Season 23 is rapidly coming soon to Destiny 2, and while the game is currently suffering from issues at Bungie, such as layoffs or The Final Shape DLC delay, there’s still a lot to look forward to. So, let’s break down 8 upcoming features/updates coming to Destiny 2 when Season 23 arrives.
Vault From Orbit
Starting in Season 23, players will finally be able to access their Vaults from Orbit without using a third-party app like Destiny Item Manager, for example. Undoubtedly, this has been one of the most, if not the most, requested features to be introduced to the game since Destiny 1 began.
We had Lightfall introduce the ability to save our loadouts on the fly, and now, we’ll be able to pull our weapons and armor from the Vault without having to run back and forth to the Tower or Helm to do so. Without a doubt, this feature will keep many players excited and invested for Season 23 and beyond.
Legendary Shard Removal
Announced at the midway point of Season 22, Legendary Shards, one of the game’s longest-running currencies, will no longer be viable and will be depleted from the player’s inventories at the start of Season 23.
This is definitely one of the most random choices Bungie has made in quite some time, as Legendary Shards have been a part of the game since the franchise started with Destiny 1 back in 2014. The reason for doing so is a part of Bungie’s effort to help simplify the game and make Glimmer the primary currency source for purchasing items in the game.
Either way, players have until the end of Season 22 to use up their stocks of Shards until they’re completely removed from their inventories when Season 23 begins in a few weeks.
New Dungeon
With Season 22, we saw the return of the Crota’s End Raid. When we head into Season 23, we can expect to see a brand new Dungeon release, as we did last season in Season of the Deep when Ghosts of the Deep was released.
Of course, it’s impossible to tell what the theme of the Dungeon will be this time around. However, given that Ghosts of the Deep is arguably the best Dungeon the game has ever produced, we have very high hopes for whatever steps up to the plate in Season 23.
Based on what we saw with Ghosts of the Deep, we can expect to see a new armor, a few new weapons, and a hidden Exotic weapon.
Thorn Exotic Catalyst
Every Season, a pre-existing Exotic weapon or two receives an Exotic Catalyst. This Season, Season of the Witch, the Exotic Auto Rifle Monte Carlo received an Exotic Catalyst, which transformed the blade on the edge of the gun into a Glaive!
Next Season, it is confirmed that the Exotic Hand Cannon, Thorn, is up next to receive a Catalyst. Bungie already confirmed the details of what the Catalyst will provide the gun as well:
- Picking up a Remnant can overflow the magazine, up to 40 rounds max.
- Catalyst:
- +20 range
- +10 stability
- Getting kills or picking up a Remnant grants additional range, handling, and mobility.
Long story short, this weapon is about to become a monster in PvP next Season. Assuming it follows the same trend as other Exotic weapons do, the Catalyst will randomly drop from completing Strikes, Crucible, or Gambit matches.
Focusing Foundry Weapons
Starting in Season 23, Banshee will receive a significant update where, for the first time, players will be able to focus Banshee Engrams for Foundry-themed weapons!
Players’ will be able to focus from these specific weapon foundries:
While we don’t know which weapons specifically will be available to focus on immediately, we can suspect it will include various fan-favorite weapons like the Funnelweb SMG or the Ammit Auto Rifle.
This is a fantastic update coming to the game, as there’s always a hidden gem amongst the Foundry weapons, and now, players will have a much easier time obtaining these gems with this update.
New Craftable Raid Weapons
Whenever we get a season with a new Dungeon, at least in 2023, we’ve gotten new craftable versions of pre-existing Raid weapons from older Raids. For example, last Season, Season of the Deep, we had Ghosts of the Deep as the new featured Dungeon, and the Last Wish Raid weapons became craftable.
With that in mind, assuming Bungie follows the same formula, we can expect to see either Garden of Salvation or Vault of Glass Raid weapons become craftable, as they’re the last remaining Raids in the game without craftable weapons.
Personally, I’m hoping for the Vault of Glass weapons to become craftable, as all of them are already super good, and they’ll become even better with updated and enhanced perks! Either way, we should have official confirmation of which Raid receives craftable weapons in the coming weeks.
The Citadel Returns
For our PvP players, in an effort to help better the PvP scene, Bungie is re-releasing one of the older Forsaken Crucible maps that have been vaulted since the Beyond Light DLC, The Citadel.
The Citadel is located in the Dreaming City and is a very open-ranged map with some cover spots here and there. The two prominent locations where you’ll be fighting other Guardians will either be outside on the left side of the map or take it up close and personal to the inside portion of the Citadel on the right side.
Either way, it’s good to see an old PvP re-join the game once more because only the Traveler knows we could use some items unvaulted from the DCV.
In-Game Fireteam Finder
We saved the best for last! Previously announced last August during the Lightfall DLC Livestream, at long last, an in-game Fireteam Finder function is coming to Destiny 2 in Season 23! Players will finally be able to find an activity they want to partake in and find other people who also want to play it without using a third-party app!
Aside from the Vault from Orbit function, this is, without a doubt, the most requested feature ever in the Destiny franchise, and it’s finally releasing now, when Destiny really needs it the most. We don’t have full details for how it works just yet, but we can assume players will be able to join other fireteams from the tab they select, as shown in the image above.
Either way, this is a massive win for the game and the franchise as a whole, and hopefully, it will shine some light in these dark times.