If Destiny 2's Warmind expansion was seen as a step in the right direction, then Forsaken could very well be the huge breath of life that the game needed. Comparing the state of the game now to when the game first launched almost seems like looking at two different games. Bungie has turned the game around and started moving it toward the game that fans were expecting a year ago. Be warned, there will be some images and discussion of campaign content in this piece so this is the spoiler warning. Here are some of the biggest and best changes that came with the massive Forsaken expansion.

15 1. Bringing Back the Hobby

Looking back at the end of Destiny's life cycle, it was a game that fans could sink countless hours into and feel like they came away with something new or rewarding. It was, for many people, a hobby game. It was a game that fans would pick up every day or so for a couple hours to make progress on certain goals - whether it was increasing Light Level or finding a god-roll weapon.

When Destiny 2 launched, however, that hobby was stripped down and gutted. Destiny 2 became a game that people played on Tuesday's at reset and then left alone for the rest of the week. With no random rolls on weapons to chase and armor with no perks on it, there was little to keep players coming back after weekly milestones were completed.

However, in Forsaken, Bungie completely changed how the weekly grind works. Instead of all milestones (now dubbed challenges) being reset on Tuesdays, only the weekly challenges reset then. The introduction of daily challenges allows players to constantly have something to work towards. This system allows new and returning players to hop around the solar system to do many different activities and feel like they have accomplished something. Then if you toss in the seasonal events, like Iron Banner, then there is even more to do after wrapping up the various story campaigns.

14 2. Making Gear Meaningful

One of the biggest complaints with Destiny 2's first year was that gear felt meaningless. While some guns were leagues better than the rest, static rolls on weapons and lack of perks on armor made players feel like there was nothing to grind for. A player's tenth Better Devils hand cannon was pointless because the roll was the exact same as the first. Raid armor gave no bonuses and was ultimately just for Power level gains and aesthetics (until raid mods were introduced). In Destiny, players would run activities and redeem faction rewards to get the perfect roll on weapons and armor. Players would tailor a whole set of armor just to enhance a certain aspect of their character, like using hand cannons.

Thankfully after the Destiny community summit, Bungie decided to reintroduce random rolls alongside the launch of Forsaken. Armor now makes a difference. If players want to run Last Wish to get a perfectly rolled set of Great Hunt armor, they can do that. Really like the Dreaming City armor? Players can now spend all their time in the City trying to get a great roll on their Reverie Dawn armor. Guns now have random rolls so players can search for a "god roll" Better Devils if they want to. This change adds excitement to loot, a feeling that was missing during Destiny 2's first year.

13 3. The Ever-Evolving Narrative

When Bungie first announced Forsaken, it was pitched as a revenge story where players hunt down Cayde-6's killers. It didn't sound like there would be much depth in that narrative outside of hunting Uldren Sov. However, the revenge story begins and ends in Forsaken's main campaign, and a whole new narrative unfolds after players put down Uldren.

Once players set foot in the Dreaming City, they embark on a much larger, more mysterious story. The curse is complicated and much harder to track down than players believed, and much bigger forces are at play - pulling the strings far out of player reach. With every week, the curse changes and players are often left with more questions than answers (in the best way possible). Players are still trying to figure out what the bigger problem is in the Dreaming City, and how the Awoken homeland plays into all of it.

One of the most interesting moments is when the curse was unleashed upon the City for the first time. It was triggered by Clan Redeem's world first clear of the Last Wish raid. The second they finished the raid, Bungie flipped a switch and turned on the three-week cycle that Petra and the Awoken must live out week-after-week. After Redeem cleared the raid, every player was warned that something was put into motion that will have dire consequences if not stopped. Now that the curse has reverted to its weakest form, players are learning that there is still more to uncover as even the missions from the first week of the curse have new dialogue. The Broken Courier mission has Petra acknowledge the cycle and asks for player help to put an end to it - somehow.

12 4. The Mystery and The Dreaming City

The Dreaming City is perhaps one of the most ambitious and interesting zones that Bungie has ever crafted. When Bungie first detailed the City, they compared it to a cross between the Vault of Glass raid and the Dreadnaught from The Taken King DLC in Destiny. This is quite a bold claim, for Vault of Glass and the Dreadnaught are some of the most beloved parts of Destiny. Yet the Dreaming City embodies the spirit of those two zones, for they are both notorious for secrets and mystery that players must work together to unravel.

Each week the Dreaming City changes, and even when it loops back to a lower curse level, elements are still different than the first time. Who knows how long the loop will go on for, or how long new content will continue to pop up for, but so far the Dreaming City keeps pulling players back week after week.

Alongside the base design of the Dreaming City, there are plenty of hidden elements throughout the beautiful scenery. The first weeks in the Dreaming City consisted of players scouring for hidden cat statues, arc charge chests, and other secrets.

After the Wall of Wishes was discovered, players doubled-down on their search for the wish plates. When the curse was at its highest level, players even discovered secret missions that were not marked on the map - one of which lead to the Shattered Throne and another led to the Wish-Ender bow. The Dreaming City, and Forsaken as a whole, have many layers that players are still sifting through.

11 5. The Drifter's Gambit

New to Destiny 2 in Forsaken is the PvPvE game mode, Gambit. This new game mode matches two teams of four against each other as they take on AI-controlled enemies to see who can burn the boss down first. Players of both PvP and PvE have something to enjoy when it comes to this new mode. Teams face off against a random enemy type as they collect motes of light to summon their Primeval. There's even an exotic weapon tied to Gambit, the Malfeasance hand cannon. While getting this hand cannon can be a bit of a pain, it is certainly a unique gun that can shine in Gambit under the right circumstances.

Gambit comes with its own ranking system and rewards, giving players new armor and weapons to chase. In fact, Gambit's weapons are some of the best in the game at the moment, and many fans are actively searching for the best rolls for each of these powerful guns. Admittedly, grinding Gambit can be a bit daunting or frustrating for solo players, so playing with a pre-made fireteam is highly recommended. However, this fun game mode is a blast for those who heed The Drifter's call.

10 6. Challenging Content

One of the highlights of Destiny 2, and the Destiny franchise as a whole, is the endgame content. Previously, there was a small selection of activities that catered to those who were max Power level, mainly raids. These six-man activities put team communication and execution to the test through various encounters that focused on different strategies. With Forsaken, Bungie introduced the Last Wish raid, where players dive into the heart of the Dreaming City to slay what many believed was the source of the City's corruption.

While many teams attempted the raid on day one, only two teams managed to clear the raid in the first 24 hours. Now that most players are a higher Power level, the raid is easier - though it is still an incredibly challenging experience. It challenges players in different ways, including DPS strategies for fights like Shuro Chi, and communication in Riven's fight.

When details about Forsaken leaked on Reddit, there was talk of a "dungeon" that players could tackle in the DLC. Many fans were skeptical of this since Destiny 2 did not feature any sort of dungeon-like content prior to this DLC. However, when the Dreaming City's curse was at its strongest, players discovered a hidden mission in The Confluence which took players into a part of the Ascendant Realm dubbed the Shattered Throne.

Many players refer to this as a "three-man raid" in terms of difficulty and design. Players must fight through bosses and encounters that feature complex mechanics to defeat the boss at the end, and progress forward to get the Wish-Ender exotic bow. While the Shattered Throne can be soloed, it will certainly put player skill to the test. While the Shattered Throne is only available during high-curse weeks, it is great to have other endgame challenges to tackle outside of the Last Wish raid.

9 7. Ever-Changing Goals

Alongside the release of Forsaken, Bungie introduced a new Triumphs feature that tracked player progression through various activities, ranging from Crucible and Gambit all the way to Raid challenges and Patrols. These Triumphs give players something to constantly chase after, whether it is increasing their total Triumph Score or pursuing Titles. These Titles are displayed over a player's name so they can proudly show off their accomplishments. If players see someone with the "Dregden" title, then they will know that player has played Gambit a lot and is pretty good at it.

At the time of writing, there are six different titles, all tied to a different type of activity. Every category has a different challenge to it that will make it hard to achieve. For example, players looking to get the Rivensbane title for the Last Wish raid will need to complete the Petra's Run challenge - certainly no small feat. This inclusion of Triumphs is a great way to give players things to chase that matter to the player, and is one thing Destiny 2 desperately needed.

8 8. Breathing Life Into the Game

Triumphs are one of the many major quality of life changes that came with Forsaken. Collections are a huge boon to the game, for it allows players to pull many items without having to keep them in their vault. While Bungie is still figuring out how to handle random rolls in the Collection, players can pull exotics, year one items, Ghost shells, and many other cosmetics out for a small price. With the upcoming October updates, players will now also be able to pull out transmat effects to further add to the ease of customizing gear and vehicles. Combine this alongside the extra vault space added in Forsaken and players can now move gear around with ease while trying to tailor their loadouts for any occasion.

7 9. Stories Beneath the Surface

In Destiny, some of the best stories in the franchise were hidden in The Grimoire. Previously, these stories had to be read on a third-party site or app since they were not accessible in-game. However, in Forsaken, Bungie has added several new lore books to Destiny 2 that players can unlock that tell phenomenal stories - much like the Grimoire did back in Destiny. Contained in the Triumphs tab, these books tell many different stories.

One of the books is dubbed "Ghost Stories" and tells the story of different Ghosts in the system and how they live alongside their Guardians. Each story is unique - some sad, some gruesome, and some truly amazing. The Ghost story "Into the Fray" tells of a Guardian who was resurrected too soon and is forced to learn to fight against Cabal with nothing but her fists. These spectacular stories make it worth tracking down all the collectibles that can be found throughout the solar system.

6 10. Brutal Barons and Bosses

Following the reveal of Cayde's death at the hands of Uldren Sov, players were introduced to the Barons who aided Uldren and must be tracked down in Forsaken. While they seemed interesting in the teasers leading up to launch, taking these bosses head-on proved to be much better than anticipated. Most bosses in Destiny are practically bullet sponges with little personality.

However, these Barons proved to be more than that - each of them featured unique fighting mechanics and distinct personalities that made them stand apart from pretty much every boss in Destiny history. As players crossed the Barons off the list one-by-one, they learned more about them and the Scorn as a whole, proving that Bungie invested more into these eight Barons than many fans first thought.

Outside of the Forsaken campaign, there is the "meatball" boss players are familiar with that is tied to both the final mission of the Forsaken campaign and the Malfeasance hand cannon quest. This boss is also featured in the Blind Well as the boss during the Taken week. The design for this boss is borderline disgusting, as it is a mesh of Servitors, Taken, and Ahamkara. In the Last Wish raid, two of the bosses are Techeuns - a first since players haven't really fought human-type characters before. They both have very interesting mechanics that set their fights apart from each other.

Then there is Riven, the final boss of the Last Wish raid. The first time players see this monstrosity they really get the scale for how enormous it really is - making it all the more satisfying to strike it down once and for all. It is very clear that Bungie put a lot of work into designing memorable bosses for players to face head-on in Forsaken. Hopefully, the future expansions will feature new and creative bosses as well.

5 11. Breathtaking Scenery

When the Dreaming City was first shown off, it was metaphorically referred to as something akin to a Tolkien Elvish stronghold. While many fans were skeptical at best about the endgame patrol zone, when players first stepped foot into the Dreaming City, many fans were blown away at the beauty of the Awoken homeland. The Dreaming City is perhaps one of the most beautiful locations that Bungie has ever crafted for the Destiny universe - and it changes every week due to the cyclical curse. Then when players visit Mara Sov, they get to look out across the Galaxy, watching stars and spacedust slowly transit across the sky.

Bungie's environmental artists when above and beyond for the Forsaken DLC, for each location that they made was beautiful in its own right. The Tangled Shore, while at first glance is barren and desolate, actually contains many beautiful locations to explore. The deep purple skybox is entrancing, like watching dust blow over a desert field. It truly embodies the Western theme of the expansion. Even the Lost Sectors in new zones are great. The Tangled Shore's Empty Tank lost sector is perhaps one of the most creative and funny areas in the game. It looks like it's a bar ripped straight out of Star Wars, where players take down the DJ and all the attendants. Bungie has made it fun and breathtaking to explore these new zones, a trend that will hopefully continue in future expansions.

4 12. A Darker Step in the Right Direction

One of the main gripes with Destiny 2's take on storytelling is that Bungie abandoned the dark themes of the first game in favor of a more light-hearted, jovial experience. Throughout the course of the Red War, an event that should have been riddled with darker narrative themes, Ghost and other main characters joked and made witty one-liners through many catastrophic events. Only one real character saw major character development in some form, and that was Ikora. But when Bungie revealed the shocking E3 trailer this year, fans quickly realized that the dark narrative would be coming back - and Bungie delivered on that tenfold.

Looking at the narrative in retrospect, there were no cringe-inducing one-liners from Ghost, no half-baked comments from other characters in the game. Forsaken was a dark, gritty revenge story until the very end. Even after the events of the main Forsaken campaign, the Dreaming City storyline (which is still unfolding at the time of writing) keeps with the darker narrative thread. Many of the lore entries in the game channel the grimdark elements of the Grimoire from Destiny. All in all, Forsaken recaptures what so many fans loved about the writing of the past Destiny stories and expansions.

3 13. The Pursuit of Power

At the heart of the Destiny experience is the Power grind. Players are always searching for ways to gain Power through new weapons and gear. With Forsaken, and the introduction of the daily and weekly challenge changes, players have many more avenues to get power increases. If players just want to do Crucible or Strikes, they can - though it will take longer.

The tiered Power leveling system in Forsaken is the first time that Power levels have actually made sense: harder content rewards much higher gear if players tackle it at lower levels. Players that dive into the Last Wish raid severely underleveled will be challenged, and be rewarded greatly for it. As players near the hard cap of 600, the challenges will still give increases, usually a +1 Power increase. These changes are a great step in the right direction from the easy Power grind that Destiny 2 suffered from in year one.

2 14. Enjoyable Eververse?

For the first time in what feels like forever fans are actually not complaining (much) about Eververse. This is mostly thanks to the re-introduction of the Prismatic Matrix along with the brand-new Eververse bounties. These bounties allow players to complete a variety of tasks to earn Bright Dust which can then be used to directly purchase items from Tess instead of relying solely on Bright Engrams.

Even the Festival of the Lost feels more rewarding than most previous holiday events. Players essentially earn double Bright Engrams with each level up - one for the event and one for standard Eververse items. The Prismatic Matrix allows players to try to get certain items that are on a weekly rotation in the knock-out system. So if the Matrix has one or two items players don't already own, their chance is higher of getting the desired item. Overall, players can essentially ignore the game's Silver currency and earn items through Bright Dust and Engrams just by playing the game. Hopefully, these great improvements stay throughout the rest of Destiny 2's lifecycle.

1 15. Powerful Subclasses

Forsaken introduced nine new subclass trees for players to unlock. These trees are fun and a great addition to the game. Almost every ability is vastly different from the other two in the subclass, making them feel even more unique. While the older subclasses may feel overshadowed a bit, these new ones revitalized how players approach encounters or Crucible.

The new Gunslinger Blade Barrage super is phenomenal for boss damage and in PvP, and is much easier to use compared to the standard Golden Gun. The Titan Banner Shield gives players the Weapons of Light buff from Destiny that so many fans asked for. Warlocks are even more helpful in encounters now thanks to the Well of Radiance super that gives both healing and a damage buff. All of the supers added in Forsaken are great, and hopefully Bungie will continue to design new player abilities going forward - maybe even a new element?

These are some of the biggest changes that came with Forsaken, though they are not the only ones. Regardless, Forsaken is exactly what Destiny 2 needed following Curse of Osiris and Warmind. While Warmind was a slightly more well-received, Curse of Osiris left a bad taste in many players' mouths. It seems that Bungie is listening more closely to what the playerbase wants out of Destiny 2, and that is paying off. Forsaken may be the best Destiny has been in a long time for nearly everyone. Hopefully, this will continue moving forward into future content.