Patrick (Holtzmann) got a chance to sit down with Luke Smith at E3, and talked all about Taken King. Unfortunately the interview couldn’t be recorded due to technical difficulties.
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The Interview
The new subclasses are so different from the others. What was the goal when creating them?
We wanted to find experiential holes in the existing subclasses and plug them. The first step was to ensure that every class had access to each elemental type.
They really do feel different from everything else we’ve experienced. I got a lot of time with the Nightstalker, it felt amazing, and it wasn’t even leveled up all the way.
With hunters, specifically the Nightstalker subclass, we really wanted to make them the point guard for the team. Their new abilities allow you to be more supportive, which was kind of lacking outside of going invisible and resurrecting someone. We wanted people to start exploring their characters more, and giving a new experience to them.
For the Sunbreakers it was really about adding more range. They can play both a defensive role and an offensive one. When you start wielding that hammer, its like saying “Here’s the line. You going to cross it?”
I can see that. Right now the most similar thing would be a Gunslinger. You certainly don’t want to advance on one if they have their super active. The Sunbreaker seems to be in the same boat.
Exactly. I know I wont want to try and go against one. As for Warlocks, we really just wanted to have a more magical feeling associated to them. We wanted a very emotional and powerful fantasy for the players to experience there.
I’d say you succeeded in that. So, without spoilers of course, how can we see these subclasses supported in the lore?
We have a really cool introduction and adventure to learn about each individual subclass. You will probably learn some stuff about your class as a whole too.
Awesome! Switching gears, what do you think about the reception that Sidearms have received? Can we expect to see many more?
Sidearms in HoW were really a preview.
Yeah, I’m disappointed that I’ve only got two possibilities right now, but I fell in love with the one I got to try in the booth.
There are some cool ones coming for sure. We will be expanding on them in the future.
Can we expect to see some design changes to weapons in the future as well?
We will be introducing weapon foundries and weapon brands. If you see a Suros weapon next to an Omolon, you will be able to notice the difference. For weapon balancing we will continue to go through the ages of weapons; things will continue to go in and out of fashion.
From the little that I saw, the Legendary weapons certainly had more character now.
I know this next question is one you probably hear a lot, but what are you most excited about?
I’d say the Dreadnaught. It is an entirely new Patrol area with missions, public events, strikes & more. Stationed within the rings of Saturn, the Dreadnaught is a massive Hive ship that you and other Guardians will be able to explore.
As for the Taken, what can you tell me about them?
The Taken are kind of the “new” race. Oryx has the ability to rip known enemies out of this dimension, corrupt them, and use them as he sees fit.
They appear to be capable of new attacks and abilities. They also are pretty jittery and definitely seem more dangerous than what we’re used to. I saw some brief glimpses in the trailer.
Yeah, the Taken enemies each have new abilities. We still want them to feel alien, so they will react differently, but they still have traces of their older selves. The Taken are unpredictable. From Taken Psions that split in two and multiply rapidly to Taken Phalanxes that carry shields that blast powerful pulses of energy, the Taken present new challenges and combat scenarios. The Psions for example, unless you deal with that quick, you will get overwhelmed.
Finally, regarding the campaign: The story mission that was playable at E3 showed us that the world was evolving. More importantly, we started to become acquainted with Oryx. Will we be able to fight Oryx in the story, similarly to what we experienced with Skolas in House of Wolves?
I can say that Oryx will haunt you, and taunt you.
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What Else We’ve Learned
Since that interview, we’ve learned a few more things from Luke Smith, DeeJ, and others from the various interviews at E3.
The Taken King will have:
- Achievements/trophies
- Fully voiced cinematics, that you will be able to skip
- 6-man raid on the Dreadnaught, it will be the biggest yet; you’ll be able to explore in a similar way to Vault of Glass
- *Armor Reforging… maybe
It’s also worth mentioning again that the current PS exclusives will be unlocked once TTK is released.
*The E3 build we saw was nowhere near final. Anything can change from now until September 15th,