With all the DLC content free to play this week, I decided to hop back in to Destiny 2 for the first time since Forsaken and it did not disappoint. Even if I couldn't follow most of the lore, The Witch Queen was fun mostly thanks to some rad mechanics during missions and the fact that the feel of Destiny's shooting is still best in class.

While it was fun hopping in for a couple days, the grind which caused me to quit the game is still there even if it's been vastly improved. And that's not something I want to grapple with right now.

It only took five years but they finally released a thing that got me hooked on this series. At least playing enough that I want to see it through. I feared at first that I was jumping on so late and that I'd have to catch up and it'd be this daunting and monumental endeavor when really it was almost the opposite. Turns out, these expansions are built in such a way that everyone is brought up to a new bare minimum and you go from there. I have lots of friends that are pretty die hard into this game so I didn't have any trouble getting any help I needed. There's a lot to the game and it feels pretty great to play now that I found gun types and classes that suit how I like to play. I think the biggest thing that helped me get into this though is the lore and story stuff. Interesting things were happening that were huge twists on stuff I had a basic understanding of which also affects gameplay so that was what drew me in. From there, the game did a great job presenting it's story content in a way that was easy to understand without feeling dull. From there, what I learned and played had me more curious and lead to me looking into more lore stuff on my own. It's all very interesting and unlike when the game first launched, Witch Queen offers immaculate cutscenes that are rich in story and feel as though they have a passion behind them. Characters feel deeper and I actually want to sit and watch the story play out now. So now I'm into this game that's fun with friends that also has a pretty neat story to tell. I won't go as far to say that I'm in it for good now but this is definitely the most I've cared about Destiny ever and I'm real excited for what comes next.

This is far and away the best campaign in Destiny history. It is not even close at all, it's got a great story but where it really shines is the mission design. Previous Destiny expansions have fallen into a pattern of go to place -> defeat enemies -> scan thing with ghost -> go to place and one shot boss. This one? This campaign's a meaty boy, with super long mission filled with great boss fights and mission structure, including the granddaddy of them all final boss fight. What a fight.

The story is great, I've played Destiny since year 1 and Savathun has been around for a loooong time. I don't remember if she was mentioned in the base game, but I know she's at least been known since 2015 when The Taken King came out. Needless to say, she's a hyped villain for Destiny fans... and she delivered. My big fear for this expansion was that Bungie wouldn't be able to nail the experience of going up against Savathun, someone based around trickery rather than might. Someone who is much smarter than our guardian and basically anyone we know. They nailed it though, and fighting Savathun feels great both from a gameplay and a story standpoint.

There are areas where I think this expansion fails however, and that's what keeps it from a 5/5 like Forsaken and The Taken King. I'll start with the one that's not actually the fault of The Witch Queen, The Taken King and Forsaken both fundamentally fixed and changed the game, Destiny was in a very barebones state and The Taken King added in much that was needed to make the overall game much better, such as a quest system and overhauling exotics. Destiny 2 was in a state where the endgame was boring and horrible, Forsaken came in and fixed this, adding back random rolls and adding in new endgame content in dungeons, which are an amazing in between of raids and strikes.

Destiny 2 is already in a good state now, thanks in large part due to the foundation that Forsaken built. The Witch Queen did no such overhauling it, because it didn't need to. That's no fault of it, but it does make the expansion hit different.

Outside of that, The Dreaming City is the greatest destination in Destiny history and Oryx's Dreadnought follows soon after. I don't really feel that with Savathun's Throne World unfortunately, I'm not even sure if it's as good as Europa from Beyond Light. I'm hoping that after the raid more may unlock, but for now it's a weakness of the expansion.

There's a raid as always, but outside of that and the campaign, there's only two strikes and no dungeons. This is very weak compared next to Forsaken, which just kept the surprises coming. The quality of the raid could possibly change this rating, but it feels very solidly a 4.5 for me right now, I think the raid would have to be GOAT caliber to get it to a 5, and shit to drop it down lower. Forsaken and The Taken King had the 2 best raids, hands down, in Last Wish and King's Fall.

Any other activities seem kind of barebones right now, not going to lie. I think this is a structure of the current Destiny path, with seasons every 3 months and new things coming from those seasons. Which could be fair, in The Taken King everything was included at once and once people burned through that content there was nothing left. This extends the lifespan but it makes the actual purchase of the expansion more underwhelming than The Taken King, as there is less to do right away. There's no guarantee I'll still be playing in 3 months or 6 months to do those other season's activities, and if I am they don't really feel accredited to the expansion considering the expansion doesn't come with the seasons.

Shout out to Bungie's shitty pricing practices, 2 dungeons are coming this year and neither come as part of the expansion OR the deluxe edition of the expansion (for $80!), you have to separately buy them. That's shitty, do better.

Fantastic expansion though!

The Witch Queen was arguably the greatest hyped expansion for destiny since Forsaken. Did it deliver? First impressions were very good but cracks begin to form after the campaign is over. I was asking myself “what’s left to do?” And what was left wasn’t impressive.
The Campaign: was quite fun, good higher difficulty content. We played the campaign in a 3 person fireteam and difficulty scaling seemed good. The cutscenes had obviously been given more thought, and i loved it. There are like 3 big twists in the campaign, and the last one is the only that really worked for me; being that the sisters of fundament were tricked by the Witness, the traveler was there in the sky to save them but they were tricked into choosing the deep. After the campaign is over there are some low quality checklist quests that aren’t worth doing. And theres nothing else really to do other than power grind and do the raid.
The Raid: Vow of the Disciple is a mixed bag. Day One was atrocious, the first few hours were riddled with error codes and Bungie eventually decided to extend the contest mode to 48 hours instead of the usual 24. The contest extension was definitely too long and it allowed many people to get the emblem who wouldn’t have otherwise. Both good and bad encounters can be found. Opening is waaay too long, Acquisition is great, Caretaker is decent, Exhibition is not good, Rhulk has good DPS but a bad first phase, and in between all of that are jumping puzzles that can take too long. Vow is just too slow to be a fun farm. The weapons work great in the meta, similar to DSC. I wish it were shorter and i’m not a big fan of the map design.
Innovation: Weapon crafting seems great at first but the perk pools are extremely disappointing at the moment. I’m worried about the issues it will cause in effect to the chase of random rolls.
Taking a step back: the rest of this expansion lacks a week-to-week reason to play, destiny’s main activities are very bland. Right now there is no reason to play ritual activities, wellspring, or master vow. The larger portion of the game is very empty. Perhaps this year of seasons will improve those areas.

Favorite Mission: The Arrival
Least favorite mission: The Mirror

perhaps the best destiny expansion to date. bungie absolutely knocked it out of the park with this one, and i fully expect them to do it again with lightfall. a compelling story (albeit a little predictable), and a fanTASTIC campaign (which is finally replayable!!!). the raid and exotics that came with it were fun, and all of the side content was fun to chase (save the exotic glaives). only gripe would be that the throne world, as a patrol zone, is a little boring, but i imagine changes might come to patrol zones soon.

as for the following seasons, two of them were good and two of them were.... less than good. a lot of 'seasonal fatigue' came about this year of destiny, with a lot of the content being extremely predictable in terms of gameplay and systems. still far from destiny's worst, as the story was still fantastic through the seasons (except maybe haunted), but gameplay wise it definitely got a bit older than previous years of destiny. the light subclass upgrades were easily the highlight of the seasonal content drops, as well as the two dungeons.

bungie seems to be taking feedback as far as seasonal stuff goes, so i imagine lightfall and the following seasons will be just as good, if not better than what witch queen brought to the table.

A Jewel for a Rusty Crown

Witch Queen was some of the most fun I had with a big expansion launch. The campaign is the best in the series from both a story and gameplay perspective. Also, do not bother with the normal difficulty for the campaign, it really excels the most when played on hard (you also get skip a chunk of the awful power grind). Now onto the activities that happen after the campaign, spoiler alert there isn't a lot. First, the community reception of the raid is positive and contains a variety of unique weapons that are worth getting. However, the master mode is not received so well as it is the culmination of poor difficulty design in Destiny 2's endgame content. Second, the several exotic quests are decent with some dull moments like messing around in patrol or getting weapon patterns. Speaking of weapon patterns, in order the get ones that are required for one of the exotic quests, you have to do the new 6 player activity. Third, Wellspring is a new 6 player activity that is enjoyable the first time but becomes increasingly more boring on every subsequent run. Normal mode is too easy and hard isn't fun because there is champion and modifier spam (in addition to no option for matchmaking on this difficulty). Fourth, there are several weekly missions that offer powerful and pinnacle gear drops (with some lore sprinkled in) that are again fun the first time but quickly loses luster with each replay.

There is also free content that dropped alongside the Witch Queen like crafting, Void 3.0, a new patrol area, and probably some other stuff that I'm forgetting. Crafting is a good idea, albeit pretty grindy and not a fun grind but a mind numbing one. Void 3.0 is a extremely fun rework of the void subclass but most of Destiny 2's content is so easy that it feels like overkill. The new patrol area is Savathun's Throne World. It is fun to explore but it is barren with enemies and grinding throne world reputation is very tedious ever since a rep exploit was patched early on. There are secrets to discover but not many so the area loses much purpose when all of them are found. I only ever visit the area when doing instanced weekly missions or legend lost sectors at this point.

tl;dr
The Witch Queen is a very quality expansion but is lacking in content, especially content that is enjoyable to be replayed.

O que dizer da melhor expansão de Destiny 2... Com uma narrativa simplesmente FAN-TÁS-TI-CA. Ouso dizer que a Savathûn possui o melhor desenvolvimento de um antagonista de toda a história do mundo dos games até o momento e se não for O melhor, com certeza é um dos melhores. Toda a narrativa da expansão, somado ao épico modo Lendário da campanha, que gerou desafios maravilhosos de divertidos, lugares extremamente bonitos e detalhados, ótimos de explorar, com um loop de gameplay divertido, uma raid perfeita, com uma história por trás ainda melhor, tendo uma das boss-fights mais legais da franquia até o momento, The Witch Queen se consagrou como a melhor expansão de todos os tempos. As temporadas seguintes fizeram um ótimo papel em expandir a história e empolgar os players para o final da Saga da Luz e Trevas, que, apesar do potencial desperdiçado na expansão seguinte, geraram ótimos momentos em TWQ. É um must-play para todos os fãs de looter-shooter.

The storytelling of Destiny is still kind of a mess due to its extremely inconsistent delivery over the years, and as someone who hasn't been extremely plugged into the plot since Forsaken I think there's a lot of stuff here that's just completely lost on me. At the very least the cutscenes are getting better and more coherent as time goes on, and there's a couple in particular here that were excellent.

Gameplay wise - yep, it's Destiny. There's some cool new enemies and the glaive is fun, but nothing on that front feels super fresh. I think the level design is still just as solid as always, but aside from a couple neat level gimmicks it's just maintaining the standard. The legendary campaign is very appreciated though, loved beating my head against the last couple missions for an uncomfortable amount of time.

I think what really sets this apart from the last couple of expansions is the art direction. The entirety of the Throne World is just drop dead gorgeous, I found myself staring off into the horizon more than I have in the last 8 (!!!) years of playing this game, which is pretty damn impressive considering how high quality the skyboxes tend to be in Destiny.

Also I really appreciate that Bungie seems to be the only western AAA dev that cares about putting music in their games anymore. I don't know if this soundtrack is anymore exceptional than previous outings, but it stands out so much compared to every big budget western game I've played in the last couple of years.

Overall pretty satisfied with this expansion. The game overall still has problems, but as a campaign in and of itself it's super enjoyable. Really hope I can try out the raid soon.

I'll finally log this and write something for Witch Queen because while I kept up with Season of Plunder, I don't see myself bothering with Season of the Seraph (or if the urge comes up, I doubt I will be hooked as much as my month-long binge of everything available at the time I was playing D2 in 2022).

Talking about my thoughts on Destiny is strange and kind of tough because nowadays when talking about a Destiny 2 expansion, discussing just the expansion itself is one thing, but the game as a whole is also a live service with seasonal content that's also associated with the expansion somewhat, since it's what holds over players up until the next year when the next expansion is out and the loop begins anew.

The Witch Queen on its own? Genuinely fantastic, easily the best campaign I've played for Destiny 2, at least what I'm able to play nowadays since I couldn't play Forsaken for myself. Bungie finally rediscovered what proper level design and storytelling can do for a shooter! Witch Queen's campaign feels less like your usual Destiny fare and more like, an actual first person shooter campaign almost along the lines of Halo. Less backtracking and doing things in the overworld areas, more actually just, doing story missions that have their own unique structure and places to be, with actual scripted sequences and story moments. While it sounds kind of goofy to be giving Destiny praise for basic video game design stuff like this, it's not just that it's all present but also all genuinely well done too and really gives me hope that Bungie can keep it up for future Destiny content because if Lightfall is more of this, I may actually have to stick around a while longer.

But while I say that, the live service aspect still has to rear its ugly head regarding the multiple seasons that are still ongoing before Lightfall is out, and it's where Bungie still has struggled the most with keeping Destiny 2 supported long-term. Season of the Risen was whatever, it was clearly meant to be played alongside the Witch Queen campaign while it was still ongoing but frankly I remember none of it months after the fact. Season of the Haunted has some of the best storytelling I've seen for Destiny 2 and nails that specific character-focused drama niche of mine that I love so much, finally giving the spotlight to characters like Caiatl and Zavala and their backgrounds that haunt them and trying to find some level of closure for themselves; it's more just a shame that actually playing through this season's content was really repetitive and kind of a bore, straight up reusing an area that was previously for a Raid and then asking you to repeat levels multiple times just to continue the story.

Season of Plunder was the season that I actually kept up with live while it was ongoing, because it started around the time that I actually got back into the game and bought all of the expansions I was missing on sale for cheap. Initially Plunder seemed intriguing, giving attention to a part of a faction that normally is your enemy turned friendly over the past year or two of Destiny story and lore, and also just the whole concept of space pirates in Destiny sounds cool as hell? But Plunder is where I started to fall back into worrying that Bungie has no idea what they're doing and seemingly just enjoys disrespecting its playerbase and time. Plunder's story goes nowhere with an ending that's thoroughly unsatisfying and creates more questions than it answers, and not in the good mysterious way but rather the bad lazy way Destiny always stumbles itself into eventually (even if canon gay rep is always nice, and it's between two of the characters who were always hinted at being so, now just officially and upfront). I don't get why everyone was so angry with Haunted's gameplay loop because Plunder was so much worse, enough that it burnt me out on the game fast because of how much it forces you to play through content that gets repetitive fast, and forcing you to do it literally tens to hundreds of times over just to progress for little or no reward.

This is also without mentioning the elephant in the room regarding how Bungie still handles the pricing model behind Destiny 2. I may have enjoyed Witch Queen itself, but even if this was the expansion to get me to forgive Destiny 2's earliest launch blunders and enjoy it once again, no one else should be getting into this mess of a game if they haven't played Destiny before. Bungie has repeatedly shot themselves in the foot and seems to enjoy continually running around screaming on their bad foot in regards to both the new and returning player experiences with Destiny 2, a game that will kick you down to the concrete and continually abuse you if you dare to stop playing at any point.

New player, or somebody who hasn't played in a long while? Good fucking luck catching up with any of the story, as the game basically shrugs and makes you go look up lore and recap videos from community members because not only can Bungie not bother with doing it themselves, they actively take away important story content from the game itself so you can't play through any of it. It's the reason why I so thoroughly dislike the seasonal model, because it's FOMO through and through in a game with a story structure that wasn't designed for it whatsoever. It's like if Final Fantasy XIV started you on Endwalker, kept A Realm Reborn but made it optional and difficult to even start, and removed Heavensward and told you to look up cutscenes on YouTube. Genuinely baffling how badly Bungie has handled this, and while they say Lightfall is going to improve the new player experience, I sincerely doubt it's going to fix enough to make it worthwhile recommending still.

This is all also assuming you can even afford the cost of catching up, besides ridiculous amounts of time watching and reading through recaps and lore. The Witch Queen on its own may be $40, but it doesn't get you access to any of the seasonal content afterwards. You either pay $10 per season, or you pony up the extra cash and spend $80 for the Deluxe Edition which will net you everything for the year. New or returning player who hasn't played previous expansions like Beyond Light, which still has important subclasses and campaign missions? You get to spend $60 for the Legacy Collection sucker. Lightfall already looks like it's going to be even worse next year, upping the base price to $50 and the Deluxe with season pass to $100 dollars which I cannot in good conscious ever recommend or see myself giving into when there are so many better games for so much cheaper. No game is worth spending $100 dollars for, no matter how much the Destiny fanbase is willing to shovel and devour the excuses for it, and especially not when half of that content is going to be removed the very next year because it's "seasonal content".

I may have enjoyed my time with Witch Queen and at least some of the seasonal content, but I can't in good faith still actually recommend bothering for most people. If you're a Destiny fan, I can try to implore you to do other things with your money and time, but you've probably already preordered Lightfall anyways if you're in this deep as it is.

This expansion is the best set of levels they have ever made. The levels are fun as hell, with great puzzle mechanics throughout that require you to learn and understand the encounters. Playing it through on Legendary with my friends felt INCREDIBLE, it required communication and timing... many of the levels and encounters felt like micro-raids. It was just EXCELLENT. If this is what Destiny is from now to the end, this is one of the best games ever made.

Fuck it's a good time to be a Destiny fan.

Too much to write about so I'll have to come back later, but damn was this expansion great! Easily my favorite one of the series. A campaign worthy enough to pick up this DLC alone. Bungie's narrative is working in full force, really loving how this game has almost turned into a television series where each week I can log in to discover interesting and engaging narrative story arcs. Fun seasonal activities, a spectacular raid, 2 moody and immersive dungeons, the return of the King, and some stellar loot!

Also damn did that season finale hit HARD. Stoked for Lightfall!

update: upon playing the legendary campaign after the recommendation of everyone on earth, they got me. im sucked in. whoever designed the new void specs was on fire. the entire game should feel like the legendary campaign.

man you'd think a story about playing witcha worm would be a bit more engaging, but once again the campaign writing team doing as much as possible to tank the beautiful work the world design and lore teams are doing. i guess its an unenviable task though, writing a satisfying introduction and conclusion of a main villain who has been whispered about for nearing in on a decade now while also making clear the motivations of half a dozen factions and the rules of a brand new fantasy world entirely disconnected from our real world solar system when your actual timeframe for narration is only something like half an hour out of a six or seven hour campaign. i guess when you have a neverending story, eventually you have to get ram right through the mystery and wonder that made the world feel so intriguing. oh well, onward to bigger and better things, we've got pixar movie villains to kill.

I guess I will say, I’m not nearly as infatuated with their world design this go around as I have been with their last couple of expansions. The frequent small caves, thick smog covered swamps, and hedge mazes combined with areas smashed together by teleporters ends up leaving the world feeling disjointed and claustrophobic. Like old development picked up off the cutting room floor and bashed together. The major bright spot is the pyramid ship mission, but in this case the mission mostly takes place within the artistic framework of the previous expansion. Like all the most awe inspiring locations in destiny, I crawled through that ship, stopping to check every model, feeling my stomach drop creeping towards the edge of a great expanse with the spiritual vertigo upon the acute realization of scale. This is when destiny is firing on all cylinders, but unfortunately it’s just short lived in WQ. The throne world failed to provoke anything resembling that level of reaction in me. Interesting and technically gorgeous, but hollow when compared to my favorite destiny locations.

its fine though, i've made my peace with the fact that i'll probably always love and hate this game. that bungie will really let their people do some fairly interesting shit at the outliers while constraining the main engagements to the kind of shit that keeps the most people playing. i don't think its going to click with me this time though, which is good I think, when it comes to actually appreciating this game. The more you go through the same motions chasing levels and rare guns, the harder it is to really love the most wonderful parts of what this team has built. i finished the campaign, and having realized on day two that i'm already too late probably to be ready for the day one raid, i've already lost interest in the treadmill. seeing the crafting system play out as forcing you to use weapons you don't care about over and over really just puts me off, game already has far too much of fretting over not maximizing your game time for me. bounties were more than enough.

anwaysy, love you have a good time.

(played the game on launch day, Will add expansion reviews. Master status for 100% Achievements)

Campaign on the hardest difficulty took me 13 hours straight (with minimal breaks), was really good lore-wise and I enjoyed the solo challenge (some sections making me want to tear my hair out)

Savathun is a really great character, we learn a FUCKTON about the Traveller, Darkness, Witness, and how things are going and we begin preparing for the end because of all this. For once im actually excited to get the next expansion (Lightfall)

Repeatable Campaign, Legend Difficulty, Weapon Crafting was all things that were really really cool. Raid was a fun Day 1 race experience (even if I didn't finish it, I spent a lot of hours trying)