Rise of Iron
[Update: Bungie has informed Destructoid that it is investigating additional ways for players to upgrade to the current generation.]
After yet another ad-related leak, Destiny‘s next expansion is now fully unveiled. Yes, it’s Rise of Iron, and will arrive on September 20, 2016 on PS4 and Xbox One. That last bit is important — it is not coming to the PS3 and Xbox 360 platforms.
This has been an ongoing source of grief for Bungie, who has been limited by the technical limitations and parity of last generation (this is chiefly blamed for the lengthy delay of back space increases). But with that roadblock finally out of the way, maybe Destiny can grow even more than it already has. Plus, many folks already got both generations for free as a result of an early promotion, so early adopters aren’t left in the wind entirely.
In a shameless move, Bungie has also gated the new “Iron Gjallarhorn” behind a pre-order bonus that you can net as of today. Then again we don’t even know if this “Year Three” edition will even be as effective as Year One, so the jury is still out. Plus it’ll be available in-game of course, but what fan wouldn’t spring for such a celebrated instant reward? Rise of Iron itself is priced at $30, and you’re required to own Taken King based on the information Activision has provided us. It’ll ship with a new location on Earth (Plaguelands), a six-person raid (Felwinter Peak), a new social zone, a three-player Strike, the new “mutated Fallen” faction, a Light level (level cap) increase (the current cap is 335), additional quests and gear, and more PVP (Crucible) maps and modes.
Since my hiatus from the game following the most recent lame, repackaged update (having played since launch), I’ll definitely be returning for this. A new raid and a new faction are enough for me to check it out, and the extra locations actually look different this time around. It seems to be more than a re-skin and some actual effort is involved.
