New Progression Details Emerge For Destiny: Rise Of Iron

We dedicated 16 pages of our most recent issue of Game Informer to an in-depth look at Destiny: Rise of Iron. Tons of new details are there to uncover from our three days of interviews, demos, and most importantly, our playtime with Rise of Iron. But if you’re a player who is just trying to figure out the nuts and bolts of how your guardian can progress beginning on September 20, we’ve got you covered right here.

Character level is staying at 40, but light values are now jumping from the current cap of 335 up to 385. That cap will be further increased to 400 when the hard mode version of the raid launches some weeks after Rise of Iron’s launch. New rare (blue), legendary (purple), and exotic (gold) gear help players ascend through those new tiers, and the system as we observed it for item drops appears to be very similar to what has been in the game for some time now. 

A new Rise of Iron Record Book now tracks your progress through the entirety of the expansion, echoing similar systems that were used for last year’s SRL event, or the more recent Moments of Triumph for Year 2. This record book has discrete tasks to be completed throughout the Rise of Iron content, and completing any task adds to your overall percentage completion of the record book. Reach designated percentage completion points, and you gain new armor, emblems, and more. 

In addition, Bungie shared that it is releasing a large number of new weapons and complete armor sets. New sets are on offer for the Iron Banner PvP event, the Iron Lords (obtained through the Record Book), Trials of Osiris, the Wrath of the Machine raid, and the new Archon’s Forge arena event, in addition to new options for all the factions. Bungie also introduced us to ornaments, a new aesthetic customization feature that allows players to enhance the geometry and appearance of  individual armor pieces, as well as change the appearance of exotic weapons. 

We also learned about a new collection experience for the newly redesigned artifacts, which is an entirely separate subject deserving of its own dedicated post. 

On its highest level, Destiny: Rise of Iron doesn’t dramatically reinvent its progression systems, as was the case with The Taken King. During our time at Bungie, the message was clear; Rise of Iron is focused on delivering new content for players to explore, along with dramatically expanded options for letting players look and play the way they like. 

For additional information on game progression, dozens of new screenshots, and all the other things we discovered in Rise of Iron, you can check out our complete cover story.  Click here to switch your print subscription to digital, or to create a new subscription to the digital edition, click here. 

Destiny: Rise of Iron is set for a release on September 20 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

For all our Destiny: Rise of Iron coverage throughout this month, click the banner below and bookmark our hub page.