Last year, Destiny 2's Beyond Light expansion took the controversial step of "vaulting" half the game's worlds. But while it also "un-vaulted" Destiny 1's Cosmodrome as a kind of consolation prize, and more specifically to provide a staging ground for the new player experience, Bungie this week explained that it'd be going no further in fleshing out the region.
Introduced both as a kind of new tutorial space and a chunk of Destiny 1 nostalgia, roughly half of the Cosmodrome arrived with the release of Beyond Light. Bungie had planned to bring Destiny 2's version of the Cosmodrome up to "roughly Destiny 1 Year 1 parity", but was never entirely clear on how much content that would include.
Now, Bungie reckons its done rebuilding the Cosmodrome. In its place, the developer wants to focus on brand new content, seeing the pause in Cosmodrome reconstruction as a fair trade-off for creating new worlds.
"As we approached Beyond Light’s launch, it became clear to us that we had a choice to make: After returning all three of its original strikes, do we invest more time and resources in bringing Cosmodrome to D1 parity or do we switch our focus to building new experiences for Year 4 and beyond? Given that we believed we had achieved our original goals and knowing the community and team’s desire for new content, we chose the latter option."
Bungie never explicitly suggested that regions like The Plaguelands, introduced in Destiny 1's Rise Of Iron, wouldn't be making the jump. But the developer apologised for failing to set accurate expectations on "how far the Cosmodrome experience was going to be extended, laying out the final shape of the region.
"So, to clear things up: With the Devil’s Lair and Fallen S.A.B.E.R. strikes returning, we don’t have any active plans to add more to the Cosmodrome than what is there will be focusing on new updates overall."
The Destiny Vault is intended as a space where Bungie can cycle in and out content from the game's past. Though it's worth noting that in our interview with game director Luke Smith last year, he made it clear not to expect any Destinations to be unvaulted anytime soon. We do however know that the Vault of Glass raid is returning later this year, for those of you looking for another deep cut of nostalgia.
Overall, despite the confusion, opting not to keep building out the Cosmodrome feels like the right call. As things stand there are few reasons to visit the destination once you're done with the New Light onboarding process, so focusing on actual new stuff feels correct. Also: there hasn't been a ton of outcry from the community in response, which tells its own story (and is a refreshing change).
