As we enterSeason of the Defiant’s quiet period and the long, two month wait until Season of the Deep, it’s time to reflect on the year so far and consider what still lies ahead for Destiny. For myriad reasons, Lightfall isn’t off to a great start. After so much build-up from The Witch Queen, the expansion’s campaign was a huge let down that didn’t make the kind of narrative strides we were expecting. There were also a multitude of bugs to cont🥀end with - more so than the typical amount for a new expansion - and the big changes to the difficulty settings were way out of balance. Strand has been a great addition to the power fantasy, but it’s hard to say that Destiny 2 is in a better place today than it was a month ago.
That said, the year ahead will feature some big changes to the way we play Destiny and engage with seasonal content, and even though Lightfall was a let down, it still set the stage for future seasons. The upcoming Season of the Deep will give us our first clear picture of what to expect throughout the Lightfall expansion, and the way it's received will determine whether a lot of players stick around to see how the rest unfolds.
It’s unfortunate we have to wait so long before we can get a sense of how Destiny is changing this year, but the seasonal structure creates a significant gap between the launch of a new expansion and the start of real seasonal content. Season of the Defiant, which launched alongside Lightfall, is a smaller, protracted season that isn’t at all indicative of the kinds of experiences we can expect from the seasons ahead. Like The Witch Queen’s Season of the Risen, Season of the Defiant is largely a 🐲companion to Lightfall. It introduces a new activity and tells a relatively short story, but its structure is no different from the eight seasons that came before it.
That’s cha🍸nging in May with the start of Season of the Deep. According to director Joe Blackburn’s “Lightfall and the Year Ahead” blogpost, Season of the Deep will represent a significant departure from the seasonal structꦑure we’ve come to know over the past few years. One of the biggest changes is the elimination of the traditional vendor upgrade paradigm, which has been at the center of each season since the introduction of the H.E.L.M. in Season of the Chosen.
Each season we’d complete weekly c🎃hallenges to earn upgrade mat🐈erials which improve our Vendor, unlock new abilities and bonuses, and provide access to seasonal gear. Blackburn says that’s changing in Season of the Deep, and we won’t be upgrading a seasonal vendor in Season 22 either. The director also promised that future Lightfall seasons will feature “fresh activity experiences” on par with the introduction of the Shattered Realm in Season of the Lost and Battlegrounds in Season of the Chosen.
We’re in a mysterious and exciting place right now. When it was revealed that Season of the Defiant would be eliminating Umbral Engrams, it was pretty obvious that the system replacing it would be similar, but streamlined. But this feels like uncharted territory. Without a seasonal vendor🍎 to upgrade, what are we even going to be doing all season long? What will be the progression hooks that keep people engaged for the entire season, and how will that tie into the new type of activity coming next season?
Even bigger questions remain around the narrative direction of the year ahead. Following the backlash to the Lightfall campaign, Bungie used two subsequent TWAB posts t𓃲o assure us that our questions will be answered, and to remind us that Lightfall is taking a different approach to storytelling than anything we’ve seen before. While previous years featured self-contained stories in the expansion campaign and seasons, Lightfall’s narrative will be a more cohesive story that started in the campaign and flows through each season. We know that Osiris’ investigation into the Veil on Neomuna will continue in Season of the Deep, which will unlock new Strand aspects, but we don’t know how the season’s storyline will play int♏o the ongoing battle with the Shadow Legion, or what more we will learn about The Witness.
Season of the Deep has a lot of heavy lifting to do, and plenty to make up for from initial Lightfall reactions. It has to reinvent the seasonal model and give us a compelling reason to keep grinding all year long while also introducing a new kind of seasonal activity we haven’t seen before. It alꦫso has to pick up where Lightfall and Season of the Defiant left us and tell its own story while resolving some of the plot threads that came before.
If Season of the Deep can’t start pulling things together in a satisfying way, many players who already feel let down by Lightfall may not find the motivation to stick with Destiny throughout the entire year. Season of the Deep is the most important season of the year because it will show us exactly wh💟at we’re in for throughout the rest of Lightfall. If it’s strong, much of Lightfall’s fumbles will be forgotten. If it’s weak🎃, we may see a lot of people check out entirely until next year’s The Final Shape.