Destiny 2 players who want to partake in the next dungeon won’t have to wait the full 48 hours before they can dive in at base difficulty—though they can’t drop in immediately, Bungie confirmed today.
Bungie revealed the name of the dungeon, Vesper’s Host, in a blog post today. The studio also confirmed a raid race, with contest mode active for 48 hours after the dungeon releases on Oct. 11. The difference this time, however, is that players can finally opt out of contest mode after the dungeon’s first confirmed completion.
So far, contest mode has been an inescapable option for raid races. If you want to attempt the raid within the first 48 hours, the only choice is to dive into the harder difficulty. But with the release of Vesper’s Host, players can try the normal-difficulty version of the dungeon “as soon as the first three fireteams have completed the dungeon,” according to the blog post.
The new milestone is due to another slight change in Destiny 2‘s raid race formula. Instead of rewarding a single fireteam of six, the victory goes to the top three squads to clear the dungeon in contest mode, making it a “podium finish” rather than the usual format. So while the first team may clear the dungeon quickly, fans may still have to wait before ditching contest mode, similar to the Salvation’s Edge raid race.
Complaints about contest mode are common whenever a new raid is released, and they quickly followed after Bungie introduced this extra difficulty in a dungeon for the first time. Contest mode cranks up the difficulty to 11, with tougher enemies and fixed power levels made for the most avid guardians. It’s a staple of the raid race, one of Destiny 2‘s most iconic moments.
Vesper’s Host releases on Oct. 11, just days after the game’s second episode, Revenant, releases on Oct. 8. Bungie will host a livestream on Oct. 1 sharing a bit more details on what’s to come.
