Bungie made a surprise announcement Monday concerning the House of Wolves expansion for Destiny . The expected new Raid will not make an appearance. Instead, PlayStation and Xbox players should expect something a little different, while the developer also teased something potentially exciting for those that love their Legendary weapons that maxed out at 300 damage.
Community Manager Eric “Urk” Osborne followed up today’s earlier release date and trailer by confirming House of Wolves will not have a Raid, while detailing the plans for the reveal rollout of the second Destiny expansion. It may also be Bungie’s most controversial move with the shooter to date.
There will be live events to show you what’s in the House of Wolves. But first… https://t.co/geJaYWKVS6
— Bungie (@Bungie) April 13, 2015
“ House of Wolves will not have a Raid activity,” Osborne announced. “We didn’t make this decision lightly. Our team has been humbled by the reception of Raids in Destiny and we are creating a new Raid for a release later this year. House of Wolves will have a new cooperative end game activity focused on variety, replayability, and skill – a new battle Arena called The Prison of Elders .”
The Prison of Elders will be fully unveiled on Wednesday, May 6, with a live gameplay demonstration by Bungie. It’s tagged as a “brand new three-player cooperative multiplayer arena.”
While there’s no confirmation of what that exactly means for Destiny , current speculation that The Prison of Elders could be a new spin on the classic Horde mode gametype popularized by Gears of War .
Bungie previously tried its hand at the mode with Firefight in Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach . If the developer can pull this off to truly make it replayable and not just the same mission over and over at different difficulty levels like we see in the current Strike and Raid setup, the new Arena mode could give Destiny a much needed boost.
The reaction to the lack of a Raid in House of Wolves is definitely mixed, however. Destiny fans posting in the game’s subreddit appear to be welcome of the new Arena mode, but lament the lack of a new Raid.
“Could be an exciting avenue of gameplay,” Reddit user aWrySharK wrote of The Prison of Elders . “But I’ll sure miss the rush of coordination that tackling a Raid with 6 people can bring.”
It hasn’t been confirmed yet, but it’s likely that new end game gear will come from the new Arena mode. However, Bungie’s announcement did confirm that the new Trials of Osiris PvP mode will include end game gear, as well.
Additionally, the following image shared by Bungie shows the new damage level will max out at 365. What’s surprising though is that it suggests that existing Legendary gear like the Fatebringer will be upgradeable from 300 to 365.
We’ll have to wait until Wednesday, April 22, to get the full details on the upgrade paths for weapons and armor in House of Wolves .
What do you think about the lack of a Raid for The House of Wolves ? It is another disappointment for Destiny or is there the potential for something new to do?
[Images via Bungie ]