Public Event

A public event where players fend off a Fallen attack.

A Public Event is a type of encounter in Destiny in which several players in the same area can work together to achieve a common goal.^[1] Events may occur while on Patrol or within Strike missions.^[2]

Public Events are rated after completion based on the Guardians' performance; if time runs out before the objective is met, it is a Bronze-Tier rating. If time runs out but the Guardians manage to almost complete the objective, it is a Silver-Tier rating. If the objective is completed before the timer runs out, is a Gold-Tier rating. Guardians are rewarded with Glimmer, Motes of Light and experience instantly. Earlier in the game's history, it would reward Ascendant Shards or Ascendant Energy for Gold-Tier ratings. Guardians could pick up their rewards at the Postmaster if it was their first Gold-Tier rating of the day.^[3]

Destiny Public Event types

Defeat Extraction Crews − defeat three waves of enemies before time runs out to deactivate the Glimmer Drill.
Defend the Warsat − have your Ghost scan the warsat; the more Guardians that stand near it, the faster it can download the data. Defend yourself from waves of enemy reinforcements.
Defeat the Fallen Walker − destroy a Fallen Walker before time runs out.
Eliminate the Target − a powerful enemy with a high health count and rapid shield regeneration (depending on whether or not it has a shield) will appear. Defeat them before they reach a checkpoint; this will require heavy firepower from several players.^[3]
Prevent Vex Sacrifices − similar to Defend the Warsat, keep the Vex away from the object/area, allowing up to 10 sacrifices until failure. There is a countdown to defend the object/area.
Court of Oryx − a series of player-initiated boss battles exclusive to the Hall of Souls in the Dreadnaught.
Archon's Forge − a series of player-initiated boss battles exclusive to the Plaguelands in Old Russia

Destiny Public Event schedule

Note: Sometimes instead of a Public Event, the player will receive the message "The enemy is moving against each other", and a large group of two types of enemies will start fighting. Most of the enemies found in these events will be very powerful (i.e. Hallowed Knight, Reaver Captain). Fighting in this event does not reward the player with any bonus experience.^[4] This will happen in the Skywatch, The Barrens, and Ishtar Commons. Also, the player might receive the message "A roving band of Pikes is nearby." In this instance, several Dregs on Pikes will appear. This can happen at the Forgotten Shore as well as on the Moon.

Additional Note: When fighting Hive Wizards for the Kill an Enemy events the Wizard will sometimes "teleport" near the end of the event if the players manage to slow them down sufficiently for an extended period, usually resulting in failure of the event due to the time taken to re-engage the target.

Destiny 2 Public Event types

In Destiny 2, Public Events appear more frequently than in Destiny and are also announced 5 minutes before they begin. Once an event is announced, an icon will appear on the map screen for the planet, which allows players to find and track the event. If a player arrives at the location before the start of the event they will find a glowing flag and have the option of rallying to it. Rallying to the Flag instantly recharges all of their abilities, including their Super, refills all ammunition, and displays the time until the event starts. Successfully completing the event will reward participating players with Glimmer, a piece of equipment, and planetary materials that can be turned into that planet's vendor to increase reputation. Failing an event still yields materials and Glimmer but does not give equipment. Additionally, Public Events now have a Heroic version that is automatically unlocked once certain objectives are met during the event. The Heroic version increases the difficulty of the event but also increases the value of the rewards upon completion, such as a chance of receiving multiple pieces of equipment and/or a Legendary or Exotic Engram.

Cabal Excavation − For this event, Guardians are tasked with halting a Red Legion mining operation by capturing a Cabal Mining Lander while defending it against waves of Cabal soldiers and mortar fire. Once the progress bar has reached 33%, a Thresher will begin to appear in the skies overhead. Destroying it will activate the Heroic version, where the Guardians must now kill the Excavator Valus leading the operation while contending with Elite Cabal and concentrated mortar fire. This event is found on Nessus, Io, and the EDZ.
Injection Rig − During this event, Guardians must stop a Red Legion drilling crew from using an Injection Rig to uncover secrets in an area. Guardians must kill the three Infiltrator Psions. After killing an Infiltrator Psion, a large shield will appear over the Rig and it will begin venting heat for a few seconds. Any guardians inside the shield when this happens will take continuous damage for a few seconds. If all of the heat vents are destroyed, the Heroic version will trigger where they must now kill the Infiltrator Valus that appears. This event is found on Nessus, on Mars and in the EDZ.
Glimmer Extraction − Prevent a Fallen mining operation.
Spire Integration − Stop Vex construction efforts.
Ether Resupply − For this event, Guardians are tasked with disrupting the flow of Ether by destroying the Prime Ether Servitor before it disappears. Periodically, Transport Servitors will appear and shield the Prime Ether Servitor from damage until they are either destroyed or absorbed. If Guardians manage to destroy all Transport Servitors before they are absorbed, the Heroic Version will be triggered where the Prime Ether Servitor goes berserk and gains improved damage resistance, a faster fire rate, and the ability to transport players high into the air. This event is found in the EDZ, on Nessus, the Moon, and Europa.
Taken Blight − Repel a Taken incursion.
Vex Crossroads − In this event, Vex are being transferred between the past and future via warp gates. Destroy Vex units to draw out two Keepers of Ages Past,Keepers of Ages Present or Keepers of Ages Unseen, each of which will drop two Arc Charges. A warp gate requires a single Arc Charge to be shut down, but the Arc Charges will dissipate if not planted quickly enough. After shutting down the first four warp gates in the event's starting area, two more warp gates on islands on opposite sides will need to be shut down in the same manner. When this is accomplished, a Vex Gate Lord will appear back in the starting area and must be destroyed, which will drop two loot chests. The trigger for the Heroic version is that when fighting on one of the islands, shoot the crystal behind the island that appears after shutting down the warp gate and it will create a platform and another crystal. Climb up the platforms created by shooting crystals, to reach the top of the island and stand in the sync plate. This only needs to be done once. This event is only found on Mercury.
Weapons Exchange − Disrupt an exchange of Fallen heavy ordnance.
Witches' Ritual − Stop Hive Wizards from opening an Ascendant Portal.
Warsat Down − Defend a Warsat from an onslaught of Hive.
Cryo-Pod Escape − In this event, Guardians must prevent waves of enemies from releasing their leader from a crashed cryo-pod from the Prison of Elders. After the enemies are defeated, the pod will crack open and release an enemy boss from within, where the Guardians must kill the boss to win the event. The heroic version is triggered by throwing enough orbs at the boss to make it freeze, allowing the participating Guardians to transfer it back to the Prison of Elders. The orbs are generated by shooting the vents on the side of the Cryo-Pod once it emits a freezing gas. This event is only available on the Tangled Shore.
Ether Ritual − Stop the Scorn from completing an extraction of Dark Ether from an Ether Harvester.
The Rift Generator − For this event, Guardians must defend a Generator Core against waves of enemy combatants, preventing them from completely rupturing its integrity at all costs. At the end of the event, Guardians must defeat a Fanatic's Chosen and a Demented Abomination. This event can be found within the Dreaming City. The heroic version will take players into the Ascendant Realm version of the Dreaming City.^[5]
Crux Convergence - In this event, Guardians must stop Fallen convergence on a Crux of Darkness. When the event starts, three Brigs will fall from the sky. The Guardian must stand underneath the Crux for a period of time in order to deactivate one of the Brig's shield. The Guardian must kill all three Brigs in order to complete the event. To trigger the Heroic version, the Guardian must destroy all of the Fallen Drones flying around each Crux. After this is done, a Fallen Commodore will drop from the sky. The Commodore must be killed to end the Heroic public event. This event is available on Europa in the Eventide Ruins and The Asterion Abyss.
Resonant Destruction - Hijack a Resonant Splinter and turn it against your foes.
Supernumerary Blitz - Stop a massive Vex blitz in the Vex Incursion Zone.

Protocols

While the above mentioned Public Events start automatically in regular intervals, Protocols have to be started by players.

Escalation Protocol − In this event, Guardians defend towers against waves of progressively harder enemies. Every wave consists of four phases: 1. Eliminating Hive, 2. Closing 1 - 3 Shadowrifts, 3. Eliminating more Hive and 4. Eliminating a Hive boss. Occasionally one wave consists of a modified Injection Rig-, Witches' Ritual- or Defend the Warsat-Event. In the seventh and final wave, Guardians must face a Hive boss in order to complete the encounter. There are five possible bosses, each rotating on a weekly basis. This event is only found on Mars.
Blind Well − In this event, 3 - 6 Guardians charge a large device known as a Well by defeating waves of increasingly powerful Scorn, Hive and Taken combatants, just like Escalation Protocol. Taken poison gas will blockade and force players into different areas as the event progresses. At the end of each tier, a boss will appear and must be defeated by the fireteam to proceed. This event is only found in the Dreaming City.
Altars of Sorrow - In this event, Guardians defeat waves of Hive and Nightmares within a time limit in 5 tiers of increasing difficulty. Defeating enemies adds time to this limit, while letting Nightmares escape subtracts a significant amount. At the end, Guardians face a Nightmare boss to end the event. This event is only found on the Moon.
Seraph Towers - In this event, Guardians defended one or two of three support towers against varying enemies while they charged to provide power for Rasputin's weapons manufacturing and deployment activities. Once a support tower was charged, it would generate polarity charges that must be thrown at a sphere of energy to "push" it towards a central tower to proceed. Once the central tower was fully charged, Guardians then needed to defeat two Champions to complete the event. With the appropriate Seraph Bunker upgrades, Guardians would be able to use the Valkyrie and summon Heavy Frames to help defend. This event was found in the European Dead Zone, on the Moon, and on Io, before it was removed at the end of Season of the Worthy.
Contact - In this event, Guardians deploy a Bank under a Pyramid Scale to collect Motes from incoming enemies, in the same manner as in Gambit, through four tiers. After collecting enough Motes, Taken enemies will attack along with a Champion, which must be defeated to continue to the next tier. During the Mote collection phase, a Champion will appear nearby guarding a Bloom, which can be used to charge the Bank by a substantial amount. Depositing the bloom through all four tiers will activate the Heroic version of the event, where a special boss is fought at the end of the fourth tier. This event rotates on a weekly basis between locations on Io and on Titan.
Nightmare Containment - In this event, Guardians are tasked with charging the Nightmare Harvester via killing enemies aboard the Derelict Leviathan. Special mini-boss enemies will spawn, and when killed, drop a Core of Dread. Depositing one Core at the Nightmare Harvester will spawn a Scythe alongside an Overload champion, up to a maximum of 4. At a set point, Calus will command Egregore and Loyalists to halt progression. Clearing out the shielded Psions will allow progression to continue. Like The Blind Well, after each round, a boss will spawn. The first two stages of Nightmare Containment provide a Colossus as a boss, with the final stage rotating between 3 different bosses depending on the week. Defeating the final Nightmare provides a chest with rewards, and seasonal currency can be spent at the Harvester for further rewards.
Terminal Overload - The Shadow Legion attempts to subvert Neomuna's CloudArk through the use of a special Pyramid array. The Guardians are tasked to stop both the Cabal and Vex from using this for their gain. The event has three stages, where several bosses are fought, and changes location daily through the three public areas of Neptune. Completing the first two stages rewards normal Public Event loot, but completing the third gives a much better chest, alongside a second chest with targeted loot that can only be opened with a Terminal Oveload Key.