We've sunk about 10 hours into Destiny: Rise of Iron, and in that time, we've completed the main set of story quests, tackled several side objectives, and jumped about ten light levels. We've perused some super cool looking armour, glanced at a few tempting exotics, killed more Splicers than we care to count, and spent minutes at a time dismantling useless equipment. Yep, this is definitely another Destiny expansion.
So far, Rise of Iron feels a lot like The Taken King in that its aim is to rejuvenate Bungie's shooter. A higher light level cap, playlists of freshly worked Strikes, and an upcoming Raid are all elements that players have seen before - and there's nothing really wrong with that. At this point, Destiny fans know what they want and they generally know what they're getting. This latest expansion delivers more of the same, all wrapped up in a typically polished package.
Let's start with the aforementioned story missions. It took us around an hour and a half to clear the main ones, but despite the campaign's short length, it features several nicely designed quests that are certainly fun to play through. Of course, it's what opens up after you complete this initial run that really matters. A whole new area called the Plaguelands offers a vast new map to explore, and it's unsurprisingly filled with mysteries and various activities.
One such activity is the Archon's Forge, which is basically a new Court of Oryx. Much like The Taken King's public trials, the Archon's Forge sees you summon waves of foes in an arena, and your job, naturally, is to put them all down and then take out a boss. There are varying tiers of difficulty with the harder fights promising better rewards, and since it takes place in a public space, anyone travelling through the area will be able to join in, which unsurprisingly leads to some amazing "here comes the cavalry" moments.
When it comes to loot, Rise of Iron provides a wide selection of new weapons and armour to discover. Almost every existing vendor has had their stock upgraded, and faction packages can now yield high level gear. What's more, as hinted, a suite of fresh exotics have been added, and although we haven't been lucky enough to stumble across something completely unknown, we have spied players with some crazy looking equipment. In short, the expansion has got us addicted to Destiny's grind once again.
It's not all golden engrams, though. If there's but one complaint that we have of the new content, it's that the new enemy faction, the Splicers, are a bit of a pain in the arse to fight. Don't get us wrong, we love a good challenge in Destiny, but these re-skinned Fallen have some horribly annoying habits, like the ability to shoot out an exploding ball of energy that'll track you down when they're killed via headshot. Even the new Walker tanks shoot homing missiles, as if that bloody cannon wasn't already a hassle to deal with.
Minor gripes aside, though, it's pretty clear that Rise of Iron is another solid expansion. We're not quite sure if it's as refreshing as The Taken King initially was, but we're eager to get stuck back into exploring the Plaguelands and joining our buddies on Strikes, so that's obviously a good sign. Once we've pumped more hours in and attempted the Raid, we'll have a full review for you right here on Push Square.
Have you been enjoying Rise of Iron? What do you think of it so far? Ignite your thoughts in the comments section below.
Comments 27
I haven't had much time to play it yet but I love it so far. I've got a basic grasp of the plaguelands now so I'm starting to get the hang of all the new keys and what they do. They put so much effort and detail into the new area though, I think it looks great! Can't wait for the raid!! Does anyone know when it launches?
I love it! Now patrols aren't just some easy mode. In the Plaguelands everyone's fighting everywhere. It actually feels like a war being fought. And the best patrol experience yet. But that new crucible mode though. It might be my fav. And the new maps. AND all the new gear is awsome. To me, it's wayyyyy better than The Taken King.
So far so good, although I've not played a ton of it. I quite like the splicers, the homing thing they fire is annoying, until I realised you can shoot them down. They are pretty easy to hit too as they go pretty slow.
Yeah its okay. It seems very much more like TTK expansion than the others. Not played it a whole bunch yet, really like the new look Fallen though. Gonna miss out this weekend being away, darn it.
I think the only way i would even consider buying into destiny again would be raid and nightstrike matchmaking. The truth is, of my dozen or so friends that play destiny, none of them have ever been on in a group to do one of those. I've never done one. I refuse to resorting to a matchmaking website. It should be built into the game. I'm being denied end game content because my friends have different work schedules than me, and i'm not paying for that anymore.
It's a really good expansion but maybe not quite as substantial as TTK, probably a legacy of this been in place of Destiny 2 so Bungie probably had less then a year to make it. With regards to the tough enemies I think it's because you need to be a higher tier player to play it, hence why it's more challenging.
Since i am new, just realizing how good this game is. So much to do and lots of intricacies.
I'll start playing it tomorrow onwards, looking forwards to jumping back into after so long.
@scubydo for somebody just starting there is a ridiculous amount of content and quite frankly it might well be the best value game on PS4 so have fun.
As for myself I swore I'd just wait for a sequel but if foolishly picked up the disc for a few quid at cex and it took me about 10 mins to buy Rise of Iron. Which is absolutely fantastic, perhaps not quite as good as the Taken King but it's not far off and now I'm going to be stuck playing this for the next few months 😃😃😃
@Bliquid they just need to make all old raid gear relevant again, that'd be amazeballs.
@Napples To be fair, you're denying yourself end game content because you don't want to play the way the game is set up. Fair enough, you'd rather there was a built in way to team up with your pals but that's never been part of Destiny.
I like it so far. Agree with some of the other comments here; matchmaking for every activity and reviving some of the year one weapons and armour; the game is sadly lacking in elemental primaries, for example. Looking forward to the raid!!
i thought the taken king destroyed destiny, and i haven't played it since about 4 weeks after that came out last year.. bungie doesn't seem to have much of a clue about how to make most of its game relevant or meaningful, this game seems to becoming more of a cash cow with passing time.
@Grawlog I'm with you there, it's annoying having to wait for a few guys to show tp have a chance of beating it. And even then none of them might have the right key for it. Just need to win two more to get this ship.
@stevejcrow It's a terrible way to have the game set up, and every other AAA MMO available has ways to access end game raids and content with in game systems, not requiring a website, or even friends. Bungie is stubborn, and they claim their raids are "too difficult" to be completed by a pug group, and everyone knows that's simply not true. As long as they continue to ignore those of us who won't resort to third party matchmaking, i'll continue to ignore their laziness.
Story is rather lacklustre and very short but the Plaguelands is a nice sizeable area. I managed to complete the story and all subsequent quests/strikes inc getting the Gjally again in just a few hours. I now have NO RoI quests. Its no longer than Dark Below's story but does add a new area for grinding.
The Taken King, I felt, had a better story and more varied path. The 'Mars' mission seemed out of place in the Rise of Iron. The Exotic Khostov isn't great, but the Gjally and new Sword are good! I just hope there is a lot more to this than it seems at the moment because as it stands, its a few hours at most per character and then just repetitive grinding to reach 'Raid' light levels.
crota could easily be matchmade.. it isn't any more difficult than a strike at this point. doesn't even need 6 people, 3 could breeze it through it by now. even at level 34, three of us managed to get through it on normal without dying for the flawless raider trophy. all of the old raids have lost their relevance since the reward trees were never upgaded, might as well have matchmaking just to give people a chance to try them out that never did so before.
@Napples All I can say is thank F*** there isn't matchmaking for Raids etc! NO way do I want to 'Raid' with some 'scrub/noob' who only wants the loot. No way do I want to play with people who can't speak the same language, or refuse to use a mic.
The Raids require timing, which requires communication and co-ordination. They also require the right balance of classes. They can't put in 'random' matchmaking and sort out a mix of classes with people using mics and speaking the same language!
If you are too lazy to find friends, find groups, join communities etc, then you shouldn't be playing the end game anyway!
@BAMozzy lol keep telling yourself they require "timing and coordination", you're over complicating raids that people beat within minutes of release. How am i supposed to learn the raids if i never get in? You telling me they couldn't create a separate matchmaking pool, and give out lower gear, but still allow everyone the opportunity to at least experience the raid? That's them being lazy, not me pal. You sound like a grade A a**hat, the type of toxic perso that shames people who aren't as leet as you. Sounds like you have some issues you need to work out.
@Napples In fairness they do require timing and lots of communication. If you are playing at the standard light level for the raid you need everyone doing the correct thing and one person messing about will certainly be enough to make the raid unbeatable. It's just the way it is. Example, you need 2 people spread over 3 platforms to get into the Vault of Glass - the first time we did it with the guys on here we just couldn't get in with a 5 man team. Later on you're split into seperate rooms and have to relay where you are via mic to the guys outside under a time limit. It's bloody chaos!
It would be very frustrating trying to get a decent team via matchmaking that stayed for the duration of the raid. It'd be a right pain to have people drop part way through and have those people replaced by people who wernt team players either. You'd just never get to the end of it. Last thing you want to do is drop out at 2am after 3 hours because someone isn't following instructions.
Personally I've only done about 8 raids. I'm really glad I spent time finding a good party to do them, though. Matchmaking just isn't worth it.
Edit: Although, I've no problem at all with the option to match make raids being introduced, I just wouldn't use it as I don't think it's possible to complete them in that way unless you get lucky and manage to match make 5-6 guys who have done the raid a bunch of times before and know what to do without communicating. I wouldn't bother banging my head against that wall, though.
@Napples
I haven't done a raid, I want to and I feel like I'm missing out a bit, but I have no issue with "getting a gang together yourself" . It seems like Bungie aid you with their app to make sure you get the right mix of people for you.
A good example of when "people are gonna be people" is the sword quest where you have to kill the boss and a specific guardian within 30 seconds of each other. My friend and I battled through the strike on our own and at the end were joined by a randomer.
We put our swords out to show which colour we needed, we jumped down and he killed the guardian we needed straight away.
We asked him to join voice chat, they declined or couldn't.
We sent him a PSN message saying "we need fire, please leave that gaurdian alone", they ignored us and killed him again.
We sent another message, he killed him again.
Each time we just started just sitting down in the pit once the guardian was dead to end the round and re-play from final stage.
We did that 3 times.
Eventually they just started shooting us then rage quit.
This took over 30 mins of time in total, then the next person joined and so it began again.
Can only imagine that on a raid, I think i'd want to cry.
Tempted to pick this up and get back into Destiny - could someone with the game tell me whether there's plenty of content that supports matchmaking these days? I don't like using voice chat or finding people to group up with so I always felt a pretty limited by the game once I'd finished the main story.
@SegaBlueSky If you haven't got any of the expansions, Taken King especially then I would say the collection is a great buy. Would go as far as to say essential too. For matchmaking there's now 17 strike missions to do, with one been a cool remix of the devil's lair strike. Much more pvp maps and modes have been added too with only a handful been recommend that you group up, though not an requirement. I'm someone who hasn't raided but still bought all the expansions (Some on a sale though) and I still very much get plenty of enjoyment out of it.
@adf86 Good to know, thanks! 17 strikes sounds like a lot more than when I last played so that's promising.
@SegaBlueSky Oh yeah it's so jam packed now, especially those that haven't played before The Taken King.
@Grawlog There are ways to properly implement matchmaking for randoms and make it enjoyable, it's been done already in several MMOs. It works in WoW, it works in Rift, Old Republic, etc. Sorry you guys can't wrap your brains around the idea that bungie is lazy, and are putting out junk to fund Destiny 2.
@Napples So the expansions are "junk" even though you probably haven't played them, just because it doesn't include a little feature that YOU want? People have given you perfectly good reasons why matchmaking wouldn't ideally work for raids. Yes games like WoW have it but they also play way differently then Destiny does.
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