Posted by This past week, Destiny 2 saw the release of its free “Into the Light” update meant as a last little rejuvenation of content before the release of The Final Shape. After finishing up the most recent seasonal story, I took a much-needed break from Destiny 2 and played some other games. However, with new content to do, I had to revisit it and give my initial thoughts.
“Into the Light” is fairly straight forward. The Witness’ forces are mobilizing and we need to push them back in a new round based horde mode that reminds me of Halo‘s Firefight mode (go figure) mixed with elements of Titanfall’s Frontier Defense mode (mostly the objective of defending a generator type object with help while using an in-game currency to buy upgrades), and Killing Floor 2. I really like Onslaught. Onslaught consists of 3 versions: a single set of 10 waves culminating in a boss fight, a round of 5 sets with 10 waves each for a total of 50 waves, and another 50 wave mode that’s harder. I have yet to try the hard 50 wave mode, but of the other 2 modes, the normal 50 wave mode is the way to play. The 10 wave playlist version is a little too easy and it can become rather boring. The 50 wave mode gets a lot more hectic and has a nice level of challenge where victory isn’t always guaranteed, but it’s still achievable. The 50 wave version also has a really nice level of enemy density. While Onslaught offers a lot of replayability, it is marred by there only being 3 maps to play on and 2 enemy factions to fight. While the number of maps isn’t a really big deal, it can get a little monotonous fighting the same 2 factions when the game could easily accommodate 5 or so total and still have it make sense.
As for the loot, I really like what Onslaught brings with it. Accompanying the update is a new social space, which is cool, though the lack of a vault and postmaster is a glaring oversight. The Hall of Champions is a neat little space and I really appreciate some of the details in it, like how the decorations for all the limited time events are stored there. Returning to the loot, 12 fan favorite weapons return with updated perk pools. I think it’s really cool seeing some of these weapons return, and while I’m less interested in some of the raid weapons (I have every weapon in the game craftable including raid weapons), it makes sense for Bungie to make these highly sought after and powerful weapons more attainable for the average player who may not have 2000 hours logged in the game with 100+ raid clears. Another cool feature of the weapons is that they drop in 2 forms: a normal common variant and a rarer version that has multiple perks to choose from, already drops masterworked, has perks that can be enhanced in the future, and has a unique shader. These shinies or foils as my friends and the community have been calling them, are fun to hunt. They’re fairly rare but not impossibly so. They also aren’t mandatory. The regular roll will got the job, so if you miss out on the shinies (they’re only available until The Final Shape drops), it’s not the end of the world. You’re also guaranteed one shiny of every weapon by doing weapon quests. While I am disappointed that the guaranteed shiny is a static roll, it’s still nice to have one of each weapon guaranteed. While the weapons are released on a weekly basis, I don’t mind it because it prevents the pool from getting too diluted. So for the first week, the pool only contains 6 guns instead of the eventual 12. Chasing guns is very manageable because of a focusing system where loot drops are more likely to be the gun you’re attuned to. That way the diluted loot pool doesn’t make farming for specific weapons impossible. “Into the Light” also brings a new armor set for each class and an all-black shader. Both are welcome additions, especially an all-black shader, but there’s not much to say about them other than that they exist.
Finally, “Into the Light” brings back both “The Whisper” and “Zero Hour” missions with the revamped and now craftable Whisper of the Worm and Outbreak Perfected exotic weapons. While I didn’t necessarily see the need for these quests to return and these exotics to become craftable, especially because Hawkmoon still isn’t craftable yet which makes little sense to me, free content is free content. “Zero Hour” isn’t available yet, but I have tried out the new “The Whisper” mission. It’s… a lot easier than it was back in Warmind or Season of Arrivals before it got removed. The new version has toned down enemies and the time limit is doubled, making it so much easier. I expect “Zero Hour” to receive similar treatment. While I have yet to do the higher difficulty version of “The Whisper,” I expect it’ll be about the same level as the original, or maybe even a little easier. The mission also features a few more minor changes here and there with some new enemies and changed environments.
Overall, it’s nice getting back into Destiny 2. The “Into the Light” update doesn’t add a whole lot, relatively speaking, but what it does add is a lot of fun to play with. Next week I may look at some of the new information revealed about The Final Shape, but until then, I need to go grind some Onslaught to get my perfect Recluse roll.
Broad Scope Entertainment 