By Ardan Bramall and Toli Gonodanov-Meydbray
Staff Writer
Released in Feb. 2022, “The Witch Queen” is the first “Destiny 2” DLC (downloadable content) to put a majority of its focus on the story of the game, of which they did a flawless job. What once was a game where most players skipped dialogue and left lore unread has morphed into a truly beautiful campaign and story design which many people can get excited about.
The first mission places players into Mars, a planet that had been lost to the Destiny 2 content vault years before, seemingly re-appearing out of thin air. Players are instructed to try to launch themselves into a mysterious ship that has been hovering over the area for the duration of the mission. Even the simple act of getting to the launch pad and flying through the air onto the ship is an incredible cinematic experience, which has players wondering when the next DLC will come even before the first mission is over.
But the mission doesn’t end there. As players continue further into the ship, they eventually find themselves up against new enemies and even a new destination: Savathun’s throne world. Going forward through the story, players are able to find more and more hidden lore, giving the more invested players a better reason to play as well. The line of good and evil during the campaign is continuously pushed back and forth throughout the campaign, and it leaves players with one of the most memorable boss fights to date.
“The Witch Queen”, simply put, is fantastic. The campaign, or the main story of the DLC, was brilliant. While playing through the legendary version, players found it was the first time they had been genuinely excited and wowed during a “Destiny 2” campaign. The added and optional difficulty of the legendary campaign gave beating encounters a weight to them, as it took effort and wipes, instead of rushing through and destroying everything as fast as possible to get the reward on the other side, such as the previous campaign, “Beyond Light”. Overall, the new campaign was so amazing, and it gave an incredible experience many players will never forget.
Unfortunately, there are things to be desired about the campaign. It’s almost mandatory that one has previous knowledge about the “Destiny” lore, so coming straight into it as a new player is tough. Bungie does try to spice it up for people uninterested in the story with friendly banter between game characters, but it really carries no significant meaning for new players.
The “Witch Queen” also added many new features, meta changes and glitch patches. The most notable feature added being the ability to craft weapons to specified rolls, instead of randomized loot, which is unlocked during the first mission of the campaign. Pre-launch, players had mixed feelings about crafting being introduced into the game, many notable streamers such as Aztecross and others, saying it would make grinding for perfectly rolled weapons worthless. However, on launch, crafting turned out much different from what was expected of it. The grind for crafting weapons was tough and only certain weapons were even eligible to be crafted, expelling all fears as to how it changed the game.
The meta changes were, as always, very well executed. The PVE (player versus environment) meta was changed as it always was, certain minor buffs and nerfs to different weapons, as well as the change of the seasonal mods. Bungie has always been good around PVE meta changes, for the most part, shifting things in and out of the meta without making them entirely useless, as a game should be.
The PVP meta has also been pretty great ever since the release of the season before. Bungie has shaken it up with buffs and nerfs and has done a pretty solid job. As of now, nothing is overwhelmingly strong like the weeks we had leading up to “The Witch Queen”.
A few things are lacking though. People have had complaints about how grindy the new crafting system is, as well as raid weekend being a disaster. From single person disconnects to softlock bugs which cost clans up to 2 hours of their time during the world’s first race. Other than that, however, the DLC still holds its ground as something groundbreaking in “Destiny 2” history.
Overall, the DLC was a huge hit, the addition of a legendary campaign with increased rewards had players old and new flocking to play it. Even with the bugs, it really was an amazing experience that will go on to change the game forever. In community polls, it has been widely regarded as the best DLC released, even topping “Forsaken”, the DLC that saved the game from dying, in popularity. Players had a ton of fun with the new DLC, and there’s much more to come.
FEATURED IMAGE (at the top of the page): Destiny 2 Witch Queen poster PHOTO CREDIT: gameblast
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