10 things to do while waiting for Destiny 2: The Final Shape
Since Bungie delayed the release of Destiny 2: The Final Shape to June 4, 2024, players have found themselves with an extra four months to kill. While many are taking the opportunity to play other titles (2023 was a banger year for consumers), I’ve opted to lean into the delay and rekindle my love for Destiny.
The best ways to kill time while waiting for Crow to open that portal
Unlock Titles
Titles are ultimately the culmination of a Season or activity that displays to others that you conquered it. Typically, I don’t really care for titles and would only go for those that were tied to something I enjoyed, like Festival of the Lost’s Ghost Writer, or had greater meaning, like Season of the Seraph’s Seraph.
Now I’m targeting Titles like an in-game checklist. It has focused my gameplay and gives me a clear goal each time I log in. Plus, I won’t deny that my brain releases the good chemicals when a Title’s badge is filled in once completed.
Obtain missing Exotics
Unless an Exotic was relatively easy to obtain, I didn’t really bother going out of my way for it. Despite being a looter shooter, chasing loot isn’t why I play Destiny 2. I have a rotating stable of go-to's and unless it looked super cool and/or fun, I wasn’t going to get it.
With four months of free time, I’m able to chase those more difficult to obtain Exotics and tinker with them. This is naturally leading me into tinkering with different loadouts and it’s surprisingly refreshing to simply experiment and try out new things.
Find and finish those Exotic Catalysts
Of course, once you’ve obtained an Exotic, the next logical step is to get the Catalyst for it and make it a more effective killing machine. Typically, the worst part of unlocking a Catalyst is having to kill 400–700 enemies with it. However, when coupled with other items on this list, Catalyst completion becomes a byproduct.
Collect every craftable weapon from a Season
Craftable weapons are a bit divisive. Some players feel they take the loot chase out of Destiny 2 whereas others like being able to build their perfect version of a weapon. I’m of the latter opinion and having Enhanced Perks certainly doesn’t hurt.
Since The Final Shape is going to relegate the previous four Seasons to the Destiny Content Vault, now is the time to nab any missing blueprints and add roughly 20 weapons to your collection. Plus, with there being a Seasonal Triumph for using Seasonal weapons, there’s plenty of incentive to craft and tinker.
Learn a new Raid
This one is probably the toughest for me. I have some nasty social anxiety and equally awful self-esteem. Even when I had a clan of supportive people, raid night was always rough for me.
However, I desperately want to move past this and get at least one Raid committed to memory. So, for me, before The Final Shape rolls around, I want to have Deep Stone Crypt on farm status. Maybe we’ll meet in LFG one day.
Learn a new Dungeon
Learning a new Dungeon isn’t as rough as learning a new Raid, due to simpler mechanics and only having a fireteam of three instead of six. Still, despite having literally written guides for some of these Dungeons, my feelings of inadequacy tend to get in the way.
There’s a lot of good loot in these Dungeons, including exclusive Exotic weapons. Aside from conquering my own demons, I would love to do a solo run of Spire of the Watcher, just to get the WANTED Title.
Try out Trials of Osiris
PvP can be just as intimidating as running Dungeons or Raids in Destiny 2. So, ramping up the difficulty and notorious toxicity associated with the Trials of Osiris can be overwhelming for some.
However, I’d like to think that our Titan daddies, Saint-14 and Lord Shaxx, would do their best to push us into the PvP deep end. When I think of them and realize they have unwavering faith in me, I too can believe I’m unstoppable. So, join me in getting absolutely curb-stomped every weekend.
Learn a new Class
I’m a Titan main and have been since day one. Sure, I have a Hunter and Warlock and at one point tried to keep them leveled up, but those days have long since passed. However, I won’t deny that the temptation to go back to my Warlock is always there. I love the idea of my Warlock being a robot vampire thanks to throwing the Karnstein Gauntlets on an Exo.
I don’t think it would be so bad if progress was shared across all three classes as I really don’t want to unlock all of the Stasis and Strand fragments all over again. But, we have time to kill, so why not? Give into temptation.
Tinker with your least favorite Subclass
Ever since its introduction in Beyond Light, I’ve loved the idea of Stasis. That being said, I’ll be damned if I was able to get the Behemoth Titan to work for me. That was until I sat down and really tinkered with it. Now I’m a nigh-unstoppable monster of rime and frost.
So, if there’s a subclass that just hasn’t clicked with you yet, I’d urge you to give it another shot and really lean into it. Try different pieces of Exotic Armor and complimenting Exotic Weapons. You might just find that you have a new favorite.
Go fishing
Fishing minigames have been one of my favorite side activities since The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. So, when Bungie added fishing to Destiny 2 with Season of the Deep, I was all in.
In typical Bungie fashion, there was some weird time-gating in the beginning, but now it’s a great way to destress. Sitting in the EDZ with a line cast and looking at the gorgeous scene of water curtained by mountains and forest with a smattering of aged European architecture will be one of my favorite Destiny memories.
