"The Taken King Promises Many Sleepless Nights"

From Bungie.net

Gaming has become a staple in the life of many college students and young adults in recent decades. For a significant portion of that time, there have been two major camps in terms of platform. Consoles and Personal Computer users have always had at least one genre that set them at odds… The online role-playing game.

That division has been lessened with the advance of relatively inexpensive graphical improvements and a series of projects that have intersected between genres traditionally assumed to be exclusive to consoles or PC’s.  Bungie’s Destiny franchise has proven a significant step in that direction.

Destiny is a first person shooter designed for consoles that possesses more than a few PC characteristics. There is a significant amount of leveling and customization to accommodate for play-style and a “raid” component that resembles a number of MMORPG’s only available to PC users. Destiny has maintained a spirited following in its first year and looks to add to the legend with The Taken King, the next chapter in the Destiny saga.

I have played Destiny for just under a year now and have found it to be a great stress reliever and time-burner. Having the experience of jumping into a raid with classmates or finding fellow gamers to share tales of battle with has been amazing. It has gotten to a point where the game has even become the subject of at least one of my class projects or studies! Those who game with consoles at FSU have taken notice of the first iteration of Destiny and the dlc packs that have brought us to the upcoming release of what is essentially a full-sized sequel billed by the company at one point as Destiny 2.0. There are very few in the gaming community that lack passion (be it positive or negative) in their view of the game.

From @destinythegame instagram account

Bungie’s new addition to the Destiny universe has promised a number of improvements and alterations. Those who have played the game in the past will notice that while The Taken King has yet to be released, the most recent update has shifted the presentation away from the House of Wolves dlc and towards upcoming events.

The ranking and weapon/armor systems have been reformatted and the interface has been altered to better suit individual needs of each player. The new level system is capped at 40 and is achieved through earning experience points. The weapons and armor of the previous year are capped at a year one rate while new items have improved stats and the ability to be adjusted to suit specific playstyles.

With Bungie offering pre-release content, there are a number of things to work on while waiting for The Taken King to become available. There are weapons to be tested in the crucible and a quest-set for each of the six character classes. Players can fight each other in new maps exclusive to The Taken King.

Three new character classes (from www.twinfinite.net C/o bungie.net)

As excitement builds and the release draws closer, don’t be surprised if you notice your gaming friends becoming less available as they close themselves in and strap themselves down for the next chapter in the Destiny saga. I may disappear myself in the coming days…

The Taken King is set for release on September 15^th, 2015.