The Five Best Parts Of Destiny 2’s Shadowkeep And Season Of The Undying

Yesterday, as we entered the sub-ten day window before Destiny 2’s Season of the Dawn arrives, I wrote an article about things that Season of the Undying did somewhat poorly that I hoped Bungie would learn from. Today, I want to talk about what went right this season, and hopefully something can be learned from that as well.

It’s difficult and somewhat pointless to completely separate out Undying seasonal content from Shadowkeep expansion content in this case, as a lot of what this era of the game did well is tied to both. I am not expecting expansion-level content for new seasons going forward, not even close, but I think it’s good to highlight what all went right the last few months.

The Moon

I love what Bungie did with the moon as a “new” zone for Destiny 2 during Shadowkeep. It’s an elegant solution to a problem where Bungie needs an expansion-sized area for a big fall release, yet designing something completely from scratch like the Tangled Shore/Dreaming City combo of Forsaken is impossible in that time window.

Enter the moon, which is an expert blend of old and new content. They took a beloved zone from the original game, one that many new D2 players have never played, mind you, so it’s new to them, and expanded on it in interesting ways for veteran players as well. The Red Keep itself is masterfully designed for both the strike and dungeon, and I love what Bungie did with lost sectors this time around, turning them into their own mini-missions and boss encounters.

Yes, this was “recycling” and yet it worked, and elicited more warm feelings of nostalgia than groans of “not this again.” I think most of the playerbase is open to other old areas rejoining the game in the future alongside new content. This was an experiment that worked very well.

Vex Offensive Drop Rates

I think we can debate the actual substance of Vex Offensive as an activity, and yet I think it struck a good balance of what you should do with a limited time pool of loot that only lasts a season. With just one armor set and four (later six) weapons, a single run could get you anywhere from 3-4 random VO drops, plus a targeted farm of a weapon from Ikora bounties.

This is not the crazy level of generosity that we saw from pre-nerf Menagerie with nine copies of the same gun per run, and yet it felt good all the same, and like you could exit this activity with a good amount of god rolls on these specific weapons given how rewarding the activity was (particularly if you were running it a zillion times to get the Undying title).

If seasonal activities are going to remain things that disappear, they need to be more generous than the average, permanent activity. Though I would argue that by proxy, how much loot you got from VO made Nightmare Hunts and the Essence system of the Lectern look positively stingy.

Armor and Weapon Design

The more I think about it, the more I believe that this might be the best batch of armor and weapons from a design perspective that we’ve seen since the launch of Destiny 2. I love the new moon, Iron Banner and even a few pieces of the lower key Vex Offensive sets. The much debated raid armor ended up looking awesome. The Eververse sets are almost must-buys for things like horned Hunter cloaks and Titan lion pauldrons. And the Phenotype Plasticity ornament set from the season pass is truly incredible with winged chests and hoodless cloaks. Just an incredible batch of gear this time around.

The same goes for weapons. No, they may not be the best “meta” weapons introduced, but I’m talking about design here. The moon weapons might have the best visual and sound design in the entire game, if you ask me. The raid weapons are memorable, and I love the should-be-applied-to-more-guns look of Pluperfect and Temporal Clause from the season pass. The only ones really up for debate are the leafy VO guns, but I actually like those, personally. Bungie has really been back on their design game here and it shows.

The Artifact And Champions

I wasn’t sure how I would end up feeling about the Artifact, its temporary mods and the new enemies it ended up introducing. In the end, I do feel like all of it kind of works the way Bungie intended, and I quite like it.

The Artifact is a good addition to the game. I like that we have OP oppressive darkness and thunder coil builds that are going away in ten days so there’s no need to bother to balance them. I like the added power you get just from playing which allowed me to run 980 activities without feeling the need to grind exhausting pinnacle drops. All of this works.

Similarly, I like the champions. They’re frustrating at times, with a couple Barrier hobgoblins sometimes proving more difficult to overcome than a true boss, but that’s kind of the point. I actually like being forced to a use a subset of weapons for a season which encourages me to get out of my comfort zone. There’s work to be done (artifact mods for exotic weapons, etc), but this is a fundamentally good idea that seems to accomplish what Bungie was going for.

The Season Pass

I have been saying that Bungie could do a season pass for years, and when they implemented one at last, I think it went even better than my past suggestions. It exists essentially not as a microtransaction at all, as if you’re buying the season, you are automatically buying the premium track of “good gear” too, even if that set-up is a bit confusing.

The rewards are…very good, from exotics to armor to weapons to must-have ornaments. And while this could be debated, I don’t think it’s too grindy either. Once you figure out that bounties are the way to victory, it’s fairly easy to finish if you’re trying, and it’s nice to be playing and always feel like you’re working toward something. At least up until level 100. I think I’m finishing the season at level 160 or something, and that’s after taking the last few weeks off completely.

There are still improvements to be made here too, but I really do think that this is a successful addition to the game and that Bungie did a great job with it overall. It’s made me very much look forward to seeing what’s in the next pass for Season of Dawn.

Dawn reveal soon. Stay tuned.

Follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Pre-order my new sci-fi novel Herokiller, and read my first series, The Earthborn Trilogy, which is also on audiobook.