‘Destiny’ Update Raises Weekly Strike & Daily Story Mission Difficulties

It’s a big day for Destiny players as the highly anticipated Dark Below expansion is slated to arrive at 1am PST later tonight. The DLC will bring with it several new pieces of content including two new strikes (one if you’re on Xbox), a handful of new story missions, new weapons and gear, and a brand new raid called Crota’s End.

But before Destiny unleashes its selection of new content, Bungie has released a new hot fix that paves the way for The Dark Below. The patch addresses some unannounced bugs with the DLC and also raises the difficulty levels for some of Destiny‘s weekly and daily story missions.

Although Bungie doesn’t reveal what the challenge levels for each weekly strike (Heroic and Nightfall) will be, we do know that the Nightfall will go from level 30 to level 28. And so it’s safe to assume that the Heroic Strikes also go up by two levels at each tier. As far as the daily story missions are concerned, those have already jumped up by two levels at every tier so the max difficulty is now level 30.

Alongside these new challenge levels, Bungie’s latest hot fix also patches some bugs in The Dark Below. However, since the DLC isn’t actually live we have no idea what the bugs could have been. It does bode well for the experience that Bungie is trying to make sure it runs smooth before players go hands-on. Now if only they could address those Vault of Glass glitches.

Here are the full patch notes:

This small hot fix follows last week’s update, which was quite a rather large one. Not only did that update pave the way for the new exotic upgrade system but it also introduced new base game changes as well. Now players have easier ways to procure destination materials and better odds of getting legendary engrams from the Cryptarch. That update was really the big one for The Dark Below, whereas today’s patch covered a few smaller things.

Nevertheless, it’s no doubt a big week for Bungie and Destiny players, who have been craving new content practically since launch. Granted, some feel that having to pay for new missions, raids, and strikes is devious, especially when one considers how light on content the retail offering was. Nevertheless, there is genuine enthusiasm for The Dark Below launch and we expect to see plenty of players milling about at 1am PST.

How do you feel about Bungie raising the challenge levels for the daily and weekly missions? Should they have raised the challenge levels so soon?

Destiny: The Dark Below releases December 9, 2014 for PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.

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Source: Bungie

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‘Destiny’ Update Raises Weekly Strike & Daily Story Mission Difficulties

‘Destiny: Dark Below’ DLC Video Shows Sword Gameplay & New Exotics

In a little over two weeks Bungie will give Destiny players their first taste of post-launch story content in the form of The Dark Below DLC expansion. As previously detailed, The Dark Below will include a set of new story missions, one new Strike mission (or two for PlayStation players), a new Raid, and tons of new weapons and gear to collect.

But before Bungie lets players go hands-on with The Dark Below there’s still plenty of legwork to be done. Specifically, Bungie needs to explain to Destiny players why this expansion is worth the $15 price tag.

Luckily, the coming week will deliver those much-needed Dark Below details as part of a preview feature from Game Informer. The publication recently visited Bungie’s studio and was able to get all the important details on The Dark Below and get hands-on time with its new story content.

To better give players an idea of what to expect in the next week, the folks at GI have put together a teaser video highlighting all the new elements in The Dark Below. The footage features closer looks at each of the new story missions, provides more back-story on the character of Eris, showcases some of the new weapons and gear, and even teases some new gameplay experiences as well. Check it out the video here.

First and foremost, it sounds like Bungie is trying to deliver a more cohesive story experience with The Dark Below. It doesn’t matter if players are off on quests or going through the new Strike, everything should tie together through the character of Eris.

Eris, as the video and epilogue cinematic explain, was the member of a raid team who descended into the depths of the Moon looking for the Hive god Crota. The details get a bit fuzzy from their but it sounds like the team found more than they bargained for and only Eris survived. Now, she sends players on a series of missions that will eventually culminate in the new 6-player raid, Crota’s End.

Gameplay-wise, the new content looks pretty familiar, although it is nice to see the sword mechanic return. We don’t know how much of a factor the sword will play in The Dark Below, but considering it played a small part of a single mission we’re hoping Bungie has more sword missions planned this time around.

While the prospect of new content is intriguing we’re still wary given how limited the retail Destiny package was. As Project Director Jason Jones says at the top of the video, players wanted more. However, they didn’t want more in the form of paid DLC.

Hopefully, the upcoming details about The Dark Below – including more about those awesome legendary and exotic weapons – will do enough to convince players this is a value. Stick tuned to Game Rant for more.

What do you think of this closer look at The Dark Below? Do you think it will add enough to the game to keep you going?

Destiny: The Dark Below releases December 9, 2014 for PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.

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Source: Game Informer

‘Destiny: Dark Below’ DLC Video Shows Sword Gameplay & New Exotics