[GameSpot] - Destiny 2 Getting Two Vaulted PvP Maps This Fall, With More New Crucible Additions On The Way

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Some fresh content is coming to Destiny 2's Crucible--but not, as it turns out, for a while. Developer Bungie says more Crucible maps and modes are coming to Destiny 2's PvP side later this year, including "vaulted" maps from Destiny 2, remastered maps from Destiny 1, and an all-new map.

Destiny 2 assistant game director Joe Blackburn took to Twitter to run down what players can expect from the PvP game offering starting in Season 16--which is roughly another 12 weeks away, since Destiny 2's Season 15 will start on August 24. Blackburn said that two of the 11 maps that were previously "vaulted," or removed from Destiny 2, are returning to the game. After that, we can expect an entirely new Crucible map--not one that has appeared in either Destiny 2 or the original Destiny--in Season 17. Finally, Season 18 will see the addition of another Crucible map, this one remastered from Destiny 1.

The ultimate goal here is consistency. If you play pvp, the team wants you to understand that you will be getting new maps and modes every year, and that the cadence of those coming out feels predictable.

— Joe Blackburn (@joegoroth) August 4, 2021

In addition to new maps coming to the Crucible, Blackburn said the team is investigating bringing back the Destiny 1 game mode Rift for next year, he said, and intends to start adding additional PvP modes in 2022 as well. Though they won't really be entering the game for a bit, the thread mentioned a lot of changes to the Crucible, an area of the game that hasn't seen much in the way of consistent updates, unlike Destiny 2's PvE side. The most major change to the Crucible of late was the addition of new Stasis player abilities with the launch of the Beyond Light expansion, which was also when Bungie removed several of the mode's maps. Before that, 2020 saw the reintroduction of the Trials of Osiris, but PvP updates have mostly fallen into the realm of balancing adjustments for weapons and abilities for quite some time.

The thread also brought up other changes Bungie had already mentioned that we should be hearing more about soon. That includes adjustments to "3-peeking," in which players equip weapons that switch them from a first-person camera perspective to a third-person perspective, allowing them to look around corners and gain an unfair advantage over their opponents. Blackburn also said the team is planning a massive overhaul to the Trials of Osiris PvP mode for next season. Trials represents one of the toughest challenges in the game--to win its best rewards, you have to win seven difficult matches without losing any. Trials has been plagued by various issues since it was reintroduced to Destiny 2 last year, and also has the problem of being an activity that most average players don't participate in because matchmaking often pits them against top-tier players. More info on those Trials changes is coming on August 24.

Finally, after the dust settles on the Trials update in s15, we want to look at what other broad systemic improvements the PVP ecosystem needs. We want to provide something on the scale of this trials rework to players every year.

— Joe Blackburn (@joegoroth) August 4, 2021

Bungie says it'll have more information future changes to Destiny 2 later this month. The developer is planning a "showcase" for August 24 that should run down a whole lot of new info on what's coming through the end of 2021 and into 2022, including some of the content planned for the game's next major expansion, The Witch Queen, which is slated to release in the first quarter of next year.

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