the game doesn't give you items that match your class. I don't have endless hours to play, but would like to be able to play the majority the game has to offer within a somewhat reasonable time frame. On a side note, I've got a level 9 Hunter and a level 7 Warlock which have taken around 7 hours in total to get there. Perhaps an overall experience level would have been better in that you could enjoy all three classes at higher levels but with only putting in the time once, not three times over.

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dogknight6

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"PlayStation platforms will also get access to an exclusive cooperative Strike, The Undying Mi..".. So now DLC packs get exclusive content, I guess it had to happen in a world where money comes first, gamers second

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mattress805

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Sony and bungie entered into a long term exclusivity contract for all things Destiny in 2012

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Slinqy

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The vanilla game wasn't enough to captivate me. Story sucked, worlds are small, and activities are mind-numbingly repetitive. I waited a while for this game, but it didn't turn out so well. Come hither, Dragon Age: Inquisition...

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wolfman8325

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I hope this will feature a part where you hold X and the ghost does something while bad guys attack you! That would be awesome!

4 • 
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sokztymbarku

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<< LINK REMOVED >> hahahahha, that's a shot below the belt for Bungie mate! :D

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alexanian

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<< LINK REMOVED >> me too,

I love horde mode missions! Give me more.

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ramtracker42

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This content should have been included in the game. I have a hard time paying 100$ + tax for games that used to give me more value at 50$

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Dougsmoog

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Its defiantly a game that wholeheartedly has embraced community participation. You have to develop good teamwork and strategy WITH people in order to play the game properly, ask for advise if you don't understand something otherwise you will hate this game...But it is a bit of a grind at times, join a clan and blast away... I will be buying the update for sure!

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MondasM

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release the raid matchmaking already, i cannot play it...

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Aaronp2k

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to all the people saying level cap increase by 2 is not enough you seem to be forgetting that light levels are much harder to achieve than traditional levelling like skyrim or world of warcraft. its gonna take you weeks to get to lvl 32. there are far more important reasons to why this expansion is bs like the lack of content.


honestly though i think the content is fair. 3 story missions, 3 new mp maps, 3 new strike missions, a raid mission and a load of new weapons and gear. that is much more content than you get in other dlc's. if these missions are as bad as the main game though then its not worth it.

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Tony56723

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The story missions will suck (that opinion is based on the main games story missions) and Xbox only gets one strike till fall of next year while Playstation gets one more.

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alexanian

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<< LINK REMOVED >> You dont think Bungie will put more effort in story since this is where it was most criticized?

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Tony56723

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If the $60 main game story was nonexistent why should I expect any better from the $15, 3 mission story?

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Krystal2355

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fucking nice i have expansion since day i got it so i get those DLC for free hehe

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gargungulunk

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I enjoyed my month with Destiny, yet I've moved on...

I'm not spending more money on this game.

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deactivated-63f241e0be72d

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Rip off. $20 is too much for this, £20 is just an insult.

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Aaronp2k

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@mickyfinn84 get the expansion pass then, works out cheaper. also $20 is more like £15.

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deactivated-63f241e0be72d

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<< LINK REMOVED >> $20 is about £12.50 and thats the problem. They are not charging £12.50 they are charging £20. And charging £35 ($56) for the pass.

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dcno07

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Destiny was one of the first games I have pre ordered and picked up without seeing a review in a LONG time. Sadly, because Bungie decided to blatantly rip out part of the game to sell to me later, I will not be buying another game without seeing solid reviews before hand.

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ShimmeringSword

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<< LINK REMOVED >> I stopped pre ordering a few years ago. I think the last time I was burned was FF13. The minor little "pre order exclusives" just aren't all that valuable when you look at the big picture.

If we all stopped pre-ordering, devs would no longer have their mystery game paid for by day one, and will be forced to actually work for our money.

2 • 
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mr_nee

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<< LINK REMOVED >> IMO if you can enjoy this game for 1 or 2 months, then it's a money well spent. I mean you complete most of the games in 1 or 2 days.

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Tony56723

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Bungie usually last longer

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ShimmeringSword

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<< LINK REMOVED >><< LINK REMOVED >> The problem with Destiny, and many DLC heavy games, isn't how long it lasts you, but how much you're needlessly paying for it.

A nice example is looking back to COD4:MW. $50-60 game, had a short story, but the MP would last you a long time, and to ice the cake: all the maps they added after release (at least on PC) were free. Now days COD charges you for all those maps.

Likewise Destiny might be a fine game if it released with more content, on par with a proper rpg/looter, and came with post release improvements for free. But instead you pay $60 for a small experience, even if you can play it over and over, and the DLC upcoming are likewise small experiences with a premium price tag.

People are willing to let Activision rape their fat wallet, that is all too clear, but if we just stopped eating up this crap, we'd get all the same content, or better, for less money.

TLDR: If people stop paying for DLC, they'll give it to use for free.

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dcno07

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Can't wait to see the sales number for this. It will let me know if I need to abandon ship on gaming all together. Too many stupid people just throwing their money at companies without looking into what they are buying has these big companies just releasing incomplete, sh!t games.

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nikon133

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No buy for me.

I still play a game in small doses when I want some mindless FPS action, but IMHO, game failed to deliver in most promises - basically everything outside of solid game mechanics.

This DLC looks too small and uninteresting. Not much new, a littlebit more of same old. If they opened game with new solar system... maybe. Put a lot of effort in fleshing out the story? Maybe. But some more scripted missions in already existing environments? Nah.

Maybe Destiny 2 will live more to the promise. But only if gamers send message back with not buying any more of Destiny 1.

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JSusie

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I got all the expansions included with the CE I bought....and I'm not even going to bother playing the DLC I've already paid for.


That makes me sad...and stupid for falling for the hype.

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CrusaderProphet

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The Dark Below - find out everything about how corrupted bungie had to become to sleep with Activision, how deep the darkness of corruption, cheating and lies run in the heart of Bungie. three new missions where you get to experience the annoying Ghost trips another alarm and you get to perform rinse and repeat.

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sgthobbes

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probably won't buy. Destiny was advertise as a loot shooter but there really isn't enough loot or content to keep you hunting for the loot you want. played for about 2 weeks. went through all of the "story" content in about 7 sittings ( 1-3 hours each have a full time job) then tried to grind to raid lvl but gave up because I didn't know 5 other people with PS4s to do the raid with and the ones that did never reached the raid lvl requirement before giving up. 2 lvls to the cap a few missions and guns don't justify $20-$35 cost of this DLC.


For me to consider DLC for this game they would have to include at least 30 new missions of the same caliber of the original game(which wasn't good) or 15-20 missions the same caliber as the raid with lower player counts. (edit) and borderlands levels of gun variation I was never excited for getting something new because it was either always going to do something that i had already seen or be utter crap that i was just going to melt down for weapon parts


I'll probably wait for the season to end before getting any of the DLC or just wait for the PC announcement to buy it in a supper pack

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SabanSilverHawk

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<< LINK REMOVED >> They charge you for a 1/3 of what the game originally costs, but only give you about a 1/20 extra in content. If your going to make us pay for almost half of what the game originally costs, I want to see something significant.


These minor updates, cap increases, another raid, and item additions SHOULD BE COMPLIMENTARY. I remember back in the day what a REAL EXPANSION looked like. This is, sadly, not it.

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masutomo

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"New story quests and missions"...

Is it yet another story of Ghost scanning something, and then waves of enemies coming to attack you?

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CrusaderProphet

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<< LINK REMOVED >> hit the nail on the head

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Tom_Lapinski

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I really just ADORE this game. Finding out that "events" were just glorified fetch missions that reuse the same stories and missions ive already beaten hundreds of times made me do a little dance while clapping and giggling. But good ol bungie wasn't done yet. Trustingly I bought the DLC pass and they, and guys, I cant gush over it enough, they made sure that my xbox didnt get the same amount of content for the same price as a ps4 user gets! ITS A REVOLUTION IN GAMING!!!! see, now I get to drag the excitement out for a whole year waiting for something ive already paid for and that users on the other console get right away!!!!! Im just here to say that I love ABSOLUTLEY EVERYTHING about bungies game because IM AN IDIOT.

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