The Taken King

{{#youtube:HQymFddoo9I|350px|right|The Taken King prologue|180px}}

"We have slain his brood. We have murdered his son. And now, the Taken King comes for us all."

— Eris Morn

The Taken King is an upcoming expansion for Destiny. It will be released on September 15, 2015, and be priced at $40.

The expansion's story centers around Oryx, the mysterious God-King of the Hive, and his quest for revenge, after the Guardians had slain his son Crota. He has brought a massive Dreadnought into the system and has launched an invasion using his personal army, the Taken, members of the other races warped by the power of the Darkness into Oryx's slaves. The game's story also expands upon the Darkness, the Cabal, and the Nine.

The expansion was showcased at E3 2015.

Features

Gameplay

• A single, one-time character boost to get a single character to the minimum level needed to play The Taken King.
• New Enemy race: The Taken
• New Locations:
  • The Dreadnaught orbiting Saturn
  • Cabal Warbase on Phobos
• New Subclasses and Super Abilities, acquired via special Questlines
  • Titan: Team up with a mercenary clan of rogue Titans on Mercury to unlock the Sunbreaker class and the Hammer of Sol.
  • Hunter: Track down a solitary nomad in the Black Garden to unlock the Nightstalker class and the Shadowshot.
  • Warlock: Join a shamanistic ritual on Mars with Ikora Rey to unlock the Stormcaller class and the Stormtrance.
• Significant increase in available loot
  • Class-specific weapons available through Vanguard quests
  • Weapon Foundry gear, with each foundry having its own unique design and playstyle.
  • New weapon class unlocked through a Quest from Eris Morn
  • Over a dozen new Exotic weapons
    • Jade Rabbit
    • No Time To Explain
    • Sleeper Simulant
    • 347 Vesta Dynasty
    • A Tex Mechanica lever-action shotgun
    • An AK-style Auto Rifle that shoots chain lightning
    • A Sniper Rifle that blinds targets on precision hits
  • Half a dozen new Exotic armor pieces for each class
• Ghost now provides in-game lore when prompted at certain points
• Faction reputation no longer requires wearing a faction item. Instead you pledge yourself to one faction at a time.
• Vanguard and Crucible marks have now been combined into legendary marks.
• Hadronic Essence, Plasteel Plating, and Sapphire Wire are now combined into Armor Materials.
• Emblems and Shaders no longer take up inventory space, and players can collect as many as they like.
• More intelligent loot-dropping system that takes previous drops into account
• Level cap is now 40, and leveling is no longer tied to armor acquisition. Light levels are still important for giving a power boost.

PVE Content

• Complete Revamp of Patrol mode, including for current destinations, to integrate new events and The Taken War.
  • Court of Oryx - a player-instigated Public Event aboard the Dreadnaught featuring randomized enemies and Ultra bosses
• Over eight new Story Missions
  • The Coming War
  • Unsealed Paradox
• Questing system is completely retooled
  • Quests for each subclass and many NPC vendors
    • Earn reputation with Banshee-44 by equipping experimental weapons to be tried out in the field. Completing these challenges will allow you to order for a legendary weapon that will arrive on Wednesday with a set of randomized perks.
  • Multi-part quest to acquire a new exotic weapon
  • Quests for older content add lore to the game
• Four new Strikes and three remixed strikes; the new strikes feature multiple different scenarios and can swap out enemy races. Also feature "raid-lite" mechanics.
  • Echo Chamber^{(Playstation Exclusive until Fall 2016)}
  • The Fallen Saber
  • The Shield Brothers
  • The Sunless Cell
  • New versions of Cerberus Vae III, Dust Palace, and The Undying Mind featuring the Taken
  • Playlists reorganized into Legacy (all year 1 strikes), Ursa (randomly selected heroic-level strikes) and Marmoset (all Taken King strikes)
• New Raid that pits players against Oryx and the Taken known as King's Fall.

PVP Content

• Crucible and Faction Quests
• Five weekly bounties are available. Completing them all unlocks a sixth bounty for a chance to earn a legendary or exotic weapon.
• New "Mercy Rule" ends matches early if they are extremely unbalanced (as in, half of one team leaves in the middle of the match, and the other team gains a huge lead in points)
• Eight New Crucible maps
  • Bannerfall - The Last City, Earth
  • Exile - Hive Prison Ship, Saturn
  • Frontier - City Perimeter, Earth
  • Ghost Ship - The Reef
  • Sector 618 - Cosmodrome, Earth
  • Crossroads - The Lost Oasis, Mars
  • Momento - European Dead Zone, Earth
  • Vertigo - Mercury
• New Crucible Modes
  • Mayhem Clash
  • Zone Control
  • Rift