Beyond Light marked the return of Uldren Sov as the Lightbearer Crow, and Season of the Lost is taking the narrative of the Dreaming City and Mara Sov to new levels thanks to their connection with Savathun. While Beyond Light itself might not have been on par with Forsaken in scope and delivery, Year 4 was arguably one of the best all-around for Destiny 2 thanks to pinnacles of gameplay and storytelling such as Harbinger and Presage. As such, it’s a shame that Bungie is going to vault Forsaken, Presage, and Harbinger once The Witch Queen drops in February 2022.
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Why Destiny 2’s Forsaken Shouldn’t be Vaulted Next
Vaulting Forsaken was an expected move, but it feels wrong on many levels. The campaign was great, and it tells the story of how Cayde-6 died at the hands of Uldren Sov before the Awoken prince’s journey led him to die and be reborn through the Traveler’s blessing. The campaign itself also featured the Scorn for the first time, adding a brand-new race of enemies for players to fight: corrupted Fallen, now reborn into new forms.
Bungie is getting rid of the story of Cayde’s death and Uldren’s path to redemption, but places like Nessus and the EDZ are staying despite them serving almost no purpose at the moment. Not only that, Nessus is also home to bits of content where Cayde is regularly mentioned as if he’s alive, with the prime example being the Exodus Crash Strike that took place when Cayde was alive. In a way, it makes sense for Bungie to vault Forsaken now that Uldren is living his new life as Crow, but there is also no point in leaving Nessus without removing mentions of Cayde.
Furthermore, Nessus’ only purpose in Year 5 appears to be Bungie wanting to keep Battlegrounds and the Rite of Proving Strike around. This leaves some content on Nessus, but it also seems like a forced reason to leave the planet unvaulted - unless Bungie does plans for Nessus to become relevant again.
As for the Tangled Shore, Destiny 2 players don’t have many reasons to engage with it other than going to Spider’s lair to trade materials and play Season of the Hunt content. Yet, Season of the Lost is hinting at Spider’s death or Drifter smuggling him far away, with Bungie confirming the material trading will transfer to Master Rahool in Year 5. Season of the Hunt is going away, leaving the Tangled Shore pretty much empty, but that also means that the narrative should give it some form of closure before The Witch Queen. Yet, Bungie is also vaulting two Tangled Shore Strikes despite keeping Warden of Nothing as a standalone objective.
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Destiny 2: The Removal of Presage and Harbinger Sets Another Bad Precedent
Not many Destiny 2 players will remember unless they were playing in Year 1 and 2, but Exotic quests like The Whisper and Zero Hour are still missed because of how unique and immersive they were. Jumping puzzles and jump scares made them solid new additions to the game, and they came with strong weapons the caliber of Whisper of the Worm and Outbreak Perfected. These missions are now in the vault, despite being narrative and gameplay peaks for Destiny 2, and their corresponding Exotic guns are missing their catalysts as a result.
The same fate is coming for two more Exotic missions: Presage and Harbinger. While these quests were seasonal content, it makes no sense for Bungie to remove them given they are on-par with the vaulted content players have been so vocal about. Harbinger is still played to this day for more Hawkmoon rolls, and it also tells the story of Crow embracing the Traveler’s Light. Presage is one of the most atmospheric pieces of content in Destiny 2, and it awards the very popular Dead Man’s Tale while exploring the events on board the Glykon; foreshadowing the return of Calus.
It makes no sense for them to be vaulted, even if they were created with a seasonal model in mind. With the overwhelmingly positive feedback Bungie received from players, one has to wonder why these missions are being removed, despite Nessus and the EDZ still remaining.
Destiny 2 is slowly cannibalizing itself, entering an endless loop of more content being exchanged for old content. While it is understandable for Bungie to use the vault as a means of having faster loading times and a better performance, ever since its introduction with Beyond Light, many fans have been wondering if this was the right solution for the future of Destiny 2. It is practical and works, but at the same time it takes away a lot of important content, leaving some people hungry for more.
Destiny 2 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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