Destiny 2: Shadowkeep – Season of Dawn
The seasons are changing in Destiny 2 and the Season of Dawn is only days away. We have a different seasonal model in year 3 of Destiny 2, the story is ever-evolving and the world is changing as the season’s progress. Season of the Dawn sees the return of our time-travelling Warlock Osiris, a new six-person activity, new weapons and armour and other incentives to keep us playing.
The season of Undying is coming to an end and we’ve been battling the Undying Mind for a few weeks now. Over the course of this first season is Destiny 2: Shadowkeep we’ve been kept busy with the Vex; in the raid and in the form of the Vex Offensive. Ikora’s been busy working on a portal, which teleported in the Undying Mind. However, since we’ve been killing the Undying Mind Osiris senses danger and he’s emerged from the Infinite Forest to help us… and save a long, lost Titan friend in Saint-14.
It looks like we’ll get some new story content and cut scenes, however how that’s going to be delivered to us is unclear as yet. The Season of Dawn’s content is bound to be smaller than Season of Undying, as the previous season was also tied into Shadowkeep’s content drop. Now we’ve killed the Undying Mind over thousands of timelines time is now broken on Mercury and the Cabal Psion Flayers are looking to exploit these issues and undo the victory against the Red Legion from original Destiny 2 campaign.
A specific event has been called out on the roadmap called Save a Legend which drops on 17th Dec. Osiris is going to try and turn back time and save his former fireteam friend Saint-14. Saint has been a legend in the game since the beginning with the helm of Saint-14 being in the game since original Destiny days. There’s also a paradox in the game lore related to Saint-14.
“A tale that’s different from the rest: the thread unfurls against the clocks. The one the Speaker loved the best must have a perfect paradox. I never found Osiris, but I’ve killed enough Vex to end a war. And they, in turn, struck a fatal blow: they completed a Mind with the sole function to drain the Light from me. It worked very well. Don’t worry (not that you worry much). It took them centuries to build, keyed to the unique frequency of my Light. And I sit atop its shattered husk.
I mourn that I will never reach the heights you have. To me, you represent everything a Guardian can become. Yours is a thriving City. So different from mine. My whole fourteenth life I fought to make my City yours. I never finished. All I have left is this weapon. The Cryptarchs say you crafted it yourself, built it out of scraps and Light and sheer will, inside the Infinite Forge. I’ll make sure it finds its way back to you. When you gave it to me, I swore I would make it my duty to follow your example. I’m still trying. Saint-14″
This was introduced during Curse of Osiris expansion back in year 1 of Destiny 2 and relates to the Perfect Paradox Shotgun. It’s likely that in this expansion we’ll interact with Saint-14 and will give him the gun, only for him to die once again somehow. It will be exciting to find out what happens in this storyline as he’s always been a fan favourite in the lore.
Osiris has built his Sundial which is the basis for the six-person activity this season. This is match-made and looks similar to the Menagerie. You can travel across timelines in Mercury into the past, present and future versions and battle against a variety of enemies. It will be interesting to see if this has the variety of the Menagerie or will be more like Vex Offensive. The Menagerie was the best version of this activity we’ve had, closely followed by Escalation Protocol. The Vex Offensive felt flat and wasn’t varied enough, so hopefully, Bungie will have learnt from this and had time to develop something that keeps players coming back time and time again.
Over the course of the season, it looks like there’s going to be variety added to The Sundial. We have Ozletc – The Sky Piercer, Tazaroc – The Sun Eater and Inotam – Oblivion’s Triune added as bosses throughout the season. These all look like formidable Psion Flayers. There’s also Legend Sundial mode, presumably a hard mode coming early in the new year 2020. As with previous activities like this, we’ll get to choose which weapons to earn by completing Time lost weapon frames.
There are new weapons, armour and ornaments on offer. We have seasonal armour to chase as well as new Saint-14 style ornaments to covet. Last season I managed to pick up the seasonal ornaments week by week with bright dust. There are also two new exotic quests on offer Devil’s Ruin on 7th January and Bastion on 28th January. We’re also getting a new Artifact – The Lantern of Osiris to progressively unlock new mods for our armour.
PVP is being thrown a few meagre bones with Elimination mode returning, Rusted Lands coming back from original Destiny (this one has always been a fan favourite) and Iron Banner returning on Christmas Eve. Some had been hoping for Trials return, but with so many issues in the game right now the community flips back and forward between wanting Trials of Osiris or not. Back in the Summer, Bungie did say that Season 10 would be the season where PVP would come into focus so it will be interesting to see this season if any more foundations are laid for the future and perhaps return of Trials of Osiris.
There are two seasonal events this time too with The Dawning (Destiny’s Christmas-like event) and Crimson Days (Valentines Doubles PVP). Last year in The Dawning we have introduced to the cookie oven which laid the groundwork for the Chalice in Season of Opulence, so these events do give Bungie the time and room to experiment and try things. There’s also a slim chance, or maybe a hope that Sparrow Racing League makes a return – the wipeout style racing mode that was added to Destiny back in 2016 for one fleeting season.
As with the Season of Undying, there’s a paid-for track and a free track for content. If you pay for the season pass you’ll get instant access to the new Exotic Scout Rifle Symmetry, new six-person activity The Sundial, exotic quests, armour, ornaments, seasonal lore books, exotic emote, finishers and other season pass rewards.
There’s plenty of content for free too with season rank rewards, Seasonal Artifact: The Lantern of Osiris, Help Osiris fix the timeline by restoring Obelisks on four destinations, the Seasonal Armor Set: Righteous and progress through Season ranks to earn the Exotic Scout Rifle, Symmetry.
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