Yesterday, Bungie unveiled several major aspects of its year two content plans for Destiny 2, including a new expansion called Forsaken and a series of free game updates. However, one of the most surprisingly announcements had to do with something that Bungie is calling the Destiny 2 Annual Pass, a paid program of sorts which will grant access to a series of smaller expansions throughout the game’s second year of content.
According to the year two reveal livestream that Bungie hosted, the Annual Pass will encompass three separate content expansions which will be released at specific points in late 2018 and early-mid 2019. The three expansions and their release windows are as follows:
- Black Armory – Winter, 2018
- Joker’s Wild – Spring, 2019
- Penumbra – Summer, 2019
Bungie was careful to stress that these new Annual Pass expansions won’t focus as heavily on new story content as previous expansions such as Curse of Osiris and Warmind did. Instead, they will focus more on adding in new gameplay content, both in terms of things for players to do (activities, challenges, etc.) and items for players to earn (weapons, armor, cosmetic items, etc.). There will also be new lore-based aspects to uncover for each content update, but Bungie said that players shouldn’t expect things like new story cinematics or NPC’s.
Currently, the Annual Pass isn’t available as an individual purchase. Interested buyers can pre-order a special $69.99 bundle that includes both the Forsaken expansion (which is $39.99 on its own) and the Annual Pass. There’s also a $79.99 Digital Deluxe bundle that comes with Forsaken, the Annual Pass, and a few exclusive cosmetic items. There’s a good chance that Bungie plans to eventually sell the Annual Pass standalone (otherwise those who bought the standard version of the Forsaken expansion would be very upset), but for now the only way to get it is to pony up for either the Forsaken bundle or the Digital Deluxe bundle.
In other Destiny 2 news, the game’s newly revamped Faction Rallies have officially kicked off this week, though if you’re thinking of hunting through the Nightfall for some unique loot, you might want to hold off on that for a little bit.