Destiny's first expansion, The Dark Below, added both new content and issues to Bungie's online shooter. There's more to do, see, and collect now than there was in the vanilla game, but some of the additions complicated progression and outright set veteran players back.
Likely Bungie Employee Spotted Testing Potential New Gear In Destiny [Video]
House of Wolves will want to avoid similar pitfalls, and Bungie has stated it is actively trying not to make the same mistakes. With that being said, what would we like to see in Destiny's second expansion? Here are some of the items atop the wishlist, in no particular order:
More Variation In High Level Armor
The Crota's End Raid armor is the best legendary gear in the game, required to reach level 32 (alongside an Exotic of your choice). Unfortunately, that means everyone will be wearing mostly the same gear in an effort to reach the level cap. Does it really affect the gameplay? Technically no, but you can't help but feel that it's not ideal for everyone among each class to be wearing the exact same armor, and having your own preferred set is part of the fun in any loot-based game. The Vault of Glass Raid armor became irrelevant after Crota's End, but bringing it back to top Light level would at least give players more variation. The Iron Banner gauntlets are one exception and do offer 36 Light, but these events are pretty few and far between--more special sets would be great, and go a long way to fixing this problem.
House Of Wolves Release Window Announced In Previous Weekly Update
A Raid As Good As (Or Better Than) The Vault Of Glass
I'll come out and say it--Crota's End is not nearly as well-designed as VoG. It seemed cool at first, and it's good to have another Raid alternative, but Crota's End falls short of the first Raid's excellence at nearly every turn. The Deathsinger fight is dull and buggy, the bridge sequence is just okay, and Crota is a pretty unimaginative final boss (The Abyss is definitely the best part). VoG has a certain mystique to its huge caverns, deadly maze, and elusive jumping puzzle, while Crota's End is a more straightforward series of battles. Crota is a much less interesting fight than the portal mechanics seen at Atheon, and hopefully Bungie captures that creativity again in House of Wolves--I want to see more of the clever mechanics, mystery, navigation, and length of Vault of Glass in the new Raid.
Vault Access From Orbit
Look, Bungie, just make it happen. I know it might ruin the idea of the physical vault location down on the Tower, but this is an important ease-of-use change that needs to be made. As more and more players level multiple Guardians, changing weapon and gear between them has to be more streamlined than swapping characters and going down to the Tower every time. It's a lot more effort than needed to go down, drop off items, change characters, go down to the tower again, and finally come back up with the gear you wanted. If you forget one item, you have to do it all again. I've heard practically every player I've played with express desire for this feature, and I feel same way. This doesn't really have to be part of House of Wolves--just get it in the game as soon as possible.
More Interesting Quests, More Useful Vendor
The new story missions in The Dark Below are pretty good, but ultimately more of the same. I'm not really expecting this, but it would be nice of more variation and mission types were introduced in House of Wolves. Eris is also fairly boring, and doesn't offer very useful items. The ability to exchange Radiant materials is the most important part (and boy, does progression take long), but it's mostly cosmetic items aside from that. Make the new vendors sell unique weapons and armor, or even something completely new--be creative!
Don't Ruin Player Progression
I know it was mentioned at the start, and the developers have commented on avoiding this very problem, but I can't stress how important this is, Bungie: don't waste the time of your most dedicated players. The Dark Below required players to reset maxed Exotics and dump more hours into getting them back to the top--don't punish the portion of the community that spent the most time playing the game. There's a very real chance people give up on the game if they're made to jump through hoops just to keep the same gear they already had relevant. It's also just an illogical thing to do, and introducing new currencies and steps for upgrading current gear isn't player-friendly. The House of Wolves content should be exciting, not a hassle, and fans will to look forward to what's new rather than seeing what's wrong.