Among Bungie's litany of announcements, Destiny will be implementing something called the "DCV" to preserve the past and the future of Destiny 2. DCV, which stands for the "Destiny Content Vault," will essentially assist in retiring legacy Destiny 1/2 content into a repository. Though an important distinction is that the DCV is not a permanent deactivation of retro content for Destiny, but rather acts as a conservationist effort by Bungie.
Whatever ends up in the DCV is not lost forever, and also has the potential to make a limited time return to Destiny 2. That also includes content from Destiny 1, with game director Luke Smith already confirming that the Cosmodrome and the Vault of Glass will be making a return to Destiny 2 in Year 4. With the possibility of retro content from the first Destiny making it back into Destiny 2, here's the other activities from the first game that should make a triumphant return.
Prison of Elders
A fan favorite and an underrated gem from the House of Wolves expansion, Prison of Elders was a fantastic co-op horde mode introduced in the first Destiny. Players would enter the Prison as a raid-like activity, participating in wave-based rounds centered on specific enemy types before finishing off the final round and getting pinnacle gear. Eventually, Destiny 2 added a similar activity in Gambit/Gambit Prime, but it was never really the same mode. Not only did it have public matchmaking, but Gambit only featured one enemy type per game and also included purposefully intrusive PvP elements with invasions.
That's not to say Gambit was worse by any means; in fact, it was just a very different take on the coop gameplay that Prison of Elders introduced to Destiny. That being said, Destiny 2 has introduced a number of similar co-op activities such as the Sundial and Vex Invasions from past seasons, so it wouldn't be out of place. Prison of Elders would also be another more accessible avenue for players to get access to Pinnacle loot outside of raids if that part of its identity went unchanged. Plus, with Menagerie being among the activities going away with Beyond Light later this year, it could help fill a void for fans of the retiring co-op activity.
Wrath of the Machine
During this past Season of the Worthy for Destiny 2, there were a lot of references harkening back to Rise of Iron from Destiny. Whether it was Rasputin or even SIVA, many figured that the Iron Lords and their strife would make a return in some way, and while that didn't exactly become the case, veteran Destiny players would likely look back fondly on Rise of Iron as the twilight of the original Destiny game. That's even without mentioning Rise of Iron brought about one of the best raids from Destiny's lifespan, Wrath of the Machine.
Wrath of the Machine represented a lot of the best aspects from previous Destiny raids all bundled into one cohesive experience. It didn't have a crazy runtime like King's Fall did, but still had enough wiggle room for plenty of variety. While it wasn't the most difficult challenge, it was a fitting end for Destiny's raid content that was just pure fun. Considering Season of the Worthy didn't really bring any SIVA-related content other than Eververse items, it'd be fun to bring back one of SIVA's worst creations for guardians to destroy again, and this vault makes it a real possibility.
King's Fall
Since Destiny 2 is about to see quite the influx of Taken-related content with Beyond Light, there's not a more perfect time to bring back parts of the expansion that started it all. The Taken King introduced the Taken enemy type, some of the best additional subclasses in the Destiny series, and the new Dreadnaught mothership PvE location. The Taken King came during a formative time for the original Destiny, where players were wondering if they should stick around for Destiny's long haul. Many aspects of the expansion helped revitalize Destiny, including its most ambitious raid called King's Fall.
King's Fall was all about Oryx, the big bad Hive enemy for The Taken King. It was the longest raid in Destiny, usually clocking in at around three hours per each run. There were several distinct regions of the Dreadnaught filled with puzzles and platforming that tested guardians at each and every turn. Diving into the heavily fortified ship to take on a giant ancient Hive God-King that's the size of a skyscraper was an iconic moment in Destiny's history that really captured the feeling of triumph over adversity. Even though hopping into a King's Fall run often meant running a gauntlet, the satisfaction upon completion was always well worth it.
Destiny 2 may be losing some of its key raids this Fall, so bringing back one of the most ambitious adventures in the series would be perfect. Overall, despite the benefits of Destiny 2's DCV in the long run, lots of legacy content will be retiring from the game for a while. With the promise of Vault of Glass and the Cosmodrome from Destiny 1 returning, it might be worth it to bring back some of the original game's best modes for Destiny 2 as well.
Destiny 2 is available now for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.