Destiny was released in 2014, to a mass of confusion and critical panning. Decent shooting, stories of troubled development and a short, weird story that only made sense as you picked up more of the lore, and as expansions came out. Still, I played Destiny for days and days. I even played on the Xbox 360, which was without a doubt the worst Destiny experience you could have.
It got better though, and we saw the emergence of what became a compelling first-person shooter that was a massively multiplayer online game. I’d never played anything like it and soon got into farming, exotic quests, grinding-out strikes and PvP to get better gear and up my light level.
One thing that came up in Destiny discussions online over and over was a “raid”. Being a total beginner in the MMORPG genre, I had no clue what they were on about, and none of my friends was playing Destiny at the time, so reading about it felt like a dream that wouldn’t ever really come true.
Then, I learned about “Looking for Group” sites and decided to take the plunge. There I was, in a party chat with a group of random people who were willing to teach me how to complete the “Vault of Glass”. From that day, I was obsessed. Perhaps because it was my first raid, but I’ve always found the Vault of Glass to be the best one in Destiny.
Destiny 2 then re-released the raid, with a few tweaks. Damn, I was excited. I had a clan, we all had finished it before, and we all have fond memories. How does The Vault of Glass feel in 2022?
Hint: I still love it!
Little changes
If you remove the rose-tinted glasses and the nostalgia manages to leave your mind for a bit, you might be concerned the Vault of Glass perhaps won’t live up to your memories. Oh, it totally does, but Bungie switched a few bits around to make it a little “new” in Destiny 2.
Thankfully, they didn’t change everything, and the adjustments were largely beneficial. Helping breathe some new life into a 7-year old raid.
Encounters have been tweaked, to test teamwork and communications. With oracles spawning differently than they did before, you’re encountering enemies that didn’t exist in the Vault of Glass in Destiny. Wyverns and Cyclopses are the big ones, with the Wyverns, in particular, appearing throughout different encounters, and putting me on my arse.
It feels like the difficulty had been ramped up significantly, too. Obviously, with a new power level (not a light level anymore!!) requirement, you need to be as powerful as possible.
Running around the Vault of Glass, remembering secret passages and unlocking memories of the time I actually dropped Gjallarhorn. The encounters may have changed a bit, and certainly tested my abilities, but the whole raid was incredibly faithful to what was initially released, and I couldn’t be happier.
The loot tables are a little different, too. But there are still raid-specific weapons and armour to collect. Thankfully, running it often until we got the whole thing down to a tee, meant I got everything it has to offer for my Hunter. Even the elusive Vex Mythoclast!
It’s just a good time
Look, this isn’t the most descriptive, or frankly useful write-up of the re-release of the Vault of Glass in Destiny 2, I appreciate that. This is me waxing lyrical about how good the raid still is.
I’ve dropped off Destiny 2 really hard. Despite it being in a better place now than it has ever been, and things like the latest expansion getting rave reviews. I’ve spent my money, I’ve gotten sick to the core of the same old grind, and become a little jaded. It doesn’t hold the place in my head that the original Destiny once did.
What will always stand is my love for the Vault of Glass, and I just needed to share with anyone that had a similar experience to me, that it’s still an absolute gem. My favourite raid of all time, and I’ll run it a hundred times more if people want to.
If you have bounced-off Destiny but had an old clan and you used to run the Vault of Glass, get the old gang back together. Destiny 2 is free-to-play now, so the barrier to entry is low as hell. Power levels will start higher than the minimum required for the raid, too, thanks to further expansions and seasons. They may not be a better time to go exploring and reminiscing in the Vault of Glass again.
Go, remember the good times and just enjoy it all again, guardian.
For even more opinion pieces like this, click right HERE.