Bungie Details Destiny 2 Seasons, Talks About Future Content

On Friday afternoon, Community Manager David Dague–or Deej, as he’s better known to the community–sat down with two members of the Destiny 2 Live Team for a panel at TwitchCon to provide players with a look at what’s coming up in Destiny 2, the crux of which centered on the idea of Destiny 2 Seasons. You may have noticed seasons mentioned in terms of clan rewards and rank ups, and now we’ve finally got details on what those seasons will entail.

While many other games have had seasons in a competitive space, Bungie is utilizing this idea to effectively change the themes for the in-game meta and the loot pool. For the time being, Destiny 2 will have four seasons in year one, and though they didn’t come right out and say this, it’s likely that the changes will happen around the launch of each new expansion. The change from season one to season two is expected to occur at the start of December (again, not something they came out and said, but by taking in statements like one more Iron Banner in season one and the winter themed The Dawning event being part of season two, it’s pretty easy to narrow down), which is the same time that The Curse of Osiris DLC is expected to launch.

Unlike the Destiny 2 weekly reset, seasons are designed to shift the course of play and change the game as we know it. Clan rewards will be reset for season two, and there will be new rewards and incentives, rather than just earning all of the old ones again. One example given was that the clan rewards for season one centered on the Cabal because we’re fighting them in the Red War campaign, but season two will have different rewards.

Not wanting to get ahead of themselves, Bungie detailed some changes and teased others that will be making their way into season two. The biggest thing to keep in mind is that none of this is talking about the content additions that will be coming with the expansion. Seasons are only art of the story. The Dawning will be returning in December, including new armor sets to obtain, ice hockey to be played in the Tower, and snowball fights not just limited to within social spaces. There will also be a number of Easter eggs that they obviously weren’t going to detail on stage.

Wanting to assure players that their voices were heard, the panel went on to detail changes to Iron Banner that will be live for seasons two (though will not apply to the one more Iron Banner in season one, scheduled sometime in November). Some of the biggest changes coming include reworking the token economy in the game, allowing players to purchase gear directly instead of relying on RNG, and specific objectives unlocking ornament slots on armor, so that players who really get into the game can show off their devotion to the game mode. Similar changes will be heading to Trials of the Nine, with cosmetic ornaments that unlock after certain objectives are met.

Bungie also took some time to highlight new emotes, ships, sparrows and other gear coming to season two, making sure to say that much of it’s exclusive. They want people to be able to feel special when they get something and when asked where a cool ship or piece of armor came from, they can say “I played a ton of Iron Banner in season two.” You can see some of the new gear coming to the game in the gallery below.

There were a few more details that came out of the panel, including changes to the meta, updating clan rewards, and new Crucible maps added with each new event in the game. The Destiny subreddit has a great overview of everything that was talked about, and the embedded video above includes the entire hour long panel.

As an avid player of Destiny 2, and someone who’s been burnt out by a lack of meaningful endgame content, this has me hopeful in the future of Destiny 2. Considering seasons are only half of the story and will be coming alongside more content and a definite shift in how the game works with each subsequent expansion, Bungie has a real opportunity to reshape the game and how people play it, both to attune to the casual audience and the hardcore fanbase that want a reason to log in nearly every day. We’ll keep you updated on further details about seasons and future content expansions as they come.