The Dark Below: Destiny’s First Expansion Hits 12/9

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The Dark Below: Destiny’s First Expansion Hits 12/9

Bungie just announced that Destiny‘s first expansion, The Dark Below, is coming out on December 9th. We caught up with Eric Osborne, Bungie’s Community and Marketing Relations Manager, to ask him a few questions about what we can expect to see.

Destiny: The Dark Below

PlayStation.Blog: Thank you for taking the time to talk to us today Eric. Today saw a huge announcement regarding Destiny’s first expansion: The Dark Below. What exactly are you announcing?

Eric Osborne: We’re announcing that Destiny’s first expansion, The Dark Below, will be available on December 9th. Players who pick it up for download will be able to earn new weapons, armor, and gear, experience new story quests and missions, play new cooperative activities with their friends, and add three multiplayer Crucible arenas to their competitive rotation with Skyshock, Pantheon, and The Cauldron. In addition to new content, we’re also raising Player Light Level potential to 32, increasing Bounty slots from five to ten, and including some fun surprises for everyone who’s playing the game.

PSB: The PlayStation exclusive content includes an exclusive Strike, what can you tell us about this strike and what players can look forward to?

EO: We’re going to detail the Strike out in full in the weeks ahead, but we can confirm that PlayStation players will get access to an exclusive, cooperative Strike that takes place in the Black Garden, “The Undying Mind,” and more. We’ll share more in-depth details very soon.

PSB: There is a new character in this expansion. Can you give us a little introduction?

EO: Players are spending a lot of time in the Tower, so we took the opportunity to craft a new character, Eris, that players can receive quests and missions from in The Dark Below. Not only does she offer up unique bounties and rewards, she also has a story to tell about The Hive and their evil intentions. She’s also pretty creepy!

PSB: What can we expect for the future of Destiny?

EO: That’s a great question. We have well laid plans for the future, but you know what they say about those! We just put the finishing touches on The Dark Below, and we have some fun and much requested updates en route that will land before and after December 9th. In the days and months ahead, we’ll keep charting the course for Destiny, right alongside the awesome community of players. As always, it should be a great ride.

All great stuff Eric, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us today. I’m sure our players, like us, can’t wait to get a hold of this new expansion on December 9th.

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92 Comments

  • @43 – come on, you’re saying that on the PS Blog where everyone basically just rants at Sid, Sony, et al. Let me tell you my Saturday night experience. Should sound familiar.

    Was 9 coins short of 23 and wanted a Suros from Xur. (who doesn’t) So I took my 25 (25!!!) Warlock through the Weekly Heroic solo. Bone-crushingly hard. Made it to the safe room, exhaled, and did the following:

    Popped on the Community thread on GAF and threw up a distress signal.

    “HELP! CRAZY WARLOCK 25 sitting outside the safe room on 28 Heroic. Don’t ask me how I got here. If any of you would be able to help me, I hope RNG gives you something good for coming to my aid. I just want the coins.”

    Within 2 minutes one guy popped on with an Ice Breaker, and in another minute another was and 5 later Phogoth was HISTORY.”

    I have the shiny Suros and they both got legendary gear for 5 minutes of effort. (I have no recollection of what I got, after 25-ing my way through the 28 I was spent.)

    But you go to someplace like GAF or LFG and make friends. Then ask nicely, they help, and you make new friends.

  • I was one of those players who has watched destiny since the rumors from the poster in Halo ODST. I played the Alpha, and the Beta, and fell in love! I have played Destiny NON STOP since it’s release! I have two characters at level 20 (or above). What is disappointing me the most about this update is not just the lack of content, but the failure to come through on promises made by Bungie. What ever happened to Mercury, Saturn, and Jupiter? This game was in development Forever, So there has to be more to it! There is a general consensus amongst the fan base that more was promised. There are over 30 games coming out over the next few months, a great deal of there AAA. If Bungie wants to keep it’s fan base, Expansion 3 and 4 better have substantial additions or be FREE. If not I’m done after House of Wolves! Not just me; my friends and clan mates as well! We all talk about how this game is bare bones, and losing it luster!!!

  • Sorry, just a separate question. You guys that are bemoaning the content – and rightfully so because you spent hard-earned $$$ on the game:

    Have you done the raid/Vault of Glass?

    Seriously, I did it last week with some folks (my first time) and it was amazing. Like “Wow I wish the rest of the game was this good” fun.

    If not, you’re seriously missing out. I know the raid seems intimidating. No matchmaking is intimidating. But watch a couple streams or YT’s, ask some friends or go online and make some new ones.

    THE RAID IS WORTH IT. SO. WORTH. IT.

  • It will be free or not

  • I won’t be giving them another 20 bones for DLC. I’m already kinda bored with it and them patching everything. They say it’s suppose to be more ways than one to beat raids and strikes but they patch it so it’s only their way of playing the game.

  • idk why ther is so much hate for this game lol.. COD has less content then this game.. excluding treyarch COD… i love this game.

    Diablo 3
    Destiny
    GTA5
    FIFA 15 will keep me busy for a while

  • With Advanced warfare releasing next week this expansion will give me a reason to come back and play. Overall the expansion looks great and enjoyable for all.

  • Can we get side stories at the very least as free updates? I’d love to learn more about the world of destiny, but these bread crumbs have me on the verge of quitting this franchise after my Expansion Pass has been used up.

    Also, trading please. It’s better for me to help my team upgrade and become better than breaking down weapons and armor in the vain hope of getting something that lets me upgrade. A breathing human with good gear has a better chance of getting me Shards in a raid.

  • Been playing Destiny daily since 9/11 when I decided to join my friends that were enjoying the game…

    I made a terrible decision not skip this game.

    The content offered in the style of an “MMO” is laughable. The Vault of Glass is not as glorious as other comments make it out to be, nor is running it multiple times a week lucrative!!!
    When you get the same raid gauntlets/boots/ascendant material, as rewards from multiple runs a week, coupled with Bungie making the Raid take extra needless effort…
    I feel its simply Bungie dont want us to realize they have a really **** loot table with very few rewards for the games peak challenge. If the raid rewards werent randomized, those who used to push off Atheon would probably be done with Raiding till the expansion hits.

    Personally I have only completed the raid once, yesterday. Prior to that I ran it up to Atheon twice (before the pushing him off method was known). I got screwed on a gear drop after the Templar fight, the very night the raid went live and got NOTHING…
    This happens to others still. With luck I managed to get two pieces of raid armor (would be 3 but gauntlets dropped twice in the SAME run)

  • I think the team at Bungie need to do a lot more than add more crap that will indefinitely need patches and tweaking.

    Destiny had massive potential but the obvious areas on maps like “Kings Watch” on Earth or “The Juncture” on Venus where players are simply locked out from the rest of the map (that is clearly visible and massive) only being accessible by some mysterious locked elevator mechanism SCREAMS cut content for DLC!

    Things like that insult the intelligence of your audience.

    DCUO is still, IMHO the best done console MMO ever released. I’ve been playing that game for FREE for YEARS.

  • Been playing Destiny daily since 9/11 when I decided to join my friends that were enjoying the game…

    I made a terrible decision not skip this game.

    The content offered in the style of an “MMO” is laughable. The Vault of Glass is not as glorious as other comments make it out to be, nor is running it multiple times a week lucrative!!!
    When you get the same raid gauntlets/boots/ascendant material, as rewards from multiple runs a week, coupled with Bungie making the Raid take extra needless effort…

    I feel its simply Bungie dont want us to realize they have a terrible loot table with very few rewards for the games peak challenge. If the raid rewards werent randomized, those who used to push off Atheon would probably be done with Raiding till the expansion hits.

  • Personally I have only completed the raid once, yesterday. Prior to that I ran it up to Atheon twice (before the pushing him off method was known). I got screwed on a gear drop after the Templar fight, the very night the raid went live and got NOTHING…
    This happens to others still. With luck I managed to get two pieces of raid armor (would be 3 but gauntlets dropped twice in the SAME run)

    Had to post many times due to the word “s#!t” being in the text once!!…. really??? Cant we just get the comments it auto censored for 4 letter words or something?

  • You know this is great and all but I want to talk about something else!!! why is it that every time we get free games for the month they are these indie titles that I really don’t care about, all the time…I mean I like some indie titles but STOP FLOODING US WITH THEM ALL THE TIME!!!!! THE SYSTEM HAS BEEN OUT ALMOST A YEAR NOW, AND SOME OF THE TITLES THAT WERE RELEASED WHEN YOU FIRST LAUNCHED WOULD BE NICE TO HAVE ON PS PLUS…. (KNACK, AC BLACK FLAG, ECT..) I HAVE BEEN A LOYAL SONY FAN FROM DAY ONE (PS ONE, PS 2, 3, AND NOW 4…. SO PLEASE SOMEONE RESPOND….IT’S TIME TO ADD SOME AAA TITLES TO THE PS4’S MONTHLEY PS PLUS UPDATE.

  • Traded in this game a few days ago to get Super Smash Bros on my 3DS. As far as I could see, unless I bought the Expansions, I was going to be left with the same old missions that I’d already gotten sick of to play again and again (Not that the new expansions would likely add any variety).

    It’s truly saying something to say that I feel more nickeled and dimed in Destiny, a full-fledged $60 (Base of a) game, than Warframe, which is free to play.

    Hopefully Bungie can sort this crap out and release the great game they’d promised sometime. But, I’ve learned my lesson, Bungie, and I’m not buying any more of your products without seeing reviews first.

  • Okay. I have a legitimate question. With how long Destiny was in development how did the game launch with such little story and only ONE RAID!?

    Destiny has been in Bungie’s conscious since at least Halo: ODST’s release in some form (2009). And the game launched with that sliver of content after ALL that time? And the TWENTY DOLLAR expansion adds ONE raid and two levels for PVE? That should be free for screwing over so many people who bought the title just because they trusted anything with Bungie slapped on it (me included).

    Next thing you know they’ll start selling shaders as micro transactions.

    DESTINY AWAITS.

  • how much memory is the dlc gonna take?

  • Well it certainly follows along the theme of the rest of the game, being ‘Thats it?’. Even if this expansion was part of the core game, the amount of content is ridiculously thin. So uh…good job staying consistent I suppose.

  • I wish you guys would buy and sell our dlc/digital copy because this game would be the first.

  • Count me in. I’m hooked on this game.

  • I’d like to find out when Destiny is going to leave paid beta mode and will enter finalized mode.

  • Horrible customer support, “bugs” that suddenly exist because the majority of players start to succeed. “Bugs” that when fixed lock out newer players from end-game content where before newer players could do end-game content as long as people were willing to help them (not even carry, but help like: Ok, when this happens, go here, when this happens, do this.)

    Now you essentially have to have already finished end game to do end game.

    And they never fix the bugs that make certain things, including end game, unplayable at random.

    For example: Invincible boss enemies, enemies that will teleport randomly, etc.

    I had to cancel my recommendation to my friends. And that is something I’ve only done twice. Once for BF4, once for Destiny. By cancellation I mean like I actually went and told them to not get it.

    BF4 was bug ridden to the point where it was literally unplayable for over a week. Destiny is getting close to that point.

  • Not sure why so many dislike this game. This is the first FPS I enjoyed since Black Ops 1. Every title out has been same crap over and over.
    Destiny finally broke that mold. Good work! I am hooked on this game. The RPG elements are super fun. You guys made an awesome game, that’s not a remake of Call of Duty.
    Haters speak loader then Lovers. And I am sure there is more lovers out there, just seeing them run past me all over the galaxy. Thank you bungie for the first fresh shooter in YEARS!!!!

  • At least Bungie is adding new missions and not just multi-player maps the way COD does. As much as I like COD, I always thought $15+ is a lot for new maps and some Zombies. But I am disappointed that we aren’t getting more of what we were promised as far as a great story is concerned. Compared to StarWars, Destiny is just the bones of a story without much meat!

  • Really enjoying Destiny! Can’t wait for this to be released!

  • Sorry Too Late For Me I Already Sold My Copy. Stupid Game. (IMO)

  • @45 Syrlis it is possible to solo the weekly and nightfall strikes. The only thing you need others for is the raid.

  • @72 A lot of us loved the game at one point or another. But that was before Bungie really started to screw with PvE in a bad way.

    If they had fixed all the truly gamebreaking bugs first (bugs that prevent progression), then made some changes, that would have been one thing, but when they decide to nerf PvE players because of PvP?

    They should have just made it so that PvE and PvP stats are separate items and changed them separately. Instead, their changes to PvP affects PvE heavily.

  • Seriously you tell me my post is 1,250 chars too long but don’t allow me to hit “OK” or go back to my message and I lose all my hard earned suggestions/rants. I hate you.

  • If you don’t like it don’t play it, I don’t see why everyone thinks the game is unfinished, I’ve gotten my money’s worth out of it and don’t mind shelling out for dark below, I will get my money’s worth out of that too. Destiny is f’kn awesome keep it up!

  • I’ll wait for a Complete Edition!

  • For be honest, I enjoyed more in the beta,this game R.I.P for me,i prefer to play my old games who bring me more hours of fun and I can take my time for finish,is unbelievable we have to do nonsense quest for get useless exotic weapons if u only can use 1 and don’t have a guide how obtain which u want,sorry bungie but I still don’t see the millions of dollars who the company spent in this “prototype of game”

  • I’m really enjoying this game as I play it more people who wait to buy this will be far behind when they start playing and take awhile to level up

  • So if you just finished the content, why are the areas *already* accessible ingame through various glitches/visible with invisible barries (Black Garden) blocking them off?

  • drop the price, give us discounts on the DLC bundle 25.99 and I’m in

  • I’ve had this game for a month and and need friends to play it. Please send me friend requests, thx

  • This is trademark113 . I have Destiny and need friends 2 play some levels please send friend request thx

  • Any updates about the network issues? Apparently I can’t even play Evil Within now cause I got an error message saying to check for an update

  • I think I might trade Destiny in for Advanced Warfare. This game is getting stale far too quickly.

  • I sure hope they keep expanding this game, from adding all the planets in the milky way to the moons and astroid belt. Plus make use of the spaceships and add some space battles to the storyline and pvp.
    just wish games like this would keep expanding throughout the consoles life span, give an update at least once a month, maybe once every 3 months add a new planet or several moons and a story mission.

  • I’ll probably wait for Destiny 2 :P

  • If Destiny isn’t a substantially different game by the end of 2015, I’m not investing any optimism on its inevitable sequel.

    Destiny feels like it was gutted to stretch its story for the 10-Year-Plan we hear about, which would be fine if they had put new guts back in. Destiny is a malnourished game that picked the pockets of MMOs for their worst mechanics, launched with too little gear, too little incentive, and too little innovation.

    Environments are gorgeous, characters are as well rendered as they are totally devoid of personality or effort to nurture player ownership. Gunplay is excellent. PvE is its strong point, but is spread very thin across four planets and a moon, each with one massive, highly retread map. PvP flirts with greatness, but Activision’s filthy Call of Duty hands turned it into a meat grinder of one-hit-kills and Super attacks so that the poorest players can still feel like badasses. To its credit, a lack of Kill Streak rewards keeps the chaos digestible.

    On a scale of 1 to 10, Destiny is solidly in 7 territory, but we were all sold the promise of a 9-to-10 on the strength of in-development videos and content that was eventually cut from the game.

    We’ll see where the over-priced DLC takes us.

  • This is a great game with only a few minor flaws, when i think of what i went through with dcuo when it was first released the flaws in this game are nothing. The only thing i would add is being able to queue up the higher level strikes and raids, i cant get a group together to run this content because none of my friends play this game on ps3. Also cross platform gaming would be an excellent addition because most of my friends are now on ps4. Thank you for an amazing game bungie :-)

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