Bungie Vidoc shows The Dark Below weapons and armour
UPDATE: Another new video details DLC loot.
UPDATE 25/11/2014 10.15pm: Destiny developer Bungie has released a new Let's Play-esque trailer for its upcoming expansion The Dark Below in which a player named DrCrispy93 shows off some of the sweet new loot they found in the DLC.
This includes an automatic weapon called the Necrochasm that fires 900 rounds per minute, a spooky spider-eyed helmet, a shark-decaled rocket launcher called the Dragon's Breath, and some neon shin guards.
ORIGINAL STORY 25/11/2014 9.49am: Over the weekend Bungie released one of its famous Vidocs focusing on The Dark Below, Destiny's first expansion, which is due out on 9th December.
The Vidoc was issued through Game Informer and it touches on every aspect of the expansion, which raises the level cap to 32 and introduces new story missions, Strikes, the Crota's End Raid and three new multiplayer maps.
Let's start with the loot, though, because that's what we're all in it for. The Vidoc flashes up lots of images of weapon and armour pieces, some of which were exposed in the recent Dark Below data-mining. Check out the gallery below for everything in the Vidoc.
As you can see, there are all sorts of pieces. "We're gonna have new Crucible weapons, a full set of new Raid weapons, new Vanguard weapons and new legendary weapons across the board," Bungie designer Jon Weisnewski said in the Vidoc.
Elsewhere, we already knew that story was a big deal for Bungie in The Dark Below, in part due to criticism of it in the main game, and that it will be told through Eris Morn, a new character in the Tower. The Vidoc expands on her role.
"We wanted Eris to tie everything together, so she's woven into Strikes, the story and making it all part of that one cohesive experience," said lead designer M.E. Chung.
"Eris and other Guardians tried to kill Crota," added technical art director Ryan Ellis. "It didn't go well and she's spent years hiding in the tunnels below the Moon waiting for a chance at revenge."
So Eris is driving you towards the eventual Raid, then, where you and five other Guardians will take on Crota, but she is also at the core of every activity in the expansion.
"Eris is many things," explained head of production Patrick O'Kelly. "She's a vendor in the tower, so she has loot and armour for you to get as you progress in the story, but she's also the main quest-giver for the whole Dark Below storyline."
Eris will also sell you new class items, shaders and unique upgrade materials with which you can upgrade the new weapons on offer.
Footage of story missions shows that our old friend the Sword of Crota is back - or else a similar weapon - and that you get to wield it in Old Russia.
The Vidoc also touches on the Raid, offering a few glimpses of it in action while lead designer Luke Smith - who also worked on the Vault of Glass Raid for the main game - spoke about the way Bungie's Raid team went about putting it together.
"When we sit down as the Raid team and talk about building a new Raid, we start with, 'What's the theme?'" he explained. "The theme with the Vault of Glass was 'the descent'. With Crota's End, 'one-way trip' became that theme that a bunch of our mechanics and experiences were measured against."
Finally, the Vidoc gave us our clearest look yet at the three new multiplayer maps, Pantheon, Skyshock and The Cauldron, as lead designer Lars Bakken illustrated the concept behind each.
"Pantheon is our first truly symmetric map," he said. "There are three lanes - there's cliffside, centre and waterfall.
"We wanted to have better compartmentalised infantry zones, so Skyshock gives us that - you've got the vehicles owning one space and you've got infantry owning another.
"And then we have the Cauldron. You've got these unique locations on each part of the map that are very easy to call out - you've got Bone Room, you've got Bridge Room, you've got the Altar - which is what makes it such a good small-team map and a good Rumble map."
Overall, the Vidoc's theme was clearly 'here's more of everything', something spelled out by Bungie project director Jason Jones.
"We heard loud and clear what players wanted," he said. "They wanted more. That's what we've tried to do in The Dark Below, is bring people more.
"Just as we shipped the game and it got into real players' hands and they started to play it and learn so much, the same thing is going to happen with The Dark Below, and I think that's going to change how we look at Expansion 2 and what we do next."
The Dark Below is due out on 9th December. If you missed it last week, check out the intro cinematic for a taste.