Destiny 2 servers are set to shutdown tonight for maintenance ahead of tomorrow’s launch of the Beyond Light expansion, but just before they do Bungie decide to treat players to a nice relaxing stroll through the game’s breathtaking Last City.
Players have been anticipating some sort of live in-game event to cap of the game’s latest season for a while now, but no one was sure exactly what form that would take. After an errant email from Bungie to players let the cat out of the bag late last week, Destiny 2 director Luke Smith officially announced on Twitter that there would be a “small event” to close out the game’s current Season of Arrivals. “It’s nothing too crazy, just a little time to chill in the Tower before the Lights go out,” Smith wrote.
While the event kicked off around 7:00 p.m. ET with strange new streaks of light appear around the Traveler as seen from the Tower, it wasn’t until later in the hour that an actual mission popped up on the Tower map allowing players to investigate a disturbance in the Last City (Bungie says this is where players should go to witness the live event finale). Destiny 2‘s servers are clearly dealing with a lot right now, and some folks haven’t been able to get the mission to load. Those who have are currently able to touch down into the city streets and explore at their leisure. I’m there right now and I’m not sure I ever want to leave.
Ever since the first Destiny came out back in 2014 players have wanted the chance to go down into the Last City and see it for themselves up close and personal, rather than being stuck gazing from afar up atop the Tower. Players spend dozens, if not hundreds of hours, protecting humanity’s last settlement from countless alien threats but never get the chance to visit and see who or what it is exactly that they’re working so hard to defend. Tonight players finally got that chance. There have been multiplayer PVP maps set there and other pseudo-visits, but nothing that’s put the extent of Destiny 2‘s dazzling art and world building on display quite like this.
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The Last City is hardly teaming with people, but a few have come out to gaze up at the Traveler as it emits mysterious pulses of light. The environment Bungie’s put together is far from just a linear corridor though with a few NPCs standing about. There are open shops to linger at, back alleys to duck into, and a surprising number of random nooks, crannies, and other dead-ends to get lost in. Eventually the mission leads to a rusted out catwalk bridging a river with a door on the other side. Hitting the button prompt to enter into the other side immediately instances you with other players on the roof of one of the Last City’s high-rises with a perfect view of whatever’s about to happen to the Traveler.
It’s not clear what the rest of tonight’s live event will include. The first one Bungie attempted over the summer involved a giant spaceship blowing up and crashing into the mountains. Tonight’s season finale might not be as explosive, but getting to finally see the Last City as it was meant to be seen will make it just as memorable, if not more. Hopefully this isn’t the last time players will get to visit it either. The event is set to end at 10:00 p.m. ET.
Update – 10:05 p.m. ET, 11/9/2020: “This will not be the end, it will be an escalation,” Eris Morn said right before tonight’s live event cut to the Darkness enveloping Titan, Io, Mars, and Mercury on the Destination map. The screen then went black and servers kicked me from the game. Definitely not as climactic as Bungie’s previous Almighty live event, but way more fulfilling in my opinion, at least if you were able to get through the server queues.
Destiny 2 Update 3.0.0.1 and the Beyond Light expansion are set to go live tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. ET. You can start pre-loading the update (approximately 65GB) right now.