also known as season of the burnout. in comparison to haunted and plunder, this season really had nothing going for it. well, it did have spire of the watcher, which was a good dungeon, but at this point, burnout had been hitting hard for me. i only did spire like once or twice before i pretty much stopped playing destiny until lightfall. seraph didnt have any new light 3.0 or anything crazy besides spire, but the loot was a bit cracked. im a bit upset that i didn't get a good retrofit escapade among a few other seraph weapons like the linear fusion before lightfall, but what can you do? anyway, two big things that caught my attention this season were definitely the new pulse rifle that pretty much dominated the crucible for a good month or two, and the gyrfalcon's rework, which single-handedly reingnited my love for void. i had been using solar for a while but gryfalcon's became so strong it was pretty much over for any high-end content. but yeah, the reintroduced loot (ikelos smg) was good, and the new loot was also pretty strong as well. other than that, nothing too crazy.

An OK season that seemed good because of how bad the rest of Witch Queen was.

Heists were nice only because of the power cap. Seraph missions are good as far as seasonal content goes. Spire of the Watcher is a good dungeon and i like it quite a bit.
Seasonal weapons weren’t worth it except for the THIRD iteration of Ikelos smg. Armor didn’t look the best. Manticore is bad. New exotic pulse has no real usage case. No new exotic armor.
Felt good to have a season go back to Rasputin, so tired of the new destiny themes (pirates, neon vex, nightmares). The hive dildos look horrible, especially on europa heist.
Story was better than usual but the dialogue is unbearable, Ana bray fell so far from grace. I have some issues with Rasputin offing himself. Finale cutscene is one of the best i’ve ever seen from bungie and it really feels like old Destiny.

You know, the bulk of this season was rather underwhelming. The cast for Season of the Seraph included not only some of my favorite Destiny characters, but some of my favorite characters in general, and yet it still felt lackluster. Though Spire of the Watcher was a neat dungeon, it’s far from my favorite. Heist Battlegrounds were solid, and I adored the dialogue between the characters, but they often overstayed their welcome. Seraph’s Shield was fascinating, and serves as a phenomenal introduction to Deep Stone Crypt’s mechanics and map layout, but after running it a few times I was bored of it.

So, the question is, why 5 stars? It’s clearly something that was good, but most of the season was rather subpar for me, so why rate it so highly? Well, because of the finale.

Bungie loves to play the long game when it comes to Destiny. Little tidbits and story beats that may seem irrelevant or incomplete, but they have purpose. They have meaning. There is something almost like nostalgia that tugs at my heartstrings when we had to say goodbye to Rasputin. He’s been around ever since Destiny 1, yet watching a machine designed for war, destruction, and even conquest gain humanity, sentience, and learn to love invokes a feeling in me that is equal parts indescribable yet unparalleled. Watching Osiris lecture Ana about the importance of a single cup of tea, and acknowledging the presence and compassion of the person behind it, then later seeing that manifest in Ikora’s speech on the gravity of their situation, and that everyone should stop and spend quality time with their loved ones because they may not have that opportunity again… just, wow. That got me. Not to mention that scene is then followed by a touching, long overdue heart-to-heart between Ana and Elsie. Perfection. And you can’t forget that shot of the Traveler being lifted from Earth’s atmosphere being foreshadowed on the Destiny 1 box-art. It’s simply astounding to me.

So yeah, this season wasn’t perfect but I never expected it to be, and despite its flaws I really loved it. I love Destiny, and I’m so excited for Lightfall!