Destiny 2’s Senior Designer Joe Blackburn recently provided details on the upcoming Prestige Modes for the game’s Raid Lairs. Bungie plans to stagger the launch times across two different days. The Eater of Worlds Prestige will launch on Tuesday, at 11 a.m. PDT, an hour after the weekly reset. Meanwhile, the Spire of Stars Prestige will be available the next day at 10 a.m. PDT, the usual daily reset time. All this news comes from the latest “This Week at Bungie” post where Blackburn nonchalantly described how things would go as well as offering up additional hints.
What is a Raid Lair?
For the uninitiated, Destiny 2’s Raid Lairs are end-game activities. You fight enemies in various encounters. You do jumping puzzles. Then, you follow certain mechanics that would allow you to defeat a boss at the end. Unlike regular raids, Raid Lairs are actually shorter and have fewer encounters. Lairs provide a taste of end-game content without becoming too time-consuming.
There are currently two Raid Lairs in Destiny 2. The first is “Eater of Worlds,” which debuted back in the Curse of Osiris DLC last December. The other is “Spire of Stars,” introduced in the Warmind DLC this past May. You can finish both activities within an hour on average, earning high-end loot such as weapons, armor, shaders, and even an exotic emote.
A Prestige Mode is essentially the Lair itself with an additional challenge. The mechanics gain an extra twist. For instance, in the “Pleasure Gardens” or “Dogs” for the Leviathan Raid, you had two more “dogs” to kill. In the “Throne Room” or “Calus boss fight,” you get phased in and out of reality whenever you hit a requisite mob. Enemies also have a higher level than before, which means they’ll hit harder and you’ll do less damage. Additionally, whenever a player dies, they lose a revive token. These extra twists create chaos for an unprepared team. With the Prestige Mode this time around, players will be restricted to specific weapon loadouts for the activity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5fVbVIsH3I
Destiny 2 Speedrunning and Leaderboards
You get loot easily enough after a couple of raids. That’s why the top teams in the world go for speedruns and world’s first rankings. Every time that new raids come out, it’s a race to be the first to complete it. For Spire of Stars, the dedicated team of Indica, GladdHeAteHer, Modern Tryhard, and co. were the first to beat it after six and a half hours of mind-numbing struggles. For Eater of Worlds, a happenstance group comprised of total strangers who just found each other on Looking for Group sites cleared it in an hour and a half.
These types of activities usually replace the general PvE experience in Destiny 2. Groups just re-run content over and over until they achieve an unbeatable record. Currently, the fastest completion for Spire of Stars is 13 minutes and 55 seconds (seen above). For Eater of Worlds, it’s roughly 18 minutes. You might see the same names pop up again and again, such as those mentioned above, as well as other streamers like Esoterickk, Datto, Gothalion, and many more. These are the dedicated pros. They simply want the prize and recognition, as well as the affirmation that they’ve beaten something more difficult in a short amount of time.
Prestige Challenges
I previously mentioned how Destiny 2 has struggled with its PvP content and had failures in its attempts to become an extravaganza for esports. PvE, however, is still alive and well. Despite a shallower endgame grind and loot pool, there are still additional challenges in store for Guardians who love to raid.
Bungie’s Joe Blackburn hinted that there will be a “weird” new modifier — “Arsenal” — which we know nothing about yet. In the previous week, we were also told about “Prism,” a modifier that changes the elemental damage boost every 30 seconds. That means stronger attacks if they match the current Prism element, and slightly weaker ones if they do not. Blackburn also mentioned a couple of hints: the Time-Worn Spire and the Autumn Wind. Both are Kinetic Pulse Rifles. Since the Prestige Modes will restrict players into specific weapon loadouts, this means Pulse Rifles are required for the Kinetic Slot. We don’t know what the Energy and Power Weapon slots would be yet.
All in all, these additions and hints keep up the excitement for a player base that’s eager for new stuff to do. They’ll also be rewarding 400 Power Level gear which would bring you beyond the regular cap of 385 Power. If you’re a dedicated PvE player and raider like me, you’re probably already salivating at the possible challenges thrown your way. In the end, whether you’re speedrunning or eager to hit the top of the leaderboards, it’s safe to say Destiny 2‘s players will be looking for the best combinations to take out bosses with relative ease — kind of like melting them within seven seconds.
