Destiny 2: Curse of Osiris is out in the wild on all platforms, giving players new story missions, strikes, and competitive multiplayer maps, but it’s what the expansion took away that disappointed players. “Vanilla” players who booted up Destiny 2 found several activities were no longer accessible without purchasing Curse of Osiris, and Bungie has changed the system in response to fan outcry.
Previously, participating in the “Prestige” difficulty mode for Destiny 2‘s Nightfall strikes required players to be at the power level cap for the game: 300. In Curse of Osiris, however, that cap was been increased to 330, and Prestige Nightfall strikes had their required power level risen accordingly. This meant players who previously enjoyed play Prestige Nightfall strikes wouldn’t be able to do so anymore, even on the strikes made available in the base game.
Similarly, the Prestige version of the Leviathan raid required power level of 330, meaning it was inaccessible to anyone who hasn’t purchased Curse of Osiris. Bungie has since reversed course on this system for both the strikes and the raid, enabling all players to complete the Prestige-level content with a power level of 300. A new third tier will arrive in the future exclusively for expansion owners. The multiplayer challenge “Trials of the Nine” will also be available to all players when it uses a map from the base game, but will be locked when it is using a Curse of Osiris map.
Destiny 2: Curse of Osiris also adds “Heroic” strikes, which are more difficult versions of the regular strikes, and these are also locked to standard Destiny 2 players. This shouldn’t pose too much of a problem, but players may find waiting times for matchmaking to increase as more players choose to forgo the standard difficulty in favor of Heroic.
The expansion includes Heroic versions of the open-world “Adventures,” though on Mercury these still take place inside the instanced Infinite Forest rather than on the planet’s surface. Though recommended for anyone at power level 300, they are extremely difficult and will likely take at least twice as long to complete as a normal Adventure.
Destiny 2: Curse of Osiris is now available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC, and costs $20. It is also available as the first of two planned expansions in the game’s $35 expansion pass. The second expansion will arrive in spring 2018. If you haven’t picked up the game yet, we highly recommend jumping on board, and we even named it a runner-up in our “best game of 2017” awards.
Update: Added information on Bungie’s changes in response to player feedback.
