My understanding (Destiny)

by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Tuesday, June 21, 2016, 16:37 (3020 days ago) @ Mid7night

A bit ago there was somequestion about the nature of the "new" patrol area. If it were an entirely new area on earth that was adjacent to the cosmodrome, or if it were just an addition to the cosmodrome. Looks like we were both kinda right. This is from a recent Kotaku article.

Barrett: So there’s a brand new zone we’re adding to New Russia. You’ll be able to have a brand new patrol area that you’ll land in to explore the new content. Connected to that will be—you’ll be able to revisit old Cosmodrome.

Schreier: Is this patrol zone going to be linked to the old Cosmodrome so you can go back and forth between them?

Osborne: It’s separate. That allows us to do really cool things like where you’re first resurrected and you have, you know, the line of cars, that’s completely blanketed in snow and the water’s frozen, and there’s a giant Fallen ketch back there, and you sort of punch through the wall.

So if you’re a fresh Guardian and you’re coming in September for the first time, you’re not looking around like all these guys running around like ‘what’s going on?’ (laughing) It’s the first time we’ve really done that, that permanent time movement for those players.

Edit: more crucial quotes...

Schreier: Just so I have this sure—the new Plaguelands patrol zone, that’s going to have some of the old Cosmodrome stuff, just different? So I can go back to The Divide and it’s different in that new patrol?

Osborne: Yes.

This confuses me even more now.... Is it a new location on earth, or does it FEEL like a new location because of the different environment? Location, as in XYZ or GPS/Altitude coordinates. Or is it both (sorta?): A new landing-location, but the "earth" you land on this time has a new environment (so that when you go to the "old" locations they look different)?

I don't really expect or need an answer; that will come when we finally play it. I ask only to highlight the unfortunate continuing trend of Bungie's less-than-clear communication style. I don't remember being this confused in the Halo days...or maybe I was just too young to care. :P

This has been talked about in a few interviews now. The way I understand it is this:

When you select "earth" from the director, you will now have a choice of 2 zones: Old Russia, or The Plaguelands. Geographically speaking, these 2 locations are connected to each other, with the Plaguelands landing zone being located just outside the wall, in roughly the same place we first spawned way back at the beginning of Destiny. Spawning into the Plaguelands will not only let you access the new zone, but you'll also be able to travel the other way, back into Old Russia.

This is where it gets a little tricky: the 2 selectable zones (Old Russia and Plaguelands) also exist in 2 different times. The Old Russia landing zone will bring you down into the same version of the Cosmodrome that we land in now. If you go back over to the wall and travel through it, you'll see the exact same pile-up of old rusted cars that we see today.

But if you land in the Plaguelands, you are going forward in time, some time after the events of TTK. The weather will be different, as will some of the scenery. Ostensibly there will be some sort of world event that now allows us to travel further east, away from the wall and into the new area. From the Plaguelands landing point, you can also travel west, back through the wall, into the cosmodrome. But because the Plaguelands landing zone exists at a different point in time than the Old Russia landing zone, the cosmodrome you access from the Plaguelands will be different (more snow, wrecked fallen walkers, who knows what else).