Oh, Destiny. We had a brief but passionate affair back when she first launched last year. It was amorous, it was intense, but as quickly as it began, it ended and I found other lovers to satisfy me. Destiny has tried her best to woo me back with several expansions but, as tempted as I was to embrace her once more, I never did more than glance in her direction.
The old girl is trying her best once again to entice me with the upcoming The Taken King expansion. Based off my brief time with the expansion, I’m not sure if I will be jumping back into bed with Destiny, but I will admit that what she’s offering is a bit alluring.
Destiny‘s previous expansion, The Dark Below, had players facing off against Crota. This time, they will have to fight against Oryx, who is Crota’s father/creator. Oryx is none to happy that your guardian killed his son, so he brings with him an army of Taken to unleash his wrath upon you and the good guys. This army is composed of Cabal and Hive who have been corrupted and enslaved by darkness. They possess new moves which separate them from their standard versions.
The Taken King will have new subclasses available for the three main classes. Titans will have the Sunbreak class which virtually turns them into Thor by giving them a hammer to wield and throw. Each successful throw is the equivalent of a rocket strike. Hunters will get the Nightstalker subclass. Here, they will get a bow and arrow which can one-hit-kill foes or be shot into the environment to lay down a snare trap for those who get too close. Finally, Warlocks get the Stormcaller subclass. This allows them to shoot arc lightning at their enemies to deplete their shields and whittle away at their health. Each new subclass also has a unique grenade type.
There are two new PVP Crucible types for those who are all about killing other players. Mayhem drastically reduces the cooldown rate of special abilities, allowing players to unleash these sort of attacks at a greater frequency. This will of course mean some absolutely insane rounds as nearly limitless powers and abilities turn matches into pure chaos. Rift is a variation of capture the flag. The only difference here is that your “flag” is a spark that must be brought into the enemy’s base to place it into their rift. What’s cool is that players can slam dunk the spark into the rift for extra points. Getting the spark into the rift will send out a pulse wave that kills any nearby opponents.
I was able to play a match of Rift and it was pretty fun. I chose the Titan class and got to try out the new subclass which seemed ridiculously powerful but fun to play as. Despite this being the first time people played the expansion, the opposing team played like pros and mercilessly slaughtered my team. Even though I got handed a massive ass whompin’, I had fun with this mode.
Though I’ve moved on from Destiny, there are still many who play it religiously to this day. With a new story mission, subclasses, modes, and a new Raid, it seems like The Taken King is a worthy expansion that will lead Destiny into its second year. For a game that many had written off and thought would fail, it is turning into one of the biggest success stories of this generation and doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon. The girl still has it.
