There's still no reason for the delay, so we don't know whether the release date change was due to Bungie being behind schedule with the originally planned content, or if they decided to add more content to the DLC. Either way, I'd like to take a look at what we know so far (or, what we think we know) in anticipation of what's the come. Keep in mind, much of this information is from a series of datamines, and specifics, especially names, have undoubtedly changed since then.
What we do know so far is that the House of Wolves primarily revolves around the Queen of the Reef and the Fallen that she controls from the faction House of Wolves. According to the leaked DLC description... "The Queen's Fallen have purchased their freedom with Awoken blood. Hunt down the traitors and your debt to the Queen will be repaid."
Missions, the Strike, and the Raid
What we know so far is that this story will unfold over three story missions, and possibly the Strike and Raid also, making House of Wolves very similar to The Dark Below. The first mission is called Pact of Wolves and will take place in the Cosmodrome on Earth most likely in the infamous King's Watch area that can be glitched into. The other two missions, Tracking Quarry and Path of the Traitor, are located on Venus. One of these two possibly takes place in the Terminus, another area that can be glitched into.
There is so far no rumor about whether House of Wolves will have a series of Quests that follow the story missions like in Dark Below, but I assume that it probably will.
The length of these missions, or if these are the only missions in the DLC is still unknown. The similarities in structure (three missions) to Dark Below makes me fear that they will be roughly the same length as those found in the Dark Below. If this is the case, it will be a significant problem, as many people were unhappy with the short length of the three missions found in the first DLC. I have hopes that with the extra time, Bungie was/is able to improve the missions, both from a gameplay and a narrative standpoint. I also hope, however unlikely it may be, that they were able to lengthen or even add more missions. If the internet is to be believed with anything related to Destiny, its that the game needs more content.
Unlike the Dark Below, House of Wolves will only have one new strike. This strike, called Belly of the Beast is rumored to be level 28. The leaked mission briefing gives clues as to what the strike is about: "A Fallen Wolfship holding an infamous Walker has touched down in the Ocean of Storms. Breach the Ketch and see to this Walker's end." Since it sounds like the boss fight will be against the Walker, I'm assuming it wont be the typical Walker that can be found in Public Events or in the Devil's Lair Strike. It would make sense that this walker be more complex in terms of its fighting mechanics and more difficult to defeat. Or, there is the possibility, though however slight (one can hope can't they??) that the word "walker" hints to something more like this, which made its appearance in several pieces of concept art prior to Destiny's release. But maybe that's just wishful thinking.
There is no word yet on whether the story of the Strike or the Raid will be directly related to the story of the rest of the DLC, like in the Dark Below, or how much the story will be connected to the main 'story' of the game. I'm hoping that this time around, not only is there a better story but I hope it relates more directly to things we have already done rather than being a very isolate stand-alone story.
Weapons, Gear, and Items
Just like the Dark Below, House of Wolves is said to include "hundreds of new weapons and armor pieces." The unfortunate truth about this statistic is that it most likely includes the large amount of Rare (blue) items that will come with the DLC, in addition to the expected Legendary and Exotic items.
According to various datamines that were all done prior to January (so this information has more than likely changed), there are 11 Exotic items in House of Wolves. Here's a bit of a run-down of what they are (again, its likely that things have changed):
Eternal Warrior (Titan Helmet)
Absolute, unflinching resolve.
- Resolute: Provides Unstoppable for Fist of Havoc
ACD/0 Feedback Fence (Titan Gauntlets)
The Active Contact Defense system uses warsat hull materials to store a retaliatory charge.
- Wrath Conductors: Taking damage from a melee attack deals damage in an area around you.
Peregrine Greaves (Titan Leg Armor)
Victory from on high.
- Peregrine Strike: Shoulder Charge deals bonus damage when activated in the air.
The Ram (Warlock Helmet)
...PRAISE ME...
- The Ram Arises: Activating Radiance from death disorients nearby enemies.
Purifier Robes (Warlock Chest Armor)
"Fire is the breaking of bonds. Fire is freedom. We must be swift and thorough in our liberation..."
- Burn Brighter: Enemies killed by Ignite effects explode.
Nothing Manacles (Warlock Gauntlets)
The equations balance thus: you are diminished, and I am exalted. You are broken, and I am made strong.
ExoTac Angel Hunter (Hunter Helmet)
Built from a Golden Age combat pilot sensorium it orients the brain during sharp maneuvers.
- Angel Hunter: significantly increases your weapons accuracy for a short time after jumping.
Ikaheka's Hooks (Hunter Gauntlets)
Ah, no matter; the wound is not so deep...
- Touch of Venom: Hitting an enemy with a melee attack while invisible deals additional damage over time.
Unremarkable Bones (Titan Leg Armor)
Surely the Warlocks cling to these fossils for a reason. What could it be, oh bearer mine?
- Not Bound By Law: Upgrades Double Jump with an additional jump.
347 Vesta Dynasty (Scout Rifle)
A Reef scout hunts for years, fighting piracy and ancient traps, to crack one cache and claim the weapons within.
- Goliath: Non precision kills temporarily increase Armor stat for 15 seconds.
- David: Precision kills temporarily increase Agility stat for 15 seconds.
Lord of Wolves (Shotgun)
By this right alone I rule.
- Devil's Touch: Stacking rapid hits has the chance to set your target on fire.
If I had to guess, I would say that Lord of Wolves will be the Raid Exotic for this DLC. From leaked icons, it looks a lot like a Fallen Shrapnel Launcher, and the Raid Exotics tend to look like weapons from whatever enemy faction is within the Raid.
In addition to that, there are dozens of Legendary weapons (including elemental primaries, probably from the Raid again), armor pieces (from Raid and Vendors), and ships. Again, the source of this information are several datamines from a few months ago, so specifics are likely to have changed.
Weapon and armor upgrades are obviously a heated topic of discussion, given the disaster that was the upgrade path for Dark Below. Bungie admits that they made errors with these decisions, and designer Luke Smith said in a thread on NeoGaf that they don't plan to repeat their mistakes. Issues that he talked about were Vault of Glass gear becoming obsolete, Exotic resets, and the overall loot system. Luke Smith says that Bungie's "philosophy about rewards/loot continue to evolve as we see how players play and react. We will continue to improve acquisition stories and frequency (My understanding of the perception is that Crota's End drop rates are much improved vs. Vault of Glass), lessen the grind and get players to the fun parts of their arsenal faster."
Another topic that Luke Smith talked about was Exotic Shards. He said that they are "a barrier between you and equipping a sweet new piece of gear. We want fewer barriers to equipping upgrades. The shard economies erect these barriers between players and the new piece of gear they just got."
"We're not intending to adjust the shard economy for this Tier -- we don't want to invalidate player effort (again). But removing the barrier between that new drop you're excited to get and actually being able to equip it as a member of your arsenal are something we will do going forward."
All of this definitely sounds like good news looking forward. I definitely didn't enjoy having to reset all of my already fully upgraded Exotics just to make them useful again and then have to grind through to upgrade them all again - all while spending Exotic Shards, thousands of Glimmer, and a few handfuls of Strange Coins in the process.
Perhaps an equally popular topic is that of Vault space. Assuming that doesn't land before the release of the DLC, we will reportedly be getting "Banks" for Shader Collection, Ship Collection, and Special Emblem Collection. There's no details on how these will work or how expansive they will be, but this is definitely good news. A "bank" for weapons and armor would also be nice, though.
Crucible
With the House of Wolves, the Crucible will be receiving its fair share of content. Instead just three new maps like we received in the last DLC, this time we will be getting four, all of which support all the regular game modes. These four maps are Thieves' Den in the Ishtar Sink on Venus, The Timekeeper in Meridian Bay, Mars, Widow's Court in the European Dead Zone on Earth, and Black Shield in Firebase Thuria on Phobos.
What's interesting about these last two maps is that they represent parts of destinations that we haven't seen before. The European Dead Zone is likely the remains of Golden Age Europe, just like how Old Russia is the ruins of Golden Age Russia. Being able to see another part of Earth, even if its just in the Crucible will add more scale and scope to the world of Destiny. Similarly with Phobos (which is one of Mars' moons) we will get to see and play in another part of the world of Destiny. This is another chance to add more aesthetic variety into the game and make things more interesting.
There is no word yet on what size these maps are, or if they support vehicle play.
Datamines also indicate that the Crucible will receive some new playlists called Inferno Clash, Hardcore Skirmish, Hardcore Rumble, Inferno Control, and Hardcore Salvage. The word "Hardcore" really seems misleading, since those playlists are played by the same rules (e.g. no radar and only kills earn points). The only apparent difference is that the Inferno game types are sponsored by Dead Orbit, while the Hardcore game types are sponsored by New Monarchy.
Since Inferno Control debuted last Tuesday, I wonder if any more of these game types will debut before the release of House of Wolves. Either way, come release day, these playlists could either join the existing weekly playlist rotation, or could possibly become part of a new playlist or even permanent game types.
Activites, Locations, Upgrades, and Miscellaneous
House of Wolves also includes several other additional activities and changes. Perhaps the most all-encompassing of these changes is the level cap increase. Some sources claim the cap will be increased to 34, while others claim it will be increased to 39. We don't really know for sure which of these will happen, although my bets are on 39, simply to give us more to work towards during the long stretch of time between House of Wolves and the next Comet Expansion.
The Vanguard Strike Playlist will also receive another playlist called Vanguard Dragon. This playlist will become the new top playlist, and will undoubtedly include the new Belly of the Beast strike. Its rumored to be a level 28 playlist, but if the level cap is anything other than 34 this number will likely change.
Some datamines claim that we will also get three new areas to explore. By areas, I mean additional spaces within existing destinations that we can explore in Patrol, not entirely new destinations (like a planet) or areas that require you to be doing a specific mission to explore. The first of these, located on Venus, is The Terminus, which, as I mentioned before, can already be glitched into. If I remember right the area looked rather small, but I could be wrong and that could obviously change. The other two areas, Dusk Warren and Traitor's Ketch, are located on the moon.
We have no real indication of how large these new areas will be, but since there were no new areas in the Dark Below to explore outside of a mission, this is a definite plus. No matter the size, the areas will likely go a long way in making the world of Destiny more expansive and realistic. Plus, the idea of exploring a Ketch on the moon just sounds pretty cool if you ask me!
Also on the subject of new areas, we are reportedly getting another Reef Social Area. The idea of another social area is very exciting in my opinion, because it opens up the door for so many new things. There's the possibility that this new social area could have more Vendors for Armor, Weapons and items like Ships, Sparrows, Class Items, Shaders or Emblems. There's also the prospect of new events like Iron Banner, or even new bounties.
On the subject of bounties, three new Reef Bounties were also found in datamines of Destiny. These include Paskin, King Baron, another called Liksor, Wolf Blade, and a final bounty called Skolas, Wolf Kell. They all require you specific enemies (Paskin, Liksor and Skolas) and in their respective missions. In datamines of Destiny, these bounties have the same graphic icon as the bounties picked up during the Queen's Wrath event and are labeled "Reef Bounty." This could either mean that there is a bounty vendor in the new social area, or that there may be some sort of permanent Queen's Wrath even (or at the very least an indication of its possible return).
Well, that covers everything we "know" so far about House of Wolves. The next 10 weeks should be very exciting as we find out more information and Bungie releases official announcements. I know many people have their reservations about this DLC, since The Dark Below can be seen as a disappointment. But, I really believe that House of Wolves will be an improvement. Even if its only a minor improvement, its an improvement nonetheless. And once House of Wolves drops, Comet will be on the horizon...
Over the next few weeks I plan to do some articles on my "Wishlist" for House of Wolves where I'll talk in depth about things I would like to see and how I think certain aspects should be handled.
Don't forget to follow @DestCentralBlog on Twitter for updates!
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