History VideoGame / Destiny2

The game originally launched on PC under the Battle.Net client but, after splitting from Activision, in Year Three Bungie released a free-to-play model on Platform/{{Steam}} called ''[[UpdatedRerelease New Light]]'' concurrently with ''Shadowkeep''. It has all of the base game's content (both story and multiplayer modes), along with both Year One expansions ''Curse of Osiris'' and ''Warmind''. The Fall Expansions such as ''Forsaken'', ''Shadowkeep'' and Beyond Light still needed to be purchased separately. As of the November 2020 ''Beyond Light'' expansion, ''Red War'' (the base game's campaign), ''Curse of Osiris'', and ''Warmind'' have been vaulted and are no longer accessible, with the game's only free-to-play content being the open-world free roam, the New Light tutorial campaign, the first missions of ''Forsaken'', ''Shadowkeep'', and ''Beyond Light'', as well as Gambit and the Vanguard Strike and PvP playlists.

''Destiny 2'' is the first sequel to the [[MassivelyMultiplayerOnlineRolePlayingGame Massive Multiplayer Online Roleplaying]] FirstPersonShooter game ''VideoGame/{{Destiny}}'', developed by Creator/{{Bungie}} and releasing on UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne on September 6, 2017 and PC on October 24, 2017.

The game originally launched on PC under the Battle.Net client but, after splitting from Activision, in Year Three Bungie released a free-to-play model on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} called ''[[UpdatedRerelease New Light]]'' concurrently with ''Shadowkeep''. It has all of the base game's content (both story and multiplayer modes), along with both Year One expansions ''Curse of Osiris'' and ''Warmind''. The Fall Expansions such as ''Forsaken'', ''Shadowkeep'' and Beyond Light still needed to be purchased separately. As of the November 2020 ''Beyond Light'' expansion, ''Red War'' (the base game's campaign), ''Curse of Osiris'', and ''Warmind'' have been vaulted and are no longer accessible, with the game's only free-to-play content being the open-world free roam, the New Light tutorial campaign, the first missions of ''Forsaken'', ''Shadowkeep'', and ''Beyond Light'', as well as Gambit and the Vanguard Strike and PvP playlists.

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: The Collector's Edition of ''The Final Shape'' reveals that [[spoiler:the Witness could have instantaneously sliced the whole of humanity and the Eliksni to ribbons and locked up the remains in the eldritch {{Bizarrchitecture}} of the Black Fleet like it did to Reed-7, but chose not to because it is so blinded by its rage toward the Traveler that [[DickDastardlyStopsToCheat it thinks the easy way out would show "kindness" to something that does not deserve it]]. When Eido discovers the recordings that allow her to piece this together, she calls it out in writing and is revolted by the Witness's backwards way of thinking]].

** The behavior of RealLife players is revealed to be how Guardians ''actually'' act, seeking out loot simply to have it, constantly being on the search for power, and being bored by just about any task that comes at no real immediate benefit to them. [[spoiler: It's implied that the Traveler is intentionally inflicting this as a mental RestrainingBolt against doing anything that isn't training to fight the Darkness, given how it's treated the other races it blessed in the past.]]
** The [[spoiler:timeloop]] affecting the Dreaming City is a deconstruction of [[spoiler: events in traditional MMORPG games that repeat indefinitely for either no real in-universe reason or an arbitrary one, lore-wise. Whereas repeating events in other games tend to simply repeat with no real consequence, the curse on the Dreaming City is looping, and it's raising hell on the Awoken who are forced to live out cruel fates, unable to change them, all for a [[AmbiguousSituation gambit of unclear ends.]]]]

** ''Beyond Light'' through ''Lightfall'' place huge emphasis on the idea that [[spoiler: the Light and the Darkness are not straightforward good and evil, but more like two neutral, diametrically opposed forces of nature, whose powers and blessings can be used for whatever their wielder really wants. Guardians and allies of humanity are capable of using the Darkness for good just in the same way that the Warlords of the past and the Lucent Brood utilize the Light for either selfish or malevolent purposes, and the Darkness that humanity believes to have known is actually an entity known as The Witness simply using it for it's own purposes. The Darkness as a force might not even be inherently opposite to the Light either, with Osiris positing that it's a manifestation of the more abstract concepts of the universe such as emotion and thought compared to the more physical nature of the Light.]]

* AnAesop: ''Forsaken'' talks a lot about revenge, and dishes out the two following ones: first, revenge is not [[VengeanceFeelsEmpty always an empty, selfish pursuit]] if it's done in the name of justice. The player character sets out to not only avenge Cayde, but to try and bring Uldren to justice for the crimes he's committed. [[spoiler: They also go after Riven and try so save the Dreaming City after putting him down, showing that they won't leave evil go unchecked.]] The second is that your actions carry serious consequences no matter who you are- killing Uldren will make an enemy of the Awoken, and in order to get to him you side with some unsavory characters and pull a lot of nasty favors.

*** There are six character stats that impact gameplay behavior and power usage: movement (base walking and strafing speed), resilience (damage negation), recovery (how long without weapons fire before HealthRegeneration), discipline (grenade recharge), intellect (super recharge) and strength (powered melee recharge). While there are some hints that movement, resilience and recovery are tied to different classes and their class ability, and the recharges give a O-100 timer, many of the unique interactions require extensive character builds and outside sources to fully understand the benefits.

* ArcNumber: ''Witch Queen'' has particular emphasis on the number 2.
** Two Vanguard members remaining.
** Two races wielding the light.
** The launch date is 2/22
** The launch trailer is 2:22
** The number even sounds like “truth” in a way.

** Season four was dedicated to a light subclass redesign, where each subclass was made to resemble the Stasis subclass structure. This gave players much more versatility in spec'ing towards a specific style. The caveat was that many of the exotic armors became obsolete because the revamp improved players abilities to improve their "neutral game," grenade, melee and class benefits that affect moment-to-moment gameplay. Exotics that provided a benefit to ONLY [[CripplingOverspecialization super activation, super recharge or mobility]] were suffering next to exotics that provided smaller benefits that fed more into the neutral game. This became exaggerated in year five when armor mods became more consolidated with the idea of working with the new subclass designs. In year five numerous exotics were modified to improve their functionality on this end. Shards of Galnor was changed to increase super recharge based on melee knife kills in addition to the original super recharge from super kills, which meant players could push a melee build that allowed more super attacks.

* PowerCreep: The game started to run into this problem in year three. Forsaken in year two offered random rolls on gear (gear in the first year had static rolls, meaning once you acquired it any future version would be the same) and players subsequently managed to grind for the highest tier combination of perks, which tended towards damage buffs and increased reload speeds. This skewed players into being much more powerful than Bungie intended, able to melt the toughest Raid bosses. Shadowkeep in year three brought about a round of nerfs, but it became evident with newer gear that that players were favoring older gear and infusing it (increasing its light level to the current seasonal max) rather than experimenting with the newer gear with alternate perks. This eventually lead to the announcement of "sunsetting" older gear by preventing it from being infused beyond a particular light level after a certain period of time. The announcement, as would be expected, was controversial, although a similar strategy had been done before in The Taken King expansion of the first game.
** More specifically, the original Perfect Paradox shotgun from the Curse of Orisis expansion in year one was considered a highly favorable shotgun due to the standard handling and damage perks. The Season of the Worthy introduced a method of easily grinding out a new version of the Perfect Paradox but with randomized perks, so in addition to getting the perks with the original weapon you could get newer perks that catered to any particular play style. In essence the shotgun got overshadowed by itself.

** The Thorn hand cannon returns from the original game. While it's a kinetic weapon, it's projectiles are enormous poison [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin thorns]] which progressively weaken their target. Its cousin gun, Rose, once powered up, can fire projectiles at friendlies to heal them.

* ''Forsaken:'' In the midst of a riot at the Prison of Elders, Cayde-6 meets his demise at the hands of Prince Uldren Sove and his band of corrupted Fallen known as the Scorn. Mourning the loss of their friend, the Vanguard feel their hands are tied in scouring the Reef to bring Uldren to justice, but the Guardian [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge has other plans]]. Tracking down the Scorn leadership one by one, aided by the Fallen black market leader called Spider, the lawless land reveals to be hiding an Awoken secret, the Dreaming City. But the Dreaming City [[SealedEvilInACan hides an even more dangerous entity]].

* AnAesop: ''Forsaken'' talks a lot about revenge, and dishes out the two following ones: first, revenge is not [[VengeanceFeelsEmpty always an empty, selfish pursuit]] if it's done in the name of justice. The player character sets out to not only avenge Cayde, but to try and bring Uldren to justice for the crimes he's committed. [[spoiler: They also go after Riven and try so save the Dreaming City after putting him down, showing that they won't leave evil unchecked.]] The second is that your actions carry serious consequences no matter who you are- killing Uldren will make an enemy of the Awoken, and in order to get to him you side with some unsavory characters and pull a lot of nasty favors.

** The Thorn hand cannon returns from the original game. While it's a kinetic weapon, it's projectiles are enormous poison [[ShapedLikeItself thorns]] which progressively weaken their target. Its cousin gun, Rose, once powered up, can fire projectiles at friendlies to heal them.

Bungie has maintained that there will not be a ''Destiny 3'' in terms of story; all post-''Final Shape'' content will continue to be pushed to ''Destiny 2'' for the foreseeable future, if such content will even exist. However, public job listings and descriptions for the company together with notes regarding Bungie's purchase by Creator/{{Sony}} have confirmed the production of an extended universe containing spin-off media in multiple mediums, including additional games.

** There are several stats weapons use to govern their performance but which are not part of the overview that can be viewed in-game; these are aim assist levels, bullet magnetism[[note]]How far a shot will "curve" towards a target or their weak spot, effectively constraining the cone of fire at farther ranges[[/note]], zoom level, and recoil direction. Bungie has explicitly stated that they do not make these scores publicly available without external tools for the sake of preventing [[{{Munchkin}} a hardcore grindset]].
** For similar reasons, nowhere in the game does it specify the exact strength of ''any'' DamageIncreasingDebuff or buff available to players. Making matters worse is the fact that the ability to stack these effects were mostly removed in Update 3.0, creating even more of a headache in not only trying to determine which status effect is most efficient for buffing DPS, but also working out the few exceptions that slip through the cracks.

* {{Retool}}: With the split from Activision, ''Shadowkeep'' and year three content in general went in a different direction. The initial campaign was very short and open-ended, but the format involved regular updates with new story developments, game modes and quest lines to accomplish. The Garden of Salvation raid was released several days in, with the Vex Offensive gametype available upon completion. Several weeks later the dungeon Pit of Heresy was opened. This made for more continuous content rather than beating the basics in a few days and waiting a few months for another DLC drop. This was preluded in the approach used in Joker's Wild, with the Invitation of the Nine quests doing a similar thing showing more of an overarching story week by week.