Published on: Apr 22, 2015 @ 14:35

So much was discussed on Bungie’s Twitch stream, and this article will give a concise summation of everything that was discussed. Click on an image to enlarge it.

We’re positively bursting with hype over everything we saw today. While we could type for hours on any number of things presented to us – and fully plan to do so in the future – we’re most excited right now to just give you the rundown of the main things this extremely informative stream showed us. Let’s dive in!

The House of Wolves will provide new weapons, armor, and gear to increase your Guardian’s power, including Fallen and Osiris-themed collections earned as top-tier rewards in new activities.

New Activity rewards will enable Guardians to upgrade old favorites. Legendary and Exotic gear from Destiny, The Dark Below, and House of Wolves can be boosted to the current maximum Attack, Defense, and Light values.

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New Social Space

The Queen’s Bay will be open to everyone, regardless of whether they purchase House of Wolves or not. However, some content will obviously be locked off.

You’ll have Vault access and Vanguard/Crucible bounty access, though there don’t appear to be any new Vanguard bounties as of this update. DeeJ was about to answer the question and the conversation was derailed.

The “Eris Morn” of House of Wolves will be an awoken official named Petra Venj, who will give out quests that guide you on the story mission.

DeeJ gushed: “In the House of Wolves, having played it myself, I like a lot of the quests, I like a lot of the stories. Story missions represent some of the most interesting moments, and some of the most interesting aspects of Destiny.” He promised a “Fresh approach to the storytelling”, though in-game grimoire was “Not an announcement [they] are making right now.”

Rewards for Queen’s Wrath reputation, which is no doubt functionally similar to Crota’s Bane reputation, are available at various reputation ranks. They include shaders from the previous event along with two new ones available at Rank 3, in addition to a cool Queen-themed ship for 17,500 Glimmer.

The Reef is characterized in design by utilitarian necessity. It is not neat, organized, or structured with aesthetics in mind.

There will also be new hidden Ghosts to find, and possibly a few other secrets that may open up depending on scheduled events; DeeJ referenced the closed doors that may open up later.

In Short:

• Gaining Queen’s Wrath reputation will allow you to buy cosmetic items.

• Petra will be the main story agent, leading you through the quests just as Eris did.

• “Wanted Bounties” from Petra will rotate each week.

• There is a Bounty Tracker, Cryptarch (probably still sucks), Vault, & Postmaster at Queen’s Bay.

• Queen’s Wrath armor/weapons is acquired in the Prison of Elders.

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Prison of Elders

Variks the Loyal, the chieftain from the House of Judgment, will be our go-to for Prison of Elders rewards. PoE will be dynamic and include “weekly changes” that help it avoid being a stagnant experience.

Rewards will be dropped directly within the event, and you can also buy gear directly. Three examples that were shown were the Kellbreaker’s Gloves, a raid-quality pair of gauntlets, the Wolfslayer’s Claw, a low RoF, High Impact Auto Rifle, and a special currency that will be somehow integrated into upgrades or rewards called “Judgment’s Chance.”

Prison of Elders will have weekly lockouts in regards to how much items you can get per week.

In addition to this, you will collect new materials called Fallen Cores, by completing Arena Challenges, and Judgment Tokens, by “opening chests in the Arena, killing Wanted Fallen, and increasing reputation with the House of Judgment.”

Like Queen’s Wrath, it appears you will be able to earn reputation through success in the Prison of Elders, with rewards such as class items and ammo syntheses being available at Rank 1, and Legendary ships being available at rank 2 and beyond.

The rewards in the Prison of Elders will rotate on a weekly basis, with enough of a pattern so that hardcore players would be able to reliably amass a collection.

Some of the Prison of Elders gear has Fallen-specific perks as well, such as a weapon dealing a “moderate damage bonus to Fallen Shanks” or armor that has a “chance to generate Orbs when killing Fallen with melee attacks.”

In Short:

• Prison of Elders will have weekly lockouts for Weapon/Armor Cores.

• To play, you need to finish the House of Wolves story content.

• Armor Cores and Weapon Cores will drop from the Prison of Elders, and are needed to purchase gear from Variks.

• PoE gear will have new perks.

• Weapons are Fallen-themed.

• Each week there will be different Prison of Elders rewards; there will be a rotating pattern because they “don’t want the same pants coming up 4 weeks in a row.”

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Trials of Osiris

Brother Vance, a Disciple of Osiris, will be our emissary into this secretive PvP activity. He has rewards, supplies, and “passages” into the Trials of Osiris, including unique consumables that “affect the way the event plays out.”

This PvP event will be available every Friday-Tuesday (until the reset).

Learn more about the Trials of Osiris next week, 4/29

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Xûr

Could he sometimes be in the Queen’s Bay? Maybe. We were told three things by DeeJ:

1. Xûr will arrive in a place, at a cadence in which you can anticipate [his arrival]

2. Xûr will have a bunch of stuff that you can buy.

3. You can decide if you want to buy that stuff or not.

Sounds like much of the same, but we know Xûr’s role will be diminished as upgrading Exotic weapons and armor is now going to be much, much more simple by not explicitly involving Xûr.

You will still be able to buy materials from him for upgrading gear, but you do not need him to actually upgrade items.

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Upgrade Paths

Perhaps the most furious deluge of information we faced was in the streamlined and well-thought out collection of new pathways for reaching 365 ATK and level 34 Light on our favorite weapons and armor.

First of all, the Speaker is going to be the haven for new material exchange. Ascendant/Radiant Energy/Shards can be exchanged at a 1:1 ratio for a paltry 50 Glimmer. After this, you can exchange your now defunct VoG Ascendant rewards at a 2:1 ratio for Motes of Light (!!!) and possibly other very useful currencies.

Reddit user sageleader took note of the current exchange rates (they may change):

Exchange

• 1 Ascendant Energy: 1 Ascendant Shard, 50 Glimmer
• 1 Ascendant Shard: 1 Ascendant Energy, 50 Glimmer
• 1 Mote of Light: 2 Ascendant Shards
• 1 Mote of Light: 2 Radiant Shards
• 250 Glimmer: 1 Ascendant Shard
• 250 Glimmer: 1 Radiant Shard
• 1 Radiant Energy: 1 Radiant Shard, 50 Glimmer
• 1 Radiant Shard: 1 Radiant Energy, 50 Glimmer

A whole host of new armor and weapons with new perks appear to be available from each and every vendor. Factions including New Monarchy, the Crucible Quartermaster, and others, offer an arsenal of stylish, deadly gear.

One of these new perks is an intrinsic quality called “Reforge Ready” indicated by two crossed hammers. This allows the weapon to be reforged, à la Iron Banner, by the now wholly relevant Gunsmith for a nominal fee of a couple Motes of Light, some weapon parts, and Glimmer. Going above and beyond, the Gunsmith now offers weapon telemetries for sale as well.

For taking weapons to 365, they must be Legendary or Exotic quality; that is the only restriction!

All that is required is a new material known as “Etheric Light” – This material is slated to drop from “endgame” content, such as the Prison of Elders, Trials of Osiris, Nightfall Strikes, and Iron Banner.

To Upgrade:

• Legendary Weapons: 750 Glimmer, 20 planetary material, 1 Etheric Light
• Legendary Armor: 750 Glimmer, 20 planetary material, 1 Etheric Light
• Exotic Weapons: 1500 Glimmer, 25 weapons parts, 1 Exotic Shard
• Exotic Armor: ?

With one Etheric Light, 750 Glimmer, 20 planetary materials, Legendary weapons can be immediately upgraded to 365 ATK without needing to re-level any of its perks. This is fantastic news to those worrying if their effort would be respected, as it indicates that Bungie was listening and found the perfect solution.

Exotic Weapons will also be 365-ready, but will require an Exotic Shard (instead of Etheric Light), Glimmer, and Weapon Parts/Class Materials (from what we saw) to upgrade.

This includes the previously “frozen in time” Vex Mythoclast.

In short: 

• Any Legendary or Exotic weapon can be “Ascended” to 365 Attack. You don’t need to buy HoW to Ascend items.

• Legendary weapons require Etheric Light to be upgraded to 365 Attack.

• Etheric Light is obtained from endgame activities, including Iron Banner. You don’t need HoW to acquire them, there’s no cap on the amount you own.

• Exotic weapons require an Exotic Shard to be upgraded to 365 Attack.

• You don’t need Xur to upgrade an Exotic.

• Perks are not reset when upgrading.

• Re-roll Legendary House of Wolves weapon perks and buy telemetries at the Gunsmith. You can’t Reforge pre-HoW weapons.

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New Gear / Perks

Bungie has put much more work into designing new models for weapons and armor. Also, previously RNG-based weapons like the Red Hand IX will now be sold at the vendor.

Below you’ll find a gallery of some of the new Faction gear and a few new perks.

Some of the new perks

• This weapon gains better target acquisition (Sniper Rifle)
• Rapidly landing three precision hits will return one round to the magazine (Scout Rifle)
• Unassisted kills with this weapon reduce grenade and melee cooldown (Hand Cannon)
• Readying this weapon grants a brief period of bonus accuracy (Hand Cannon)
• Kills with this weapon grant a brief boost to the sprint’s top speed (Shotgun)
• Melee kills while this weapon is equipped have a chance to refill the magazine (Shotgun)
• This weapons magazine will be refilled whenever a Super is cast (Shotgun)

* These perks aren’t limited to the weapon types listed above.

New Exotics

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HoW HYPE

There’s a whole lot we have to consider as this week progresses, and we’re no doubt going to have our minds blown again next week. What do you think of everything you saw today?

We wanna hear your thoughts, how is House of Wolves shaping up so far?