Fans are almost universally happy when Destiny receives an update — but that's not the case with the upcoming House of Wolves expansion. Sure, there are plenty of Destiny players who can't wait to get their hands on the new content, but there are just as many who claim that Bungie isn't delivering on their promise. Why?

Well, with Destiny's first expansion, The Dark Below, the game was given its second Raid — a high-end, high-difficulty mission that could only be completed by the best of the best. Both the Crota's End and the Vault of Glass Raid were well received, but when Bungie announced that House of Wolves wouldn't come with a new Raid, fans were more than a little upset.

As part of its series of pre-release reveals, Bungie finally showed off the Raid's replacement, otherwise known as the Prison of Elders. Is this new, Horde Mode-style match a worth successor — or will fans be stuck with a half-baked co-op mode until the next true Raid is released? From what Bungie has shown, longtime Destiny players should be excited.

When players complete the House of Wolves story, the Prison of Elders will be unlocked. At its core, the mode is a cooperative endurance test against wave after wave of the game's toughest enemies. Bungie is however making sure that the mode won't become a slog.

There's the core Arena that opens at level 28, and six other "Challenge" variations on top of that. Five of these variations will rotate on a weekly basis, while the final variation is permanently set to level 35 — meaning that no matter what, players will always be outclassed by the enemies they're fighting.

Aside from the fact that the Prison of Elders isn't a Raid, the biggest change to Destiny's endgame is that players will have access to matchmaking for these new Arenas. Players won't have to worry about entering the Prison of Elders without a full party, as Bungie will allow fans to party up with strangers before starting a game.

The matchmaking is limited to the core level 28 variation, but it's a big step forward for those who don't have a full friends list. On top of that, the option of playing solo through the Prison of Elders is available — though you probably won't want to play alone.

The Prison of Elders' overall gameplay is similar to other cooperative, wave-based survival modes, but the structure is a bit different. Each Arena consists of five rounds, which are further divided into three waves. These waves are each contained within one room, and each room houses a specific type of enemy.

For instance, the Hive have their own stage, while the Cabal have another. Players will fight against hordes of enemies until each wave is complete — after which they'll return to a central staging area, unlock the next room and move on to another enemy. If all Guardians go down, it's back to the beginning of the round to try again.

But it's not just about blasting through bad guys — each round comes with a modifier and a Critical Objective, and these tweaks can have a surprisingly large effect on gameplay.

For example, Guardians may enter a round only to realize that their primary weapons are far more powerful than normal, or that their shields won't recharge after taking damage. It's a relatively small change — but it could go a long way toward keeping the mode from feeling stale.

Critical Objectives are another way that Bungie is trying to keep the mode engaging — objective markers will pop up during individual rounds, tasking players with a specific goal. Guardians will have to complete objectives like capturing points and eliminating specific enemies, or it's back to the beginning of the round. It adds both a sense of urgency and chaos to the combat. Balancing objectives and the game's enemies is something players will have to learn quickly.

There are also wave-specific Gifts, which act as player buffs between or during waves. It may be a Heavy Ammo box, or it could be one of the game's new giant canons. Either way, it could come in handy — but it likely won't turn the tide of battle in the middle of a tough fight.

Thankfully, checkpoints come at the end of every round, so players won't have to worry about losing an hour's worth of progress because of a single mistake. Granted, players will still have to complete the Prison in one sitting (progress isn't saved upon exiting), but fighting through the Prison of Elders shouldn't take as long as some of Destiny's other endgame activities.

From what Bungie has shown, the Prison of Elders does retain some of the Raid's spirit. Players are forced to work together or fail, and the sheer number of enemies brings back nightmares from the Crota's End raid. It's however clear that the Prison of Elders is also a much less time-consuming mode. Rounds can be completely quickly by a coordinated team, and while the individual areas within the prison are large enough, they're nowhere near as large as something like the Vault of Glass.

In all honesty, players who were hoping for another high-level Raid will still be disappointed. The Prison of Elders is a different beast entirely, and every Destiny player should definitely give it a shot — but if you were looking for another long, linear dungeon crawl through the game's toughest enemies, the Prison of Elders isn't going to do it for you.

Everyone else should nevertheless be excited — the Prison of Elders is unlike anything else in Destiny. It probably won't require quite as much of a commitment from players, which means that more casual fans will still be able to enjoy the game's new mode. Bungie's also made a clear effort to keep the mode from getting boring, which is something that other similar modes often fail to do. Sure — it's not a Raid, but that doesn't mean the mode won't be worth playing.

Of course, there's no real way to tell if the Prison of Elders will be a proper successor to Raids until House of Wolves is released. That isn't so far off, as Destiny's second expansion is set for release on May 19.


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