Previews

When The Taken King releases on September 15, 2015, Destiny will be a year old. A lot has happened in those 12 months, including The Dark Below and House of Wolves expansions, both of which added content and changed the way Destiny was played. That trend looks to continue with The Taken King, but is there enough value in the third expansion to keep Guardians entertained well into year two? Today, we're going to put The Taken King under the microscope and look at whether it's worth picking up along with this fall's impressive lineup.

Oryx, Father of Crota

Anyone who enjoyed the first expansion, The Dark Below, knows all too well what a pain Crota was to kill. Well, actions have consequences, and it turns out the Oryx, father of Crota, is inbound and seeking revenge. As the story goes, he's building an army of Taken, and Guardians will have to make their way aboard his Dreadnaught and face Oryx within his inner sanctum.

Besides Oryx, we're not too sure whether we're getting new enemies, or new skins and small modifications to current enemies. Destiny, however, has never been about the minions you slaughter by the dozens, but rather the additional content and incredible boss fights at the ends of Strikes and Raids.

The good news is The Taken King DLC will include both of these, as well as new bounties, story missions, and even Crucible maps and modes for those that prefer the PvP side of things more than the PvE challenges. There will also be new gear that can be earned, and this will certainly mean that players can increase their Light level beyond the current cap of 34.

When it comes to new content, it's worth noting that PlayStation users are getting the better end of the deal, as some of the content will be exclusive to them. This includes a Strike, some weapons, a Crucible map, and even sets of gear that those on the Xbox cannot get their hands on. For the few people out there who have both consoles, it's worth taking into consideration before buying The Taken King, or even Destiny in general.

Give Me Your Glimmer

Our major warning to players regarding The Taken King also applied to The Dark Below and House of Wolves DLC, which is that you pretty much have to buy all of the expansion packs just to enjoy the base game. The Weekly Heroic Strikes, Weekly Nightfall Strikes, and Daily Heroic Missions frequently feature DLC, which means anyone who wants to opt out of the expansions is severely limited in some of the modes that they received with the vanilla game.

That's not much of an issue for us, since Destiny is trending up and is growing even better with age. The random drops and bugs were rampant in the first few months, and it was very easy to run out of things to do in a big hurry. The Dark Below helped to solve this, and House of Wolves has really taken Destiny to the next level. The problem now is that there is almost too much content, which as far as games go is a very good problem to have.

Show Us Your Super Ability

Perhaps the most anticipated part of The Taken King is the addition of new Subclasses for the Hunter, Titan and Warlock. If you've played enough Destiny, you know that the right Subclass is essential to getting the job done. For example, if you want to blast Qodron in 30 seconds, you need a Titan who is running the Ward of Dawn and Weapons of Light. By introducing the Sunbreaker (Titan), Stormcaller (Warlock) and Nightstalker (Hunter) Subclasses, Bungie is going to change the way the game is played. Old Strikes with a specific formula will present new challenges. This is perhaps the best value that The Taken King can offer, as it breathes new life into content that we've all had in our hands for a year, in addition to the new material that will come with the DLC.

The Taken King

Bungie really seems to be on the right track with Destiny. People were upset that House of Wolves didn't have a Raid, but the Prison of Elders game mode turned out to be amazing, and at this point Bungie has a track record of getting it right. Some might argue that the grind of Destiny is too much, but anyone who has played recently knows differently.

If you're on the fence about whether or not to pre-order The Taken King, our advice would be to pull the trigger. Destiny is only getting better with age, and everything we know about The Taken King suggests that the best is still to come.

Let's just hope that after we all get done slapping Oryx around. we don't find out he has a brother who intends to show up in our solar system as well.