Exclusive Interview Dives Deep On Destiny Spring Update

Bungie is rolling out info about its Destiny April Update through a series of three live streams, the first of which just concluded.

Bungie is rolling out info about its Destiny April Update through a series of three live streams, the first of which just concluded. Ahead of the stream, we were able to ask some questions of Ryan Paradis, the live events lead designer who has been in charge of preparing the update, and he provided additional detail about what’s on the way. If you missed the live stream, or you want to learn a little more about what you can expect, dive on in.

This week’s content reveals zero in on new activities, so we’ve focused on those in our questions. Specific details about gear, Crucible updates, and other facets of the Destiny experience won’t be explored until later. Read ahead to learn more about the April Update’s story, what you’ll be doing as you aim to hit the new light cap of 335, changes to King’s Fall, a major update to Prison of Elders, and more.

After you read the interview, don't forget to check out our dedicated media gallery for the April Update, which includes over 100 screens that show off the new activities.

What is the goal for the April Update? When you began development on this new content, what were the most important objectives for your team?

Our goal with the April update was to hit a few different fronts. We have a lot of fans who fell in love with exploration on the Dreadnaught, with our Strikes, and with the Prison of Elders, but they’ve moved past them. We wanted to revitalize some of these favorites, and at the same time provide new challenges and rewards. As the Live team has done in the past, we wanted to provide awesome new vanity items for players to both express themselves better, and to look like the badasses they truly are.

Another thing that was really important for us to accomplish with this update was to provide players more choices in how to become more powerful. The raid is a great endgame option, because it’s challenging, requires tons of coordination, and features our most complex mechanics, but for players who aren’t routinely raiding, we wanted to provide viable endgame gear upgrade options in Prison of Elders, Strikes, the Court of Oryx, and Crucible activities.

What’s the top-level story idea for the April Update? How does the new story content dovetail from the events of The Taken King release?

The focus for the April update is on the Reef and what’s going on there after the devastation. While they’re beaten, they’re not down for the count, and Variks will be guiding you through the update. Although Oryx is dead, the Taken are still as strong as ever, and Variks is tasking you to stop them from resurging. The new story is intended to provide a small continuation of the Taken King storyline, and dovetail into our new Strike and Prison of Elders content.

Will there be new Grimoire cards to acquire?

With everything we’ve added in this update, there are of course new Grimoire Cards to further expound on the deeper lore of Destiny. I don’t want to spoil any of the new lore, but there are new grimoire cards for some of the new activities, some of the gear you’ll encounter, and even some bosses you’ll be fighting. We know how passionate the fans are about the lore we put in the Grimoire, and wanted to make sure to scratch that itch with this update, too.

What’s the concept behind the Blighted Chalice strike?

Variks is going to leverage your particular set of skills to track down a new Taken threat. The Blighted Chalice Strike is the conclusion of that questline.

King’s Fall is being updated with gear that goes up to light value 330. Are these the same pieces that were previously available in the raid, but at a higher level? Or are there new gear pieces/weapons? Have the King’s Fall fights themselves changed at all? Will this version of King’s Fall (with 330 gear) be a third difficulty?

With the increase in overall light, both current difficulties will be adjusted to provide additional challenge and commensurate rewards. The Challenge Modes will still be available, but we aren’t adding a third difficulty tier, or any new encounters.

How will Court of Oryx change? Can you tell us anything about any of the new bosses or fights that Guardians might encounter there? Is the highest level fight still triggered with an Antiquated Rune?

With Court of Oryx, Guardians will continue summoning enemies with existing runes. No changes there. We have boosted the drops coming out of the Court to better prepare Guardians for the other challenges we’ve setup in this update, though.

Next Page: Learn about the big changes coming to Prison of Elders.