Starting with the release of Beyond Light, Bungie will introduce the Destiny Content Vault. Instead of producing Destiny 3, Bungie will remove content and place it into the vault, where it will be reworked and rotated back into the game. According to the studio, the size and complexity of the game are preventing it from focusing all its efforts on the future of Destiny 2. By vaulting certain activities and locations, it can continue to add and expand content in the future.
The Destiny Content Vault will include all content from Destiny 1 and anything removed from Destiny 2. Each year, Bungie will bring back activities and destinations starting with the Cosmodrome and the Vault of Glass Raid this fall.
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What content is being removed from Destiny 2 and put into the vault?
This fall will see the first instance of Destiny 2 content being vaulted. Upon the release of the Beyond Light expansion, the following locations will be available via the Director:
- Cosmodrome
- Dreaming City
- Europa
- European Dead Zone
- Moon
- Nessus
- Tangled Shore
- The Tower
This means that the following Destiny 2 content will be vaulted:
- Io
- The Leviathan
- Mars
- Mercury
- Titan
What happens when content is vaulted in Destiny 2?
According to the blog released by Bungie, vaulted locations will have all their supported activities removed along with them. For fall, that means any quest, patrol, bounty, NPC, raid, strike, or other events taking place on Io, Leviathan, Mars, Mercury, and Titan will be unavailable for the foreseeable future.
When and if content returns, it may come back just as it left, or altered to fit the current storyline. This will also affect content that remains in the game, as player progression will have to be geared around the remaining locations. For example, the Cosmodrome will take the place of the Red War as a new player’s introduction into Destiny 2.
Fortunately, some content will be adjusted instead of removed. For example, there will be new ways to earn Exotics tied to vaulted destinations and activities. PvP maps are the one aspect not to be affected by the vaulting process. The PvP playlist will continue to be a curated mixture of maps from Destiny 1 and 2.
Why is content being vaulted in Destiny 2?
The crux of the issue Bungie is having seems to be that Destiny 2‘s scope has grown beyond what it imagined when the game was in development. Right now the game contains:
- 40 Story Missions
- 54 Adventures
- 42 Lost Sectors
- 17 Strikes
- 31 PvP Maps
- 12 Special Activities
- 7 Raids
- 6 Gambit Arenas
- 3 Dungeons
- Hundreds of bounties, patrols, public events, items, etc.
The massive growth of the game has seen it increase in size to its current 115GB size. With Destiny 2 being a live service game, all that material requires monitoring and a constant barrage of updates and bug fixes, even if it’s not actively being developed. As such, Bungie has taken a look at the stats and found that swathes of content could be removed without impacting the majority of the playerbase. For example, the Warmind campaign only made up 0.3% of the playtime during the last season of the game but takes up 5% of the total install size.
With the Destiny 2 Vault, Bungie is attempting to cut the fat off the game to make a leaner, more engaging experience. But vaulting content, the studio can concentrate on making the live service the best it can possibly be while studying how removed activities and content can be revamped and readded in a way that drives players to want to play them.
The removal of content, including the original Red War campaign, is sure to be a divisive move on Bungie’s part. However, making each area feel vital might go a long way towards reshaping Destiny 2‘s landscape.
