New Forsaken info from GameInformer cover story. (Destiny)

by Korny , Dalton, Ga. US. Earth, Sol System, Wednesday, July 04, 2018, 17:18 (2411 days ago) @ cheapLEY

[*] Mongrels tower over the battlefield, blasting out cascades of lightning that are near-impossible to dodge.
[*] Arachnid-like Screeb scramble on all fours, and explode like Cursed Thralls, only bigger.
[*] Raiders send pit spinning explosive saw blades of void energy and teleport.
[*] Lurkers carry small gladiatorial shields which block shots until hit in the leg.
[*] Ravagers (the author's favorite) hold spinning lanterns which when slammed into the ground great a spout of solar flame, unless the lanterns is shot first.
[*] Chieftains are the ones holding all the new enemy types together (much like a captain). They will throw out one of three elemental totems.
[*] Solar Totem is basically a dangerous spinning turret of flame.
[*] Void Totem gives shields to nearby enemies.
[*] Arc Totem attracts the Guardian to the Totem's center, leaving them unable to move away until it's destroyed.

I love the fact that enemies have interesting behaviors now. It remains to be seen how well this will affect player strategy, but it sounds like Destiny's signature "hide behind cover and poke out to take a few shots at a time" strategy won't fly this time. With aggressive enemies comes the need to be proactive.

[*] The game goes to great pains to make sure you hate the guy who pulls the trigger as Uldren uses the Ace of Spades to kill Cayde.

I mean, unless we wanted Cayde dead. I would have been cool seeing the entire Vanguard bite it during D2's campaign, but I'm good with the flanderized Nathan Fillion eating Crits.

[*] The big Fallen captain shown in the trailer is called 'the Spider' and is the vendor for the Tangled Shore.
[*] There is an uneasy alliance between the Guardian and the Spider. His spike-backed Fallen enforcers often accompany me on subsequent adventures, lending support while rarely wading into the most dangerous confrontations.

So he's sort of a syndicate leader with missions where his subordinates provide light support? I love games that do that!

[*] Early on, the Spider wants some new invaders dealt with, later on he cashes in more favors to demand yet more work, hunting down outlaws from the Prison of Elders from across the system.
[*] These enemies are more spread out, and can be in random world locations, strikes, in the middle of Gambit matches or in high-level Lost Sectors on old planets.

This is exactly what I've been asking for since D1. Special targets that give you a reason to re-visit many of the game's regions for unique challenges and/or rewards. Sounds like you'll be on the hunt for them in specific places, as opposed to them coming after you randomly, which is neat. Hopefully you're given clues similar to Cayde's chests (and which aren't neatly marked on your maps).

[*] Destination exists in both planes and will take weeks to unravel the mystery.
[*] There is a 3 week cycle to how the Dreaming City will appear.
[*] Petra Venj is the Vendor and guiding character for the Dreaming City, and will move around during the 3 week rotation.
[*] Over time, new missions and secrets will reveal themselves. Enemy configurations and power levels change. The Taken curse takes a greater hold.
[*] At the end of the cycle, a greater secret awaits discovery for the pinnacle players to confront.

All of the above are things that I had hoped to see from the Infinite forest, as it perfectly lends itself to that exact type of experience. Oh well. Better late than never!

[*] Around the DC, dropped flasks will allow players to briefly glimpse into the ascendant realm to face special challenges, or travel along platforms or tunnels that don't exist in the real world.

Boy do I love the original Prey. Great concept.

[*] Director has been redesigned to provide an intuitive guide to meaningful content (Flashing destinations when things are happening) and less focus on milestones.

It'll be interesting to see how much the UI/UX experience changes now that David Candland's been run off from Bungie. I assume he was behind much of the Forsaken changes, but who knows!

[*] All those activities as well as Flashpoint now refresh every 4 days, with Raid still being on a weekly reset.

Nice. A bit more pressure to play the game more often (given the hefty climb looming over us, since power matters in endgame PvP again), but it sounds like there will be quite a few events going on to keep us entertained.

[*] Individual Strikes are now on Destination maps rather than only being accessible through a playlist.

Yeh, possibly having to do with those bounty targets.

[*] One new strike goes through the Prison of Elders to dodge trains and fight on an old battlefield only familiar to original Destiny players.

Scorn Skolas? Skornas?
It's possible!

[*] We wanted to tell a story about where Variks has been.

Skolas for Fallen president!

[*] Cerberus +1 is a new Exotic Auto Rifle with 4 barrels which shoots in four directions at once, can be devastating in the right circumstances.

Sounds dumb but fun. Yay for creative exotics!

Both new locations are about the size of Nessus. That's awesome!

70% the price of a full game, and with two patrol zones? I guess that's still better than TTK.