The first Destiny 2 expansion, Curse of Osiris, goes live on Tuesday December 5, delivering new story missions, a new social space, a new patrol area, oodles of loot, and a huge range of other changes and improvements that should refresh the Destiny 2 experience for all. Here's a breakdown of everything you can expect in Destiny 2: Curse of Osiris.
New story campaign
Not everyone who played the original Destiny made it to the Lighthouse, the fabled endgame reward for going Flawless in Trials of Osiris, but as the name of this DLC suggests, you'll be getting a lot more familiar with Osiris and his home on Mercury when you start this expansion campaign. The mighty Warlock Osiris has somehow managed to harness the power of the Vex and is navigating between timelines and dimensions trying to figure out what they want. We're going to help him with that in the Curse of Osiris, visit the Lighthouse and its Egyptian-themed halls, and speak with Brother Vance. We don't know much else about the campaign, except that it will include remixed versions of the main game's Strikes.
Mercury Patrol zone
Mercury has always been on the fringes of Destiny gameplay - seen in the odd multiplayer map or endgame reward - but in Curse of Osiris we get to go there properly, and that means a new Patrol zone. You'll be able to move across the surface of Mercury, which is firmly in the hands of the Vex, and even explore the mysterious Infinite Forest, where those famous time-hopping robots with tickly tummies investigate potential realities and futures. Befitting its name, the Infinite Forest is designed so that no two visits are the same.
New Raid Lair
The first question we usually have when faced with a new Destiny expansion is whether there's a new Raid. Curse of Osiris doesn't have a full Raid to offer, but the new Raid Lair is an attempt to give us more of the sort of thing we want. Also set on the vast World-Eater ship, it will feature new environments and some recognizable from the Leviathan Raid, and while it will be smaller than the Raid that shipped with Destiny 2, it promises to pose an intense challenge. We don't know exactly when the Raid Lair will unlock yet, but we do know that there will eventually be a second Raid Lair as well.
New Power level cap
If you've been butting up against the 300 Power limit (305 with Legendary Mods), then good news, because Curse of Osiris will increase that to 330 (or 335 with mods). The difficulty of the Leviathan Raid will also be scaled to match this new Power cap (breaking with Destiny tradition but ensuring we won't have to discard it so soon after release), and there will be more powerful gear dropping to suit the increased challenge. Your player level can now go up to 25, too, which is something we'd already forgotten was a thing.
New weapons, armor, and Infinite Forge rewards
There's going to be a ton of new loot to get your hands on in Curse of Osiris (obviously). What we know so far is that there will be Vex-themed armor as well as new looks for all the other Vendor gear. There's no official word on Exotics, but some of the early Curse of Osiris trailer content featured weapons that might well have been Jade Rabbit and Telesto, both of which we'd be happy to see again.
Perhaps more exciting than any of that, however, is the new Infinite Forge. Curse of Osiris will task you with completing Lost Prophecies to create weapons that Osiris himself designed. There are 11 in total, and you'll need to complete quest lines to get them. We don't know exactly what form these will take, but we do know some will require you to play Public Events, while others will require items dropped in Strikes or the Crucible.
New Heroic Strikes and Adventures
Good news! Our old friends the Heroic Strikes are back in their own playlist, although we don't know what kind of rewards it will throw up yet, and there will also be new Heroic variants on the Adventure side quests that run throughout the game.
New multiplayer maps
Bungie hasn't forgotten about all of you in the Crucible (although it's possible they've muted comments demanding the return of 6v6), promising two new maps in Curse of Osiris, although one of them is a PlayStation exclusive. Pacifica is the one everyone gets, set on Titan, while Wormhaven is, uh, "for the players", if you can stand that phrasing.
New armor ornaments
Technically this isn't specific to Curse of Osiris, but the majority of players will likely experience it in that context, so let's talk armor ornaments. Starting December 5, as we move into what Bungie is calling "Season 2" of the game, the way you obtain armor ornaments will change and there will be lots of new ones.
Previously armor ornaments were random drops from our old friends (slash enemies) the Bright Engrams. Now you'll be able to obtain them by completing various challenges. The ornaments will then be available account-wide (so you can't delete them by accident) and can be toggled through the armor page in your inventory. They should add some visual spice to familiar bits of kit without wiping existing shaders or mods.
Armor ornaments will be obtained through vendors, so you should call on them to see if you've already met the requirements for any, and also to see what else is left to do in order to obtain any others you want. There are tons to unlock, of course, with ornaments available for Vanguard, Crucible, Trials of the Nine, Iron Banner, Dead Orbit, Future War Cult, New Monarchy, and Eater of Worlds Raid Lair armor sets. Phew.
December 5 changes
Not content with all that new content, Bungie is making a ton of other changes in the coming weeks, starting with some that coincide with the launch of Curse of Osiris. As well as the abovementioned armor ornaments, December 5 sees the arrival of 4K and HDR support for Xbox One X and PlayStation 4 Pro, as well as a myriad changes to the way the in-game economy works.
First up, the Gunsmith, Banshee-44, will start selling a rotating cast of Legendary Mods, while rare materials will begin to dismantle into Gunsmith Materials with a chance of Legendary Mod components. Stingy old Rahool, the Cryptarch, will now sell Legendary Engrams in exchange for Legendary Shards, too.
Then there are the drop rate changes. Daily Challenges will now reward more tokens, as will Cayde's treasure chests (these will be random) and Strikes, while Common Destination token drop rates will go up 100% and the value of them will increase 50%. Rare Destination tokens' value will go up 250%, while Reputation requirements per engram will go up 37% for Destination vendors and 50% at the Gunsmith. Finally, you won't need to clear a full raid in order to redeem Leviathan Raid tokens.
New Masterworks weapons
But wait, there's more! There's another big patch coming December 12, and Bungie's using it to introduce a new weapon tier, Masterworks. Masterworks record their number of kills (you can toggle overall or Crucible-only totals), and they will generate Orbs of Light for allies on multi-kills. They also have random, rerollable stat bonuses available from a small pool.
Masterwork weapons will drop randomly from any current Legendary weapon source, and if you dismantle them then you get a resource that can be used to convert any existing Legendary weapon into a Masterwork. Raid and Trials of the Nine weapons apparently have a very high chance to be Masterworks. Overall, this sounds like a cool way to give you more pride and interest in your Legendary items over time, rather than sharding them at the first opportunity to massage your Power higher.
Changes to Xur
Also coming December 12 is a little buff to our old friend Xur, the Agent of the Nine. Xur is going to start selling something called a Fated Engram, which is an Exotic Engram that is guaranteed to give you an Exotic you don't already have. They cost an absolute bundle at 97 Legendary Shards, but that may feel like a small price to pay to avoid seeing yet another Insurmountable Skullfort.
Xur is also bringing back the Three of Coins, but Bungie has changed how it worked. ToC will now boost the Exotic drop rate for four hours after use, so you no longer have to keep popping them every time you take on a boss. You can buy them with Legendary Shards and there's no limit on how many you can have.
December 12 changes
Finally, uh, there's a ton of other stuff happening on December 12! You'll be able to buy gear direct from a bunch of vendors (apparently not all of them) with Legendary Shards and reputation tokens, while Commander Zavala and Lord Shaxx will start selling special Gift consumables that give bonus rewards to all participants in a Strike or Crucible match respectively. Possible rewards range from tokens to Exotics.
Phew, that's plenty of new Destiny 2 content coming up in the next fortnight, then. Knowing Bungie, there will be hidden depths we don't yet know about too. The launch of the Curse of Osiris on December 5 is definitely shaping up to be a big event in the short history of Destiny 2, and hopefully one that will get fans back onside after recent controversies.
