Here we are again Guardians, the next expansion for Destiny is upon us, Rise of Iron is almost here!
As I did with The Taken King last year, I’ve decided to compile (hopefully) all of the new major features and updates. So grab yourself a cup of tea, coffee, beer, whatever it is you like to drink and take it in!
What is Rise of Iron?
The latest and final expansion for Destiny will see us venture in to the Plaguelands.
The wall that stood for centuries along the Cosmodrome’s southern border has collapsed. Fallen mutants now scavenge the tombs of the Golden Age, and the technology they have unearthed in the wastes is more dangerous than even they understand. Join Lord Saladin. Journey into the Plaguelands. Learn the fate of the Iron Lords and stop the growing threat before it is too late.
When is it out?
20th September 2016 on PS4 and Xbox One
Patch 2.4.0 is out now in preparation for Rise of Iron. It brings with it weapon balances, changes to activities and quest plus a whole lot more – you can read the full patch notes here.
Available versions
Destiny – The Collection £49.99
Includes: • Destiny • Expansion I: The Dark Below • Expansion II: House of Wolves • The Taken King • Rise of Iron • Level 40 Character Boost
Pre-purchase includes Iron Gjallarhorn and Iron Gjallarwing Sparrow on launch of Rise of Iron.
Destiny – The Collection – Upgrade* £31.19?
Includes all the content from The Collection but is a discounted version for people wishing to move from last generation consoles (Xbox 360 & PS3) to the current gen version (Xbox One & PS4)
*For a limited time only – until January 31, 2017.
Destiny: Rise of Iron £24.99
Includes: Access to all content from the Rise of Iron expansion – Requires The Taken King.
Pre-order Rise of Iron for Iron Gjallarhorn and Iron Gjallarwing Sparrow on launch of Rise of Iron.
RISE OF IRON IS NOT AVAILABLE ON Xbox 360 OR PS3
New Threats
The Fallen House of Devils have broken in to the Plaguelands and have released a deadly virus upon earth – SIVA. It has mutated the Fallen to help them become the machine gods they’ve always wanted to be. You must now face off against the Devil Splicers in a bid to stop them from truly harnessing the power of SIVA.
New Raid
Wrath of the Machine is the name of the new raid coming with Rise of Iron and it will be launching on the 23rd September, 3 days after Rise of Iron comes out – this gives you a little bit of time to get your raid team together and ready.
A lot of the details are being kept secret, which is good. But we do know a few details.
- The new raid will start in the Plaguelands in a public area – like Vault of Glass.
- You’ll be able to get SIVA infused rewards from completing the raid – weapons, armour and ghost shells are all up for grabs.
- We don’t know who the final boss is, but we know we will be facing ‘The strongest Devil Splicers.’
- The ‘theme’ of the raid will be collision. Expect to get smashed around!
- It will obviously be heavily focused on stopping the Fallen utilising the SIVA virus.
New Strike
The new strike for Rise of Iron is called Wretched Eye. Just like the raid you will again be facing off against Devil Splicers in the Plaguelands. You must make your way through a missile base to hunt down the Fallen Devil Splicer Priest, who’s been experimenting on the Hive.
The Devils Liar and Summoning Pits strikes are also getting reworks for Rise of Iron.
New Story Missions
There will be new story missions to play through with Lord Saladin and the Iron Lords being the main focus for driving it forward. There are a total of 5 new missions, which doesn’t really sound like a lot to be honest, so hopefully they’re good ones! But there will be new cinematics which will tell the story of the Iron Lords and then once you’ve finished with the quest line, new missions will open up similar to The Taken King.
New Light Level
The light level cap is getting an increase to 385 and up to 400 for when the Hard Mode (date tbc) raid comes out. You can complete various game modes and partake in a number of activities to get you to this new level such as the new raid, Trials of Osiris, Iron Banner and a few others too.
New Armour & Weapons
There is a boat load of new armour coming along with plenty of new weapons too. Trials of Osiris, Iron Banner and the Raid are all getting new sets of weapons and armour. There will also be new rare, legendary and exotic items for you to collect and add to your vault or for you to strut your stuff in. Expect to see new faction items too.
New Zone & Social Space
As I’ve mentioned Rise of Iron takes place in the Plaguelands, this is the new playable area near the Cosmodrome. Expect to see new enemies, quests, events and other secrets as you explore the area. The Plaguelands will be accessible through the Cosmodrome, and with ROI you will see noticeable changes across all of the area. There will however remain a ‘vanilla’ Cosmodrome for players wishing to play through the story from the beginning – essentially you will have the option of two spawn locations, the original and the new Plaguelands spawn.
There will be an additional social space for Guardians to hang out in called Felwinter’s Peak. You’ll have to do a mission first in order to be able to access it. Once you’ve completed the mission you’ll have access to new vendors, new bounties, new spots to dance and more!
Archon’s Forge
Just like with The Taken King we will get a new cooperative mode akin to Prison of Elders and Court of Oryx called…. well, uhh, Archon’s Forge… It will work in a similar way to Court of Oryx with players needing a SIVA offering to kick things off, with different offerings giving you different levels of difficulty. You can work your way through it to earn specific armour sets and help you reach the new light level cap of 385. It sounds like a good mix of the previous co-op activities and kind of a bit like a horde mode too.
New Crucible ‘Stuff’
Firstly there will be a new Crucible mode – Supremacy! Basically it’s kill confirmed from Call of Duty. Once you get a kill you’ll have to pick the enemy players fallen crest to confirm that they’re dead as a door nail. Points are scored for confirming the kill and getting a kill, they can also be denied if an enemy player gets to the crest before you do – so get you’re sprint on!
There will also be custom matches coming along. Yes, finally players will be able to set up their own matches with their own rules. This is something that has been wanted by the community for a long time so its nice to see it finally coming. I personally can’t wait to play some no HUD games – if that’s a thing?!
You will also be taking your Crucible exploits to new locations with 3 brand new maps to play on – 4 if you’re a PS4 player.
- Last Exit – Venus, A subway terminal on the Ishtar Sink of Venus that has been eroded away by the ocean. It provides players will a lot of close-quarter combat opportunities as they explore abandoned maintenance hallways along the tracks.
- Skyline – Mars, Clovis Bray was an exoscience group that performed technical research and engineering in a variety of fields. Years ago the group built this waystation, which overlooks Mars’ vast landscape, as a kind of welcoming center for human colonist looking to settle on the planet. This map features a lot of vertical combat space.
- Floating Gardens – Venus, This map focuses on the Vex. Players will be treated to a stunning sunrise as they do battle in a massive circular shrine, which the Vex built on top of a huge spire in Venus’s upper atmosphere.
- PS4 Exclusive Icarus – Mercury, Icarus is the name of a massive Golden Age solar collector that has been built into one of the craters on Mercury’s surface. The sun looms large in the background as players duke it out in Mercury’s harsh elements. The solar collector is also full of mirrors used to collect the sun’s energy. This map is also a PlayStation-exclusive.
New Artifacts
You will now be able to find, earn and collect new artifacts. Artifacts will now grant the player with a special ability whilst equipped e.g. no sprint cool down, or one that has an enemy fight for you after hitting them.
You can get them from Tyra Karn – a new NPC in Felwinter’s peak. She will give you quests to complete which will allow you to gain them. There is more to it than just that, but I won’t spoil all the details for you.
They sound pretty cool and it’s nice for them to have proper effects on your character now.
PS4 Exclusive Content
Rise of Iron brings more exclusive content with it, but this time only to PS4 seeing as ROI won’t hit PS3. If you’re a PS4 player you can look forward to a quest line called “Show of Strength” which rewards you with exclusive ship ‘Timeless Thereshkova’.
You will also get a PVP map – Icarus, as detailed above!
THE TAKEN KING PS4 exclusive content will not be making its way to Xbox One with the Rise of Iron.
Other notable Changes coming with Rise of Iron & Update 2.4
- Sterling Treasure will now be obtainable through the level 41 Prison of Elders (One per week per character). This goes live with update 2.4 on the 8th Sept.
- On the ROI launch Tess Everis will no longer sell Sterling Treasure for Silver.
- Sterling Treasure will be replaced (at the Eververse) by Radiant Treasure, which contains Silver Dust and Ornaments
- Ornaments (22 in total) are items that will change how some of your weapons look, they will be cosmetic only and can be obtained as a weekly reward – Nightfall, Raid. Purchased from Tess – Radiant Treasure, bought from Xur (I think, not 100% on that one)
- New faction gear – weapons, armour sets, shaders and all that jazz!
- New Ships and Sparrow skins
- More vault space is coming, but we don’t know when
- Gjallarhorn is back! There will be a specific quest for players to complete with the Exotic launcher being the reward
- No, there aren’t pet wolves in the game
- New swords are being added to the game
- You can wield a flaming Axe like Lord Saladin, it will work like the Scorch cannon
I think that covers it… It’s possible that I might’ve missed a couple of small things, but I hope not, let me know if I did!
I’ve not played Destiny in a little while after getting a little burnt out on it, but I’m super excited to to get back on it for Rise of Iron!
-Will
I haven’t given Destiny a try yet, mostly due to not having a console and having other games that take up my time. But the concept is interesting.
It started off with a lot of issues. But budgie have done a good job of listening to feedback and making some really good changes. It’s like a different game to what we saw at launch.