Destiny – House Of Wolves

Destiny is one of those games I can’t seem to put down. I have not felt the need to sit down and grind out the levels and gear since Vanilla World of Warcraft. When destiny first released the gun play was fantastic the acting was sub-par the story was hidden in cards you read on bungie.net it was a mess, but it was also my favorite game on next gen.

Skip ahead a few months and they dropped their first DLC “The Dark Below”. This introduced a new raid a few strikes tons of loot and new pvp maps. This Expansion felt like a heavier grind then the original game. With the raid was the focus of this expansion, in comparison to the Vault of Glass seemed to be met much with less enthusiasm. VOG was something fantastic it felt epic the boss mechanics were fun and felt very much like the FPS MMO destiny was proclaimed to be.

Now here we are several months later with Destiny’s second expansion pack “House Of wolves” or #NORAID depending on who you ask. This expansion to me proves that Bungie is serious about the life plan of Destiny and goals they have set. It also shows they are listening to fans. The grind is gone you can easily reach light level to do all of the content. However this time skill is rewarded which is something I highly appreciate.

 The new story although short but more importantly it is very fun. We head to the Reef where we are tasked from the Queen and her captains, with hunting down the Escaped members of the House of Wolves before they capture Ancient Vex Technologies. The battles felt epic chasing Skolas through Venus into the Vault of Glass through fallen ships, the Strike and eventually killing him in the Prison of elders this expansion felt rewarding and cohesive.

The new Strike is easily my new favorite Strike in the game. This is a great gaming moment where you get to chase the boss through hive territory eventually to take a teleported into a Fallen Skiff. From there you chase him and battle dense populations of enemies and a walker to eventually kill him which with some luck in the Nightfall I got the new “The Ram” warlock helm #Sick

The prison of Elders to me is the highlight. This is not a normal Strike and is considered its own event with 4 different modes. All of these modes are somewhat randomized and will change from week to week. The AI in this mode is also not the same as in all other events. The easiest way to explain this change is Aggression. These mobs will hunt you down and kill you, period.

In this mode you survive waves of different rooms and enemies and complete special objectives within them from disarming mines to killing a target or boss. The challenge in this mode compared to strikes is obvious and the rewards at the end feel great to earn. If you were lucky enough to get a key you can open the large chest which on first open will give you an exotic and a change for legendary, exotics shader’s afterwards.

Beyond the story and PvE content, we have new pvp modes Trials of Osiris for the hard-core PvPer’s it seems destiny has something for everyone now. The expansion also boasts a new loot pool which is far more rewarding, PvP marks are also more generous, easier rep gains and from my experience a less disappointing Cryptarch.

This Expansion if anything makes me more excited for Destiny 1.5 this fall. The Comet or The House of Kings which drops by end of year will hopefully be next gen exclusive. I think Destiny is prepped and ready to become something amazing its first outing now completed I believe this won’t be the last time we log into our guardians, gear up and use our light to protect the traveler.