Destiny 2 has been helping the players out a little by offering gamers more and more engaging stuff. Recently, they hosted the Summer Solstice Event, which gave players access to a brand-new activity, armor improvements, and a lot more. Players should be patient because Bungie has stated in a blog post that there is much more to come. Season 18 of Destiny 2 will feature a returning Raid, and it will release in just a few weeks. That’s the information Bungie provided in their most recent TWAB post. Which raid will make a comeback is still a subject of considerable mystery, as usual.
The game will typically be offline for several hours on the day of release for maintenance. Bungie normally officially announced this a few weeks in advance to give gamers fair warning. The latest Destiny 2 patch will be made available on all platforms and territories following the completion of maintenance. Players can typically log back into Destiny 2 at this point. However, it’s common for users to encounter an error message saying that Destiny 2 is temporarily at capacity when there are so many people trying to log back in.
Destiny 2 Season 18 Release Date
Bungie recently discussed the release date of the highly anticipated Destiny 2 Season 18 raid in a blog post. Sadly, they haven’t told the players what this raid’s name is. However, they have confirmed that the raid will be released from the Destiny Content Vault on August 23, 2022, and will be shown to the public. The unnamed raid is scheduled to launch on August 26, 2022, at 10:00 AM Pacific Time.
For quite a while now, Destiny 2 Raids were just being released on Saturdays, which made perfect sense from a public engagement perspective due to the overall relatively high concurrent player numbers across all platforms. This time, the Season 18 Raid release will take place on Friday, which will have a significant impact on the number of people who may participate in the Challenge Mode and Contest Mode for the World’s First race, a popular event that attracts a lot of viewers on streaming platforms. Bungie will leave the Contest Mode accessible for 24 hours during this repeat Raid, enabling every team that completes the challenge within that time to proceed to Challenge Mode and compete in the World’s First race.
This is different from Vow of the Disciple, for instance, which had Challenge Mode and Contest Mode active simultaneously, meaning that just one full stage clearing was necessary for entering the race and possibly winning it. It’s also strange that the Raid will occur three days into the new Season, giving players very little time to experiment with the new Arc 3.0 subclasses and Season 18-related changes. The upcoming Destiny 2 Raid was also kept a secret by Bungie at this moment; it will likely be revealed during the August showcase.
Why Destiny 2 Season 18 Is Releasing On Friday?
Knowing what the Raid is in advance would be helpful given the limited time available to complete contest mode and challenge mode, however, the reveal is taking place only three days before the debut. Bungie clarified that this return to Friday release dates is due to several problems that kept popping up with Vow of the Disciple in Season 16, which the firm couldn’t fix because this is over the weekend, thus why releasing the Raid on a Friday now makes sense. It will be essential to have all hands on deck in case of crises because Destiny 2 is a complicated game. This will ensure a smoother launch.
The core team regularly works Monday through Friday, and Bungie has already worked hard to fight the crunch mentality, but this may become the new standard in the future unless the company can find a way to dedicate a crew to weekend releases. First and foremost, the developers will benefit from this positive change. Considering that there isn’t enough time for a meta to develop and that the Raid is launching only three days into the Season, it may be helpful for the race to do so as opposed to previous releases where it was necessary to unlock all seasonal mods beforehand.
Overall, although the change in release date will likely have an impact on a large number of Destiny 2 gamers, the reasons behind it are reasonable, and additional feedback may enable Bungie to make the necessary adjustments in the future. Now that that is out of the way let’s move on to what Season 18 might add. We currently have a lot of information, thanks to a leak. Parts of the information have turned out to be accurate, while other parts have not. Therefore, take it with caution.
Destiny 2 Season 18 Leaks
The leaks we’re discussing right now first appeared in Pastebin at the start of last season. It was initially rejected as being wholly fabricated, something cooked up by yet another angry ex-employee, or something similar. What it contained was a description of the changes for Seasons 17, 18, and other stuff.
After a few days, it was taken down from Pastebin and other sites. Considering that Season 17 is now in action, these leaks were remarkably accurate. It’s possible that some of the items’ wording was incorrect, but that may simply be explained by a name change that was made at the last minute. The fact that it offered some important insight into the changes to Solar 3.0 gives some weight to this leak. Let’s talk about what they think will happen in the upcoming Season for the time being.
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Destiny 2 Season 18 Name And Story Leak
It was initially intended for Wrath of the Machines and the plaguelands to return in Destiny 2 Season 18: Season of the Lies, but an unexpected development forced the developer to abandon the concept. King’s Fall, however, is back in Season 18. The raid is scheduled to return as King’s Fall. Within the Destiny community, this has been highly criticized for a while. Additionally, it makes sense in Witch Queen Year 5 as well. According to the leaks, it will have a seal, and a few weapons will return, with Touch of Malice serving as the exotic weapon.
As per the leaks, “the Season’s plot sees Saint-14 and Mirthax unveil their massive project. They reconstruct the conditions that led to Savthun’s rise to power using the body of Quria. The focus of the season is understanding the lies Savathun spoke. Key characters include Saint-14, Mitrhrax, Crow, Rasputin. The season will end with Immaru trying to revive Savathun but is killed by Crow.”
Although it is still unclear, it is likely that Season 18 will continue where Season 17 left off. However, the leaks claim that following Immaru’s defeat, the Leviathan, as well as Mercury, Io, and Titan, return to the system (the planets still remain vaulted). In the season’s opening mission, the Guardian aboard the Leviathan to negotiates a deal with Calus. The remainder of the season is spent using Calus to get ready for the Witness.
The Witness will join the system at the end of the season, kill Calus for betraying him, and then shift his focus to Earth and the rest of Sol in a cutscene. A live event will display the traveler being bombarded by a black feeling as their servers go down. Also, Chiaroscuro is a brand-new Throne World dungeon. Immaru’s death causes the Throne World to start falling apart. The guardian is able to stabilize the Throne World and cut off the connection to Savathun in Chiaroscuro.
Destiny 2’s August Showcase
One month from now marks the end of Destiny 2’s Season of the Haunted, however, players can still take advantage of the newly revamped Solstice event for the remainder of the Season. With Zavala, Caiatl, and Crow serving as its focal points, the Season 17 plot explored the themes of trauma and recovery for characters both new and old. Following Calus’ elevation to The Witness’ new herald, each of these individuals faced their own Nightmare on the Leviathan. Bungie said this week that it will host a unique Destiny 2 showcase at the close of Season of the Haunted and before the start of Season 18.
The subject of this showcase is obvious: a preview of the Lightfall expansion and probably the Season 18 themes. While the Light and Darkness saga of Destiny 2 is nearing a conclusion, Bungie appears to have plans for the franchise that goes far beyond it, including years’ worth of content. The next showcase will be exciting because there isn’t any official information regarding Lightfall yet. If the showcase conducted last year for the reveal of The Witch Queen is any indication, players will have a lot to look forward to in the months to come.
News About Lightfall
A few hours before the release of Season of the Lost last year, on August 24, Bungie hosted a Destiny 2 showcase where numerous developers discussed the upcoming expansion and Season. In addition to introductions and small talk, the official presentation began with a discussion of the goals for what the game should be and accomplish, as well as how it has evolved over time. Given how much has changed, this is likely to be covered in this year’s showcase, and it’s likely that Bungie will mention the problem of developer harassment in passing.
Following the brief introduction, it is most likely that two or more of the developers will show off a brief trailer for Lightfall, mostly a teaser of what’s to come and what the major focus of the expansion will be. As there are still two Seasons left before the expansion opens, it’s possible that the Lightfall trailer will be shorter than The Witch Queen’s two-minute length trailer. Following a conversation about what the trailer shows, more developers are likely to have an impact on the themes of Destiny 2’s most recent expansion and analyze what this chapter means for the franchise as a whole.
It’s also important to keep in mind that Bungie confirmed the existence of a new element, and Lightfall might be the perfect setting for the introduction of a new Darkness subclass for Guardians to discover. If a new feature is actually coming to Destiny 2, it’s possible that the developer will reveal it in a brief trailer, similar to how it released footage of The Witch Queen’s pre-alpha stages to reveal some gameplay scenes. This may also cover additional information on Lightfall, the main antagonist of the expansion, and the kinds of places that players will be able to visit.
This could be a wonderful opportunity to address the upcoming Lightfall campaign as well as what Bungie has learnt from the incredibly favorable response to this year’s The Witch Queen campaign. In fact, Bungie claimed in a recent interview that The Witch Queen’s Legendary campaign enabled Destiny 2 to strike a balance between challenging and lighthearted content that the studio has yet to achieve elsewhere.
Season 18, Arc 3.0, and Matter
Given that Lightfall cannot reasonably be the focus of the entire showcase, there are several possibilities for what might happen. Unless information regarding those updates is scheduled for upcoming TWABs that take place prior to the August showcase of this year, Bungie will likely post a trailer for Season 18 and the Arc 3.0 update as a start. Because Season 18 of Destiny 2 is still unnamed and kept under wraps, it makes sense that Bungie will follow the same format as last year and release the first trailer for Season of the Lost immediately after discussing The Witch Queen.
Another thing that gamers can expect from the showcase is a talk about Destiny 2 weapon crafting, which in Season of the Haunted caused some concern due to the demanding grind it required. Given that glaives were released alongside The Witch Queen, now would also be a good time to take on new weapons or exotics, although probably not an entirely new weapon archetype this time. Instead, Bungie’s plans regarding the present sandbox in Destiny 2 might be mentioned, along with changes to glaives and other weapons.
Due to Bungie’s increased focus on build-crafting, which is currently one of the key components of Destiny 2, New Exotics and the Season 18 Exotic, in particular, are quite likely to be included in the August showcase. This is further confirmed by how the Solstice event was handled this year, which made it the ideal place to farm for top-notch armor pieces, even if the new farming strategy primarily favors new Destiny 2 players rather than seasoned players. The showcase probably won’t include discussions on the Festival of the Lost because it’s too early.
Last but not least, it’s possible that this showcase may also include a teaser trailer and the official introduction of Bungie’s forthcoming project, Matter, which is unrelated to Destiny 2. According to rumors, Matter has been in production for a while, and with Sony’s recent acquisition of Bungie, the stakes may be high enough for the developer to officially reveal the game’s premise. Similar to that, Bungie might take the chance to discuss the next mobile PvP game, though it might be too soon for that. It’s obvious that Bungie fans have a lot to be happy about.
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