Destiny 2: Witch Queen – Everything about the release, new weapons and story

On By Garmin Philip

This is what many have been waiting for: Bungie has finally presented the next major expansion for Destiny 2 – “The Witch Queen”. We have compiled the most important details for the release for you here, which every Destiny fan and anyone interested in the new addon should know.

What’s the deal with Witch Queen? The Witch Queen will be the next major expansion for Destiny 2 and will bring plenty of new content to Bungie’s action MMO. The addon was actually supposed to be released in autumn 2021, but the effects of the global corona pandemic forced the studio to postpone this expansion to “early 2022”.

What’s the matter? The eponymous Hive witch Savathûn is an important character from the Destiny universe and has long pulled the strings of the Destiny storyline – albeit always from the background. Their trademark and their tools are lies, intrigue and manipulation. In the season 15 that has just started, the prologue to Witch Queen, the witch queen is now the focus for the first time and will soon even be given an expansion dedicated to her.

There Savathûn bestowed the power of Light on her Hive soldiers. You must enter her throne world and face her radiant spawn. The main challenge is to unravel an important mystery at the heart of her intrigue – how did she and her army steal the Light? The guardians also learn that there are secrets not only in darkness but also in light.

Destiny 2: Witch Queen Release – The most important things in brief

  • What version is this? This is a DLC for Destiny 2 that will be released on all platforms.
  • When is the release date? On February 22, 2022.
  • What can I expect? Many new features will be added like a weapon forge, a new destination, a new raid and much more.
  • How expensive is Destiny2: Witch Queen? Prices range from €39.99 for the Standard Edition to €258.99 for Bungie’s physical Collector’s Edition.

You can find more details about the editions and what to expect at the bottom of the article.

The trailer for Witch Queen: Here you can get a first impression of “The Witch Queen”:

By the way, we have also written numerous details for you in our live ticker for the reveal event.

Witch Queen Release Date steht – When is the expansion coming out?

Until recently it was still “early in 2022”. In the course of the reveal, there was finally a concrete release date. The Witch Queen starts on February 22, 2022.

New Venue – Witch Queen plays here

The expansion introduces a new setting – Savathûn’s vast, treacherous throne world. Here are some pictures:

Visually, the whole thing looks as if the popular grave ship of Oryx, the Taken King and Savathûn’s brother, has now been implemented in a larger and more open form on a planetary surface and has been mixed with the Dreaming City. The throne world looks varied – from Savathûn’s shimmering palace, over overgrown swamps to dark underground dungeons.

New activity for 6 players

According to Bungie, the new location will include a new 6-player activity at the heart of an ongoing struggle for the throne world – including matchmaking. Unfortunately, there is no more information about this so far, but a first picture:

This image shows 6 Wardens fighting the Hive at the foot of Savathûn’s Palace.

New Raid

With Witch Queen, the list of available PvE peak activities is also expanding – a new raid is finally coming again.

This takes place in the swamps of Savathûn’s throne world – in a sunken pyramid. There you shall confront an ancient danger trapped within. Unfortunately, there are no more details at the moment.

Campaign gets harder difficulty

Up until now, expansion campaigns have been done fairly quickly, some in a day. While the missions drive the story forward, they don’t really offer a challenge from a gameplay point of view. That will change with Witch Queen.

The Witch Queen campaign will feature a new Legendary difficulty that is said to be significantly harder than the regular experience. So if you like it rough, you’ll get something to grind your teeth on – comparable to the top-performing Twilight. The degree of difficulty of the missions should apparently also scale with the size of the task force.

“Hive Keepers” – Enemies now use the light as well

The Guardians now face dangerous competition. Savathûn has equipped her army with the power of light and spirits – how, no one knows yet. In short: Even special swarm fighters are now able to use skills and super (apparently even stasis?) and return after death. In order to finally eliminate them, it looks like you have to destroy their spirits as well – just like with us Guardians.

New melee weapon is coming – The Glaive

Witch Queen introduces a new weapon archetype to Destiny 2 – the glaive. This energy weapon is intended to expand the Warden’s melee weapon arsenal beyond swords. However, the new weapon type is played from the first-person view, since it can not only be swung and used for melee combos, but is also able to fire projectiles. An energy shield also gives her defensive abilities.

Weapon crafting is coming

With Witch Queen comes not only a new weapon archetype, but also a whole new way for Wardens to expand their arsenal – weapon crafting, the ultimate control over weapons.

While Bungie hasn’t gone into too much detail, the studio said that with this new system, it will be possible to create custom weapons with unique combinations of mods, shaders, and advanced stat pools – essentially your own god roll. For example, your first glaive doesn’t just come from a boss or from a box – you build it using this system.

It’s meant to be a combat-oriented crafting and progression system – the more you use these weapons, the more tasks you complete with them, the more they level up and the more powerful they become.

At the launch of “The Witch Queen” you will be able to craft all weapons of the throne world, the new raid weapons and seasonal weapons. But that’s just the beginning of weapon crafting. Over the course of Year 5, more weapons will be added to this system – both old and new.

Trilogy becomes a four-parter

In itself, Witch Queen should be the second of three related annual expansions that Bungie Destiny 2 will continue with until 2022 after Beyond Light. The saga about light and darkness should be told by the third expansion Lightfall in 2022. But plans have changed.

The saga of light and darkness will apparently NOT end with the Lightfall expansion as originally planned, but with The Final Shape. So there’s another chapter. When exactly, however, remains unclear. So Destiny 2 goes on for years. And then further…

However, what exactly comes after The Final Shape and what exactly is meant by “and beyond” is also not known at the moment. However, there is hot speculation that Bungie could possibly integrate all previous content from Destiny 2 and Destiny 1 into the game and thus strive for a complete Destiny experience.

Light classes will be reworked after Stasis model

This change should please many a Guardian. Because Stasis is currently far ahead of the old light focuses in terms of adjustment and individualization options, and offers much more freedom and possibilities.

With Witch Queen, however, Bungie will begin to rework the light classes based on the modular model of the Stasis system – including aspects and fragments. The first is the emptiness focus, the other elements, i.e. solar and arc, should then follow suit in the following seasons.

There is a first impression of it here: Destiny 2 rebuilds old foci according to the Stasis model – here is a first taste

Pre-order Witch Queen – editions, content, prices, bonuses

The upcoming Witch Queen expansion has been available for pre-order since the Witch Queen reveal on the evening of August 24th. But which editions are there anyway? What do they include? How expensive is the fun? What bonuses beckon? And where can you buy all of this? You can see that in this overview.

By the way, the Witch Queen expansion will NOT be included with Xbox Game Pass.

Destiny 2: Hexenkönigin Standard Edition:

Includes:

  • New campaign
  • Weapon Crafting
  • New Glaive weapon archetype
  • New Raid
  • Exotic gear
  • New 6 player activity

Instant activations when pre-ordering:

  • Exotic Throne World Ghost Shell
  • Exotic Emote “The Enigma”
  • Legendary Badge

Can be pre-ordered/purchased here:

Destiny 2: Hexenkönigin Deluxe Edition:

Includes:

  • Everything from the standard edition
  • Exotic SMG with catalyst and ornament
  • Access to seasons 16, 17, 18 and 19
  • 2 Dungeons (Released in Year 5)
  • Exotic Throne World Sparrow

Instant activations when pre-ordering:

Can be pre-ordered/purchased here:

Destiny 2: Witch Queen Deluxe Edition + Bungie Thirty Years Pack :

Includes:

  • Everything from the standard edition
  • Everything from the deluxe edition
  • New dungeon
  • Exotic Gjallarhorn rocket launcher with catalyst and ornament
  • New weapons inspired by old Bungie worlds
  • Thorn armor set
  • Bungie-Streetwear-Ornamentset
  • Marathon-Ornamentset
  • Unique helmet ornament
  • Exotic Sparrows
  • Exotic ship
  • Badges, Shaders, Gestures and more

Instant activations when pre-ordering:

Can be pre-ordered/purchased here:

Destiny 2: Witch Queen Collector’s Edition (Physical): For Guardians who want the ultimate Destiny 2: The Witch Queen experience.

Includes:

  • a digital code for the Witch Queen Deluxe Edition
  • a code for the Bungie 30 Year Pack
  • a kit of the Hidden for psychic research
  • a Hive Spirit replica
  • a hidden ID
  • a lore booklet
  • other mysteries from Savathûn’s throne world

Please note: PlayStation Activation Codes are not provided digitally, but instead reside on a card in the Collector’s Edition box.

Can be pre-ordered/purchased here:

What do you think of the next big expansion for Destiny 2 so far? Has Witch Queen caught your interest with its features? What do you find most exciting so far? Or have you long since finished with Destiny – no matter what comes next? Please let us and other readers of MeinMMO know in the comments.



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