Everything we’ve learned about Destiny 2’s Forsaken expansion in Bungie’s interview

Bungie’s Destiny 2 Year 2 expansion Forsaken will be released on September 4, and players are excited about it. Our friends at Game Informer recently conducted an interview with Destiny 2 Game Director Steve Cotton and Forsaken Project Lead Scott Taylor, during which quite a lot of extra information was garnered.

Here’s everything we’ve learned:

Whisper of the Worm/Secret Quests

• The Live Team for Destiny 2 worked on the secret quest which granted an exotic sniper rifle reminiscent of the first game’s Black Spindle.
• There are plans to have more rewarding quests in Forsaken, although they’d be a little different compared to The Whisper.
• Whisper of the Worm would remain a power weapon despite the upcoming revamp of weapon slots.
• Both Cotton and Taylor have yet to complete the quest.
• Forsaken will have more missions that unlock exotic quests.

Armor Changes

• Legendary armors will drop with a random bonus stat which cannot be re-rolled. However, this can be upgraded. When fully upgraded, they’ll become masterworks.
• Armors will have two perks. One is a modifier for abilities or weapons, the other is for ammo count. If players want to specialize with a specific weapon or subclass, certain perks will provide boosts for those.
• There will be no masterworks for exotic armors.
• Completing armor sets grants badges for bragging rights.

Story/Campaign

• No comment on the “triangular ships” that appeared at the end of Destiny 2’s campaign cinematic.
• A player asked why Cayde-6 had to die, and Cotton mentioned that it works because of the narrative. Cayde will still appear for new players for Vanilla/pre-Forsaken Destiny 2 content. It’s just that he’ll be gone once you progress through Forsaken’s campaign.
• The Tower will have significant aesthetic changes to mourn Cayde-6’s death.
• No more Cayde-6 Treasure Maps.
• Several new characters in the game, and a possible new Hunter Vanguard.
• There will be a focus on “beneath-the-surface” storytelling or piecing the puzzle much like Destiny 1’s narrative structure.

PvP – Crucible, Iron Banner, Trials

• Will have more info on time-to-kill (TTK) as launch day approaches.
• With regards to a question about hand cannon damage being in line with Destiny 1, the dev team is still working on balancing tweaks.
• No definite answer for bringing the radar back in Trials.
• Players can still partake in Iron Banner, Trials, and Competitive. However, if they do not purchase Forsaken, they will be stuck at 400 Power Level. This means that they’ll have to go up against higher-leveled opponents in those modes.

Gambit

• The PvPvE mode, Gambit, will have its own unique armor and weapons.
• Will be a separate node on the Director.
• Gambit is not a Crucible mode which means it will not affect your Crucible K/D ratio.

General Loot

• Item type-restricted infusion has been removed. This means you’ll be able to infuse your auto rifle with any weapon provided that it’s from the corresponding weapon slot (ie. kinetic auto rifle = kinetic hand cannon). However, Bungie did clarify that infusion will cost more materials if the item types don’t match.
• Year 1 weapons can still be obtained from Banshee, Zavala, and Shaxx.
• Bungie is still working on tuning drops from Legendary Engrams, they may not be that rewarding.
• There will be “enemy-themed” gear much like Destiny: The Taken King with Hive-oriented armor.

Social

• No plans for in-game LFG or clan chat feature.
• No changes for Guided Games.

Additional activities

• Destiny 2’s Year 1 veterans will be credited for completing Moments of Triumph during the Solstice of Heroes event.
• No plans for Sparrow Racing League (SRL).
• The Dreaming City area will have content to keep solo players engaged.
• Bungie will deploy Adventures in a different manner this time around and will be more integrated to the story.
• Public Event/Heroic Public Event rewards will still be as they are currently.

Raids

• No definite answer on the required power level for upcoming raids.
• Bungie is still working on Destiny 2’s Year 1 raids whether they’d be brought in line in terms of power level requirements.
• The new raids are designed with the new weapon load-outs in mind.
• No plans to “remaster” existing raids just yet.

Subclasses

• There will be some bug fixes for the existing subclasses, although nothing notable to mention.
• Celestial Nighthawk will, of course, only affect the Golden Gun and not the new Hunter Way of a Thousand Cuts throwing knives.

Strikes

• There will be matchmaking when you select specific strikes on the map.
• Strikes will have some strike-specific loot to grind for as well as challenges that grant powerful rewards.

Weapons

• No class-restricted weapons like the old Tlaloc and Fabian Strategy.
• There will be more exotic rocket launchers like the recently revealed Twin Tailed Fox.
• There are no plans to bring back light machine guns.
• Ammo synthesis boxes will not be returning in Forsaken.

Cosmetic changes

• Eververse will, obviously, still be part of Destiny 2.
• Players can put shaders on swords.
• Cryptarch will allow players to delete shaders in groups of 5.
• There are no plans to have ornaments that make an exotic armor look like a different one (ie. transmogrification).
• Changing character looks such as hairstyles (post character creation) won’t be implemented just yet.

Power to the Forsaken

Now that’s one massive list of upcoming changes. Of course, these are all on top of previously announced changes such as the weapon slot revamp, Heroic Story Missions, new subclass trees, and super abilities. All in all, the Forsaken expansion is shaping up to be a momentous occasion for Destiny 2 players.

As usual, PC Invasion will have you covered as we near Forsaken’s launch date on September 4.