Xivu Arath? Not obviously. Not obviously at all. Not mentioned all over the place.

Oops. I had must have edited that sentence later on. It originally said "Savathûn is obviously mentioned. Her name is all over the place."

- Then there’s the official listing for Curse of Osiris that reads:

Destiny 2 Expansion I: Curse of Osiris continues your Guardian’s journey with all-new story missions and adventures set in a new destination, Mercury. Journey through time and space to learn the secrets of Osiris, avert a dark future, and rebuild the ties between the legendary Warlock and his greatest student - Ikora.

[snip]

Oh wow, now that I have not seen yet: the marketplace listings for the first DLC. Even though it is not "official" (if this was on Bungie.net or DestinyTheGame.com I'd call it official), it is about as close to official as we may get since this info is sent to 3rd party marketing or promotional likely directly from Bungie/Activision. Thanks for that link, As I have not seen/read that before.

Just chiming in to point out that it can indeed be considered "official"... Urk tweeted this on the day that link went live:

Curse of Osiris is not a leak. It's real! :)

A lot of the Destiny "influencers" were spreading that entry around as a potential leak, and Urk posted that tweet to confirm that it was authentic and not erroneously made public.

The main campaign of Destiny 2 is the continuation of a Destiny 1 plot thread we last saw in the mission Outbound Signal.

Honestly, I think this fact has flown under the radar of many people. Especially since there has been quite a bit of content released after The Taken King that did basically nothing to continue the foreshadow of an impending doom, at the hands of the Cabal.

The first DLC, Curse of Osiris, is heavily rumored to focus on Mercury and the Vex, another group that hadn’t been in the spotlight yet. The DLC after that is rumored to focus on Rasputin who got some minor screen time but who’s actions and motives have still only been on the edges. Soon, Rasputin too might get his time in the spotlight.

Is there any new info for these DLC's besides just the expansion pass promotional icons, which were simply an "Eye of Osiris" image and the Warmind/"Rasputin symbol"? Are the rumors growing and embellishing as time goes on, like "the telephone game"?

There are several hints throughout Destiny 1’s Grimoire and Destiny 2’s Strikes and Adventures that Osiris is highly linked to the Vex. Specifically:

- Osiris which mentions the Vex quite a bit. I just now noticed that it also mentions that the Vex can’t simulate Guardians. That’s an idea I though came with Destiny 2, but nope, it was introduced in House of Wolves. Cool!
- In the Pyramidion Strike, Ikora sometimes mentions that she thinks she heard Osiris.
- In one of the final Adventures on Nessus, the one where you try and link your Ghost to the Vex network, you find that Osiris was also in the network. I don’t remember the exact words at the moment, but he even sent your Ghost a nice friendly little message.
- The Trials of Osiris Cult had their Lighthouse based on Mercury, a fully Vexified planet.
- I don’t have an exact quote yet (because print magazines and or time travel shenanigans) but Luke said recently (in the December 2017 EDGE article) that there are big hints in that post-credit scene -- specifically that although the payoff of the black pyramids being awakened won't be paid off for years[. And] the fact that Mercury was the first area to be shown as being impacted by the Traveler's light expansion was a very intentional setup of the first expansion.

Yes Osiris's link to the Vex and Mercury, these are facts.
Just because Osiris has seeming relationships with a particular race or setting does not necessarily mean that those HAVE to be the focus of the DLC. It is reasonable to think that is where the story is heading though.
I quit following print media years ago. You've inspired me to check out this EDGE article. Even though it is a print article and you are jet lagged from your time traveling(lol), your summation of what Luke said at the very end of the article is accurate.

- Then there’s the official listing for Curse of Osiris that reads:

Destiny 2 Expansion I: Curse of Osiris continues your Guardian’s journey with all-new story missions and adventures set in a new destination, Mercury. Journey through time and space to learn the secrets of Osiris, avert a dark future, and rebuild the ties between the legendary Warlock and his greatest student - Ikora.

[snip]

Oh wow, now that I have not seen yet: the marketplace listings for the first DLC. Even though it is not "official" (if this was on Bungie.net or DestinyTheGame.com I'd call it official), it is about as close to official as we may get since this info is sent to 3rd party marketing or promotional likely directly from Bungie/Activision. Thanks for that link, As I have not seen/read that before.

We also saw some movement in the Taken’s thread with very strong hints that Savathûn and perhaps Xivu Arath have at least taken over leadership of the Taken, or maybe Savathûn has figured out Oryx’s power to Take, which would be a major shakeup in therms of who holds power within the Hive. The idea that the Hive in our system are attempting to summon Savathûn is also somewhat present.

I don't remember any specific hints about Xivu Arath at all, much less taking over leadership of the Taken.
I'll be glad to replay a mission if possible, or re-visit an adventure or two.

I’d need to go back through all the missions. Obviously is mentioned. Her name is all over the place. But I seem to recall a more minor reference to Oryx’s other sister... Sorry I can’t be more specific.

Xivu Arath? Not obviously. Not obviously at all. Not mentioned all over the place.

The voice actor for Prince Uldren walked the red carpet at the Destiny 2 launch event and hung out with Bungie at their big Destiny 2 launch party. I’d almost guarantee we’ll hear from Prince Uldren again at some point down the line, and if we do it will almost certainly be in regards for the search for Queen Mara Sov and his obtaining control of the House of Kings.

I hadn't heard about this, and I don't think that this info is widely known. Do you have any additional notes for this?

Not a ton. I looked up each of the voice actors on social media right as Destiny 2 launched. Mara Sov and Prince Uldren’s were very excited. Prince Uldren’s had photos of him on the D2 red carpet and at the Bungie D2 launch party. A little earlier he also noted that he did some motion capture for Zavala’s cutscene on Titan.

Worst case, Bungie included new material about Prince Uldren taking control of the House of Kings in the Age of Triumph then followed that up with sly references to that happening in D2 but only brought the voice actor to do motion capture for... a different character?

Realistically, it’s likely he reprised his role as Prince Uldren, we just haven’t seen it yet.

So I decided to look up the info you have so casually mentioned
Well...let's provide links...rather than generate inferences or talk about it like it is general information...
Let's mention his name and give the artist some credit for his work.



Brandon O'Neill
https://twitter.com/brandonactor
https://www.instagram.com/brandononeillactor/

From July 26th - SDCC '17 Exclusive video
https://twitter.com/brandonactor/status/890110522011656193
https://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=VGBDed9GkNE
Never seen this before. This might be a fun video watch in a non shaky-cam format

September 3 - Destiny 2 Red Carpet Paramount Theater Seattle
https://twitter.com/brandonactor/status/904410247057383424

Video/gif of Brandon doing a Red Carpet 'snow angel'
https://twitter.com/brandonactor/status/904599484637732864
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYnCE3MntT4/

Picture of Brandon holding 'a brick of Glimmer' down on the party floor
https://twitter.com/brandonactor/status/904736657580187649
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYoAcxlH7bu/

Picture of Brandon and his wife? From a higher balcony above the party floor
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYrrQtGn43i/

Setember 6 - Destiny 2 Release day
Brandon wishes everyone a Happy Destiny 2 Release Day with a photo from 3 of the behind the scenes mo-cap artists. Brandon O'Neill, Richard Nguyen Sloniker, Allyson Kulavis
https://twitter.com/brandonactor/status/905622929785937920
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYuTepiHth-/
"Happy #destiny2 Drop Day from your Cinematics (Vangaurd) Fireteam. Between the 3 of us we've done Motion Capture and expression work for Cayde6, Zavala, Ikora, Dominous Ghaul, Lord Saladin, The Stranger, Amanda Holliday, The Player, Efrideet, Uldren Sov & Hawthorne plus other bit players throughout. (No not sweeper bot) I know I speak for all of us when I say we feel so lucky to be a part of the @bungie @destinythegame community and are stoked to finally share Destiny 2 with the world." Hashtag mess under spoiler - not pleasing to look at"#BeBrave #zavala #cayde6 #ikora #destinythegame #videogames #motioncapture #performancematters #performancecapture #lordsaladin #uldrensov #uldren #awoken #hawthorne #efrideet #amandaholliday #fireteam #vangaurd #thetraveler #warlock #hunter #titan #activision #playstation #xboxone #seattleactor #richardsloniker #allysonkulavis #brandononeill"

I don't know if I've ever seen these before:
September 4 2014
Brandon posted some cool shots of an underground subway with Destiny Advertisements adorning it (New York? Part of the huge above ground Times Square decorations?)
https://twitter.com/brandonactor/status/507745216657625088
https://twitter.com/brandonactor/status/507744979503304704

The Cabal setup in TTK was precisely that: a setup. There main Cabal plot in TTK was resolved. Their arc in the story was complete. Bungie through in a tiny (and missable) hint that another force was on its way.

We disagree on how tiny and missable a hint it was, and that's okay. ;) I'm not sure they could have broadcast it to the audience more clearly without being obnoxious.

All of these connections you’re mentioning are nice touches, I agree. But again, there’s a difference between all of this and the kind of thing I’m looking for. I don’t like plot devices that are disguised as characters. It’s a common trope in bad fiction, and Destiny is full of them. Let’s look at The Stranger, for example. During her appearances in D1, we learn enough to believe that she is a genuine character, with motivations and goals that are driving her actions. Both the Guardian and the player are left wondering what she’s up to; that’s suspense, and that’s cool! But suspense is a dangerous storytelling tool to play with. It takes the form of a contract with the audience. There’d better be a payoff.

So when Luke Smith comes along and says that as far as he’s concerned, the Stranger’s story is done... that she got us where we needed to go in D1 and gave us a sweet weapon and that’s the end of her... that’s a blow for a couple of reasons. First of all, it eliminates the possibility of the Stranger being anything more than a plot device, practically speaking. And that’s just bad storytelling. And it also shows that Bungie has no problem breaking the “suspense contract” with the player. And that’s the bigger problem, in my eyes. Because that effects the player’s willingness to become invested in Bungie’s stories now and moving forward. And looking at Destiny’s story up to this point, Bungie has made this mistake far too many times. You can only watch characters behave mysteriously and think “I wonder what they’re up to” so many times without those questions actually going somewhere. The Stranger was meaningless, they hinted to the player that Mara was up to something in D1 (through her willingness to work with us) but that went nowhere in terms of the immediate narrative, Eris was introduced as an actual character with real motivations, then revealed to have some sort of hidden agenda, and that thread has been dropped for 2 years now.

So we’ll see how things go from here. There are narrative threads left hanging in Destiny 2, and hopefully Bungie has specific plans to carry those threads forward in the immediate future, rather than telling another “monster of the week” story that introduces new threads that don’t go anywhere.

This is the biggest problem with Destiny. As an IP, the concept of rediscovering strange forgotten futures sits at its core; and that hinges on sustaining a sense of mystery. But teasing a thread and then dropping it or "resolving" it without any satisfying payoff absolutely murders player investment in the mythos. Likewise being mysterious for mystery's sake.

When we learn the fate of Praedyth, although not a particularly flashy finish, I felt a sense of satisfaction that rivalled most of the rest of my experiences in TTK. Deft touches are all it takes. If the powers at be at Bungie want to can a certain character or storyline, there are ways to do it that don't require a fully fleshed-out DLC treatment. So I don't think the expectation that everything be addressed in time is unreasonable. But making things seem urgent, as in literally "no time to explain" and then leaving that thread alone for years is...not good.

~M

It's in the Lake of Shadows strike. There was a thread about the implications/references. Whether it's just Savathûn or both sisters is up in the air, but I'm pretty sure that unless Bungie wants to shake things up, we'll only be dealing with them one at a time, and Xivu Arath has far less mentions in the game so far (sure would be neat to have her revealed as the bigger fish if we have a DLC revolving around Savathûn, though, or an orchestrator of events).

One of the missions on Io has you fighting a taken that is directly labeled as Savathûn's. I think it's safe to say we will be dealing with her in the future.

We also saw some movement in the Taken’s thread with very strong hints that Savathûn and perhaps Xivu Arath have at least taken over leadership of the Taken, or maybe Savathûn has figured out Oryx’s power to Take, which would be a major shakeup in therms of who holds power within the Hive. The idea that the Hive in our system are attempting to summon Savathûn is also somewhat present.

I don't remember any specific hints about Xivu Arath at all, much less taking over leadership of the Taken.
I'll be glad to replay a mission if possible, or re-visit an adventure or two.

It's in the Lake of Shadows strike. There was a thread about the implications/references. Whether it's just Savathûn or both sisters is up in the air, but I'm pretty sure that unless Bungie wants to shake things up, we'll only be dealing with them one at a time, and Xivu Arath has far less mentions in the game so far (sure would be neat to have her revealed as the bigger fish if we have a DLC revolving around Savathûn, though, or an orchestrator of events).

Thanks for the assist. I was hoping for a specific level name or something along those lines

I don't think I've played that Strike. I haven't played many of them I don't think because they are "randomly selected" (plus matchmaking) and they don't seem to rotate equally.
I'd love to be able to select that Strike specifically and check it out, but that's not possible. I'd also love to be able to be able to play it specifically from the very beginning and at a pace that is slower than 2 x Random Player's Ludicrous Speed. You know the whole, run as fast as you possibly can to 'The Boss' and do not Pass Go or collect 200 dollars, thing.

Just watched a video of that Strike. Turns out I have actually played it.
There was just a generic mention of Oryx's sisters. Nothing specific towards Xivu Arath. Of course, there has been a number/multiple mentions of Savathûn throughout Destiny 2 so far, however I can't remember any of Xivu Arath.

You are right, He/She (Xivu Arath) could potentially make for an interesting plot twist since the narrative and many theories surround Savathûn and discount the third Sister. He/She might make for a good dark horse if you will. Or could the Sisters relationship be used as a plot device? Possibly where Savathûn is able to capture, achieve, and assert dominance by making Xivu a subordinate or tricking him/her into executing the war or "running the army" while Savathûn takes extra tribute and handles the higher level administration or strategy? Could the Sisters potentially have learned something from Oryx's Daughters - they seemed to have a bond that let them do things that other Hive/Taken have not been able?

And then we have that odd mention of Nokris from Left Field to either ignore or account for. I had an interesting thought the other day. Could Nokris be Nezarec? In the same way that Aurash -> Auryx -> Oryx could Nokris -> Nezarec? Could Oryx's Sin give us any insight about Nezarec's Sin. Oryx: "They were coterminous and allied, his ship and his sin." Or could it just be a coincidence or poor choice of language.

I’ll also note that the Exo Stranger (Maya Sundaresh) and Chioma Esi (Maya’s wife) both have gotten new mentions and lore references in Destiny 2. For a character whose story is “done” they sure bring her up a lot. Now yes, it’s possible she never re-emerges from the fog of lore. Maybe they couldn’t get her voice actor again or they continue her story through Osiris. I’ll be happy if we get an actual conclusion to her story, lore based or not. But, what if she did come back as an in-game character? And gave a good explanation. How many of those complaints about her would vanish?

Take my feelings about the Exo Stranger and expand them to any hanging plot thread. How much will be quickly forgiven if a thread goes from hanging in a holding pattern to a spotlight thread?

I think that’s an important question, and ultimately it comes down to execution. “Bringing characters back” means more to me than just giving them another few lines in a cutscene. If the Prince makes another appearance, says a couple more mean things to our Guardian, then vanishes again... well that’s little more than fan service. And fan service is like lore; it’s good to have, but it doesn’t replace a compelling narrative with actual character development. I will say that there is great opportunity with the Prince, Mara, Eris, and The Stranger, among others. Their absence from the current plot leaves room to reintroduce them, reveal a course that they are on, have that course intersect with earth/the city/our guardian in an interesting way, and then deal with the fallout of that collision. I’d love to see Destiny’s expansions used to tell those kinds of stories. Smaller, character driven stories that don’t boil down to “OMG we gotta save the entire universe from yet another God/Emporor/Whatever”. Rise of Iron dipped a toe towards this approach, by bringing in the Iron Lords. Unfortunately, the story ended up being less about the ILs, and more about another “threat of the week”.

I think Bungie has partially solved this problem with Meditations - since you can earn gear from Ikora for doing them, people do them. When the city streets level came up a couple of weeks ago, I found the area filled with Guardians, as it was when I ran it the first time. I think that'll continue to be true as time goes on. (Doesn't mean I don't wish there were more of those moments - just that I think the fear of deserted streets is an empty one.)

Wait, on the final mission, you had other guardians in it? When i played it, i was by myself and thought it would be better if there were other guardians around.

And I only did it this past week. Each of the moments that you're waiting for Hawthorne to take down the Cabal walls appears to be designed to temporarily slow down fireteams such that they run into each other. When it happens it gives the feeling of Guardians overwhelming the city in a continuance of the cutscene.

It's a real shame you didn't have that on your run through, I strongly encourage you to take it up when that meditation is in the rotation.

We also saw some movement in the Taken’s thread with very strong hints that Savathûn and perhaps Xivu Arath have at least taken over leadership of the Taken, or maybe Savathûn has figured out Oryx’s power to Take, which would be a major shakeup in therms of who holds power within the Hive. The idea that the Hive in our system are attempting to summon Savathûn is also somewhat present.

I don't remember any specific hints about Xivu Arath at all, much less taking over leadership of the Taken.
I'll be glad to replay a mission if possible, or re-visit an adventure or two.

It's in the Lake of Shadows strike. There was a thread about the implications/references. Whether it's just Savathûn or both sisters is up in the air, but I'm pretty sure that unless Bungie wants to shake things up, we'll only be dealing with them one at a time, and Xivu Arath has far less mentions in the game so far (sure would be neat to have her revealed as the bigger fish if we have a DLC revolving around Savathûn, though, or an orchestrator of events).

I’ll also note that the Exo Stranger (Maya Sundaresh) and Chioma Esi (Maya’s wife) both have gotten new mentions and lore references in Destiny 2. For a character whose story is “done” they sure bring her up a lot. Now yes, it’s possible she never re-emerges from the fog of lore. Maybe they couldn’t get her voice actor again or they continue her story through Osiris. I’ll be happy if we get an actual conclusion to her story, lore based or not. But, what if she did come back as an in-game character? And gave a good explanation. How many of those complaints about her would vanish?

Take my feelings about the Exo Stranger and expand them to any hanging plot thread. How much will be quickly forgiven if a thread goes from hanging in a holding pattern to a spotlight thread?

The main campaign of Destiny 2 is the continuation of a Destiny 1 plot thread we last saw in the mission Outbound Signal.

Honestly, I think this fact has flown under the radar of many people. Especially since there has been quite a bit of content released after The Taken King that did basically nothing to continue the foreshadow of an impending doom, at the hands of the Cabal.

The first DLC, Curse of Osiris, is heavily rumored to focus on Mercury and the Vex, another group that hadn’t been in the spotlight yet. The DLC after that is rumored to focus on Rasputin who got some minor screen time but who’s actions and motives have still only been on the edges. Soon, Rasputin too might get his time in the spotlight.

Is there any new info for these DLC's besides just the expansion pass promotional icons, which were simply an "Eye of Osiris" image and the Warmind/"Rasputin symbol"? Are the rumors growing and embellishing as time goes on, like "the telephone game"?

There are several hints throughout Destiny 1’s Grimoire and Destiny 2’s Strikes and Adventures that Osiris is highly linked to the Vex. Specifically:

- Osiris which mentions the Vex quite a bit. I just now noticed that it also mentions that the Vex can’t simulate Guardians. That’s an idea I though came with Destiny 2, but nope, it was introduced in House of Wolves. Cool!
- In the Pyramidion Strike, Ikora sometimes mentions that she thinks she heard Osiris.
- In one of the final Adventures on Nessus, the one where you try and link your Ghost to the Vex network, you find that Osiris was also in the network. I don’t remember the exact words at the moment, but he even sent your Ghost a nice friendly little message.
- The Trials of Osiris Cult had their Lighthouse based on Mercury, a fully Vexified planet.
- I don’t have an exact quote yet (because print magazines and or time travel shenanigans) but Luke said recently (in the December 2017 EDGE article) that there are big hints in that post-credit scene -- specifically that although the payoff of the black pyramids being awakened won't be paid off for years, the fact that Mercury was the first area to be shown as being impacted by the Traveler's light expansion was a very intentional setup of the first expansion.
- Then there’s the official listing for Curse of Osiris that reads:

Destiny 2 Expansion I: Curse of Osiris continues your Guardian’s journey with all-new story missions and adventures set in a new destination, Mercury. Journey through time and space to learn the secrets of Osiris, avert a dark future, and rebuild the ties between the legendary Warlock and his greatest student - Ikora.

I don’t do telephone games. :)

We also saw some movement in the Taken’s thread with very strong hints that Savathûn and perhaps Xivu Arath have at least taken over leadership of the Taken, or maybe Savathûn has figured out Oryx’s power to Take, which would be a major shakeup in therms of who holds power within the Hive. The idea that the Hive in our system are attempting to summon Savathûn is also somewhat present.

I don't remember any specific hints about Xivu Arath at all, much less taking over leadership of the Taken.
I'll be glad to replay a mission if possible, or re-visit an adventure or two.

I’d need to go back through all the missions. Obviously is mentioned. Her name is all over the place. But I seem to recall a more minor reference to Oryx’s other sister... Sorry I can’t be more specific.

The voice actor for Prince Uldren walked the red carpet at the Destiny 2 launch event and hung out with Bungie at their big Destiny 2 launch party. I’d almost guarantee we’ll hear from Prince Uldren again at some point down the line, and if we do it will almost certainly be in regards for the search for Queen Mara Sov and his obtaining control of the House of Kings.

I hadn't heard about this, and I don't think that this info is widely known. Do you have any additional notes for this?

Not a ton. I looked up each of the voice actors on social media right as Destiny 2 launched. Mara Sov and Prince Uldren’s were very excited. Prince Uldren’s had photos of him on the D2 red carpet and at the Bungie D2 launch party. A little earlier he also noted that he did some motion capture for Zavala’s cutscene on Titan.

Worst case, Bungie included new material about Prince Uldren taking control of the House of Kings in the Age of Triumph then followed that up with sly references to that happening in D2 but only brought the voice actor to do motion capture for... a different character?

Realistically, it’s likely he reprised his role as Prince Uldren, we just haven’t seen it yet.

And I do consider all those extra threads you're pointing out to be little more than lore, at least as they currently stand. That could change. There’s room for the Prince and the Fallen to become something more. But at the moment, the Prince is so inconsiquential to the motivations of our guardian that he barely exists in the minds of most players. He was mean to us during a couple cutscenes in D1, and his ship got shot down in TTK. I bet most Destiny players didn’t even realize that was the same guy.

The Cabal setup in TTK was precisely that: a setup. There main Cabal plot in TTK was resolved. Their arc in the story was complete. Bungie through in a tiny (and missable) hint that another force was on its way.

All of these connections you’re mentioning are nice touches, I agree. But again, there’s a difference between all of this and the kind of thing I’m looking for. I don’t like plot devices that are disguised as characters. It’s a common trope in bad fiction, and Destiny is full of them. Let’s look at The Stranger, for example. During her appearances in D1, we learn enough to believe that she is a genuine character, with motivations and goals that are driving her actions. Both the Guardian and the player are left wondering what she’s up to; that’s suspense, and that’s cool! But suspense is a dangerous storytelling tool to play with. It takes the form of a contract with the audience. There’d better be a payoff.

So when Luke Smith comes along and says that as far as he’s concerned, the Stranger’s story is done... that she got us where we needed to go in D1 and gave us a sweet weapon and that’s the end of her... that’s a blow for a couple of reasons. First of all, it eliminates the possibility of the Stranger being anything more than a plot device, practically speaking. And that’s just bad storytelling. And it also shows that Bungie has no problem breaking the “suspense contract” with the player. And that’s the bigger problem, in my eyes. Because that effects the player’s willingness to become invested in Bungie’s stories now and moving forward. And looking at Destiny’s story up to this point, Bungie has made this mistake far too many times. You can only watch characters behave mysteriously and think “I wonder what they’re up to” so many times without those questions actually going somewhere. The Stranger was meaningless, they hinted to the player that Mara was up to something in D1 (through her willingness to work with us) but that went nowhere in terms of the immediate narrative, Eris was introduced as an actual character with real motivations, then revealed to have some sort of hidden agenda, and that thread has been dropped for 2 years now.

So we’ll see how things go from here. There are narrative threads left hanging in Destiny 2, and hopefully Bungie has specific plans to carry those threads forward in the immediate future, rather than telling another “monster of the week” story that introduces new threads that don’t go anywhere.

The main campaign of Destiny 2 is the continuation of a Destiny 1 plot thread we last saw in the mission Outbound Signal.

Honestly, I think this fact has flown under the radar of many people. Especially since there has been quite a bit of content released after The Taken King that did basically nothing to continue the foreshadow of an impending doom, at the hands of the Cabal.

The first DLC, Curse of Osiris, is heavily rumored to focus on Mercury and the Vex, another group that hadn’t been in the spotlight yet. The DLC after that is rumored to focus on Rasputin who got some minor screen time but who’s actions and motives have still only been on the edges. Soon, Rasputin too might get his time in the spotlight.

Is there any new info for these DLC's besides just the expansion pass promotional icons, which were simply an "Eye of Osiris" image and the Warmind/"Rasputin symbol"? Are the rumors growing and embellishing as time goes on, like "the telephone game"?

We also saw some movement in the Taken’s thread with very strong hints that Savathûn and perhaps Xivu Arath have at least taken over leadership of the Taken, or maybe Savathûn has figured out Oryx’s power to Take, which would be a major shakeup in therms of who holds power within the Hive. The idea that the Hive in our system are attempting to summon Savathûn is also somewhat present.

I don't remember any specific hints about Xivu Arath at all, much less taking over leadership of the Taken.
I'll be glad to replay a mission if possible, or re-visit an adventure or two.

The voice actor for Prince Uldren walked the red carpet at the Destiny 2 launch event and hung out with Bungie at their big Destiny 2 launch party. I’d almost guarantee we’ll hear from Prince Uldren again at some point down the line, and if we do it will almost certainly be in regards for the search for Queen Mara Sov and his obtaining control of the House of Kings.

I hadn't heard about this, and I don't think that this info is widely known. Do you have any additional notes for this?

I do think, however, there’s a bit more going on in Destiny 2 than you’re giving it credit for at the moment.

Rhetorical Question:
If you don’t know something is implemented, then just how good can it be?


Every coin has two sides - Unnecessary gif:

The first DLC, Curse of Osiris, is heavily rumored to focus on Mercury and the Vex, another group that hadn’t been in the spotlight yet.

Osiris, yes. but the vex was heavily featured in Vanilla destiny.

I think Bungie has partially solved this problem with Meditations - since you can earn gear from Ikora for doing them, people do them. When the city streets level came up a couple of weeks ago, I found the area filled with Guardians, as it was when I ran it the first time. I think that'll continue to be true as time goes on. (Doesn't mean I don't wish there were more of those moments - just that I think the fear of deserted streets is an empty one.)

Wait, on the final mission, you had other guardians in it? When i played it, i was by myself and thought it would be better if there were other guardians around.

I’d be ok with some threads being left hanging. But not ALL of them...

Hold up. The main campaign of Destiny 2 is the continuation of a Destiny 1 plot thread we last saw in the mission Outbound Signal. The last of the Cabal forces in our solar system sent a bunch of info to the rest of the Cabal and requested reinforcements. Those reinforcements came and they came with information on how to neutralize the unkillable Guardians who had easily slapped their previous force around. So the idea that Bungie left all threads hanging is immediately false.

More than that, I think it is only natural to put some plot threads on hold while others are focused on. The Cabal got very little focus in Destiny 1. Much less than the Hive and Fallen, at least. Now, with Destiny 2, Bungie swung back and put the spotlight on the Cabal. The first DLC, Curse of Osiris, is heavily rumored to focus on Mercury and the Vex, another group that hadn’t been in the spotlight yet. The DLC after that is rumored to focus on Rasputin who got some minor screen time but who’s actions and motives have still only been on the edges. Soon, Rasputin too might get his time in the spotlight.

I admit, I’m playing the part of Angel’s Advocate here (Angel’s Advocate being the positive, optimistic version of Devil’s Advocate :p) but is it fair to say threads are being left hanging? Especially if each new DLC picks up one of those threads and makes it a focus? Just how many threads should Bungie be trying to force into one campaign or one DLC package, anyway? At some point, asking them for feature length campaigns for every race and every plot thread is obviously asking too much. So pull that back to reasonableness. Where is a fair expectation?

Coming back to the idea that thread were left hanging, I think there are two other instances in D2 where Bungie did move forward in a substantial way:

- We see the Fallen’s situation advanced in Destiny 2. Their system of individual houses seems to have collapsed and they have all fallen back and re-emerged as the House of Dusk. And there are some other hints along the way, most notably that they’ve taken to using House of Kings and Awoken encryption in their communications, that points to a continuation of Prince Uldren taking over leadership of all the Fallen via getting the House of Kings to bow before him, as per the final round of Grimoire cards that came with the Age of Trimuph.

- We also saw some movement in the Taken’s thread with very strong hints that Savathûn and perhaps Xivu Arath have at least taken over leadership of the Taken, or maybe Savathûn has figured out Oryx’s power to Take, which would be a major shakeup in therms of who holds power within the Hive. The idea that the Hive in our system are attempting to summon Savathûn is also somewhat present.

True, neither of these are narrative. But if they are the precurosr to future DLCs with Red War or even Rise of Iron size focuses on the Fallen or Hive later on next year or the year after.... well, then what? I’ll note that this is certainly not outside the real of possibility. The voice actor for Prince Uldren walked the red carpet at the Destiny 2 launch event and hung out with Bungie at their big Destiny 2 launch party. I’d almost guarantee we’ll hear from Prince Uldren again at some point down the line, and if we do it will almost certainly be in regards for the search for Queen Mara Sov and his obtaining control of the House of Kings.

In the end, sure, I’d love more in-depth campaigns. More in-game stories. More tragedy, and emotion, and dynamic characters, and dramatic moments. But... I’m not sure we’ll ever get that out of Destiny. Bungie seems more interested in building out their universe just enough to support a fun shooter and doesn’t seem super interested in pushing as hard into full on stories as other developers. I’m certainly not mistaking those kinds of in-depth stories for two sentence scannable in D2. I do think, however, there’s a bit more going on in Destiny 2 than you’re giving it credit for at the moment.

I didn't particularly like that answer from Luke, but at the same time the idea that Bungie has dropped all its other story thread doesn't ring true to me. Destiny 2 includes a ton of hints and continuations to all sorts of plot threads. Really, I can't think of any character or thread that didn't get a mention in Destiny 2.

Now sure, our Ghost wondering if the Exo Stranger is alright isn't exactly the same as having an entire DLC based around Oryx coming to avenge Crota's death, but I was actually impressed at how little was truly left behind.

If I could find a transcript of all the dialogue attached to the in world scanable objects I'd make a pretty neat post talking about what they are all referencing. Just one random reference, there's a bank of monitors or some such thing you can scan on Titan to which your Ghost comments:

Shipping manifestos. Hm. Looks like they traded frequently with a settlement… wow. Way out there. It's called… Hyperion. Huh.

Seems like a bit of mostly useless information, right? Except, that in Ghost Fragment: Vex 5, Maya Sundaresh was voicing a message to her wife Chioma Esi. Maya was in Tibet working on one of those strange machines that the Future War Cult uses to give visions to its followers and Chioma? Well, Maya says in her message:

I missed you. We hadn’t been apart for more than a year since we met. I’m not a very good wife, am I? You write me every week, even with all Hyperion’s work and all Hyperion’s distance keeping you from me. And I act like it’s not enough.

Just with one word, one location name, the universe branches back out and expands again, and I love that! :)

I think, to clarify my point, it’s important to draw a distinction between “narrative” and “lore”. Destiny 2 makes plenty of lore references, as you point out. But that is never a replacement for narrative. I think lore is a wonderful tool when it comes to augmenting a great narrative. It helps add scope and scale to a created world, adds a sense of history and context to the events of the plot. But lore on its own cannot provide the meaning or impact of a central narrative. And all too often, Destiny’s “storytelling” is actually just lore dumps dressed up as a narrative. There are characters and places and events that are referenced from time to time, but none of it means anything. None of it drives or motivates our guardian, or us, for that matter (short of curiosity... we want to know more just for the sake of knowing more, as is human nature).

Now, the Grimoire in D1 blurred the lines between narrative and lore. They sometimes crossed over into something resembling folk tales or legends, in that they contained bareboned approximations of actual stories. But even at their best, they don’t provide anything close to the kind of deep, meaningful narrative we would hope for from a game like Destiny. They merely suggest the possibility of one, and rely on our imaginations to fill in the gaps. And for their intended purpose, that’s plenty. But I think D1 is proof that the best written lore is no replacement for a good primary narrative.

So no, I can’t agree with your assessment that a single-line mention counts as the continuation of a plot thread. An off-the-cuff mention is no replacement for following the actions and conflicts of living, breathing characters, and the events surrounding them. And sometimes, that’s fine. I’d be ok with some threads being left hanging. But not ALL of them, and that is precisely the pattern that Bungie has developed with Destiny so far (with the exception of Crota/Oryx, as I already mentioned).