‘Destiny’ Big Spring Update Dated, Prison Of Elders Content Teased

Destiny players pondering the enormity of the game’s current dead period finally have something to look forward to. Bungie laid out its plans for the previously promised spring update to the PlayStation and Xbox online shooter. It includes a release date, new activities, and much more.

The next Destiny update is numbered 2.2.0 and is officially being referred to as the April update by the developer. A high-level overview of the content of the update includes the following:

• New PVE Challenges
• New and Updated Gear
• New Quest featuring the Blighted Chalice Strike
• Increased Max Light and Rewards
• Sandbox and Crucible Updates
• And more…

The biggest mystery of all is the image up top that was released by Bungie with the news. It clearly shows three Guardians with a “Taken” look, possibly indicating a new Shader that can be obtained or perhaps these Guardians have been “Taken” themselves. For added flavor, they are also wearing armor earned from the Prison of Elders.

The first implication here is the “Updated Gear” listed means armor and weapons obtained from the Prison of Elders will be updated for this current extended year of Destiny: The Taken King. The second implication is players are possibly looking at new content added to the PVE activity. Note that Bungie lists “New PVE Challenges” for the April update and not missions or story content. Prison of Elders is a challenge activity in Destiny.

What additional PVE challenges could be included? A new Strike is of course welcome, but the Destiny community has asked Bungie to make the Vault of Glass and Crota’s End Raids relevant once again. Could the April update add Challenge modes to these the same way as the King’s Fall Raid?

Destinyplayers desperate for more information on the April update have three upcoming Twitchstreams to keep an eye on. The first will come on Wednesday, March 23, and is titled “New Things to Do.” The following Wednesday, March 30, will reveal “New Things to Earn,” and the third will cover “Sandbox and Crucible Updates” on April 6. Presumably, the update will then hit within one or two weeks after the final preview.

This will be the first significant content update to Destiny since the Taken King was released in September last year. As previously covered, Bungie moved to a small-event-type model for Year Two of the game due to the fact that it could not keep up with the demands of releasing DLC content plus working on the sequel at the same time. Unfortunately, small events such as Festival of the Lost, Sparrow Racing League, and Crimson Days combined with regular Iron Banner events have not kept the community interested enough. Player attrition has steadily grown, especially with the release of alternative titles like The Division.

While the Destiny April update will be free, Bungie also has a paid DLC expansion release scheduled for this fall. How large this expansion will be is unknown, but it is expected to serve as a bridge to span the gap to the sequel.

The release of Destiny 2was pushed back from an expected fall 2016 release to an unknown 2017 launch. The big question is how much Bungie is retooling its game engine and development tools to provide content and gameplay balance updates in shorter timeframes for the second. The ones used for Destinyreportedly hampered developmentof the game and contributed to the decision to move away from DLC release for Year Two.

There are plenty of other changes around Destiny besides development tools and new updates. Bungie experienced a shakeup in its executive leadership as Pete Parsons was appointed chief executive officer by the board of directors and studio president Harold Ryan stepped down. Additionally, lead Mass Effect: Andromeda writer Christopher Schlerf joined the team to work on Destiny 2.