Destiny 2: The Vault of Glass’ return and its significance

ByEloin Barahona Garcia Hours

Last Updated on: 8th April 2021, 05:27 am

Many newer Destiny players are not aware of the significance of the Vault of Glass’ return in Season 14. For many veteran players, the Vault’s introduction into Destiny 2 is monumental, as many regard it as one of the best raids in the series.

It was September 16th, 2014….

Destiny had been around for only a week. Players were frustrated by its lack of a story and repetitive content, but there was a core playerbase at the end of the day. After going through the entirety of the game and playing every strike and mission, the hardcore players had nothing left to challenge them.

Little did they know that they would receive one of the most legendary pieces of content to ever release in a game.

Destiny’s first ever raid: The Vault of Glass.

The 14 hour war

Atheon, the final boss of The Vault of Glass.
Credit: Bungie

You can consider Vault of Glass as the first of its kind for first person shooters. It was an MMO raid realized in a first person shooter, complete with mechanics, encounters and loot not unlike something in WoW. Much like new raids in MMOs, Vault of Glass’ introduction brought with it a swath of new challenges for players.

It was hard. Like, extremely hard when it released. You needed to be properly geared for every encounter, as well as coordinate properly with your fireteam in order to overcome every encounter in the Vault. Every single part of the raid was designed for a group of six people to wrestle with. If too many people died or messed up an important mechanic, it’d be a wipe for the entire fireteam.

The first team to finish the raid, PrimeGuard, took fourteen hours to get through the entire thing. Fourteen hours of dying to various mechanics that needed to be figured out on the fly while also discovering strategies to defeating one of the bosses.

READ MORE: Destiny 2: Major changes to tower vendors

The stuff of legends

Fatebringer, a weapon more than likely to return in Vault of Glass.
Credit: Bungie

Raiding was one of few ways to push past the original soft cap of twenty, and materials to upgrade both weapons and armor could only be obtained in the activity. Some of Destiny’s most famous weapons came out of the Vault of Glass; Fatebringer, Vision of Confluence, and the Vex Mythoclast were some of the most sought after weapons in the entire game.

Many players even reported obtaining one of the best exotic weapons in the entire game from the raid: the Gjallarhorn. It was a weapon so insanely powerful and useful against the final boss that fireteams on matchmaking websites would demand that you had one to raid with them.

The later update to this raid and other raids that released early on in Destiny’s lifespan introduced new weapons and armor ornaments to chase weekly. In addition to the update, challenges were added to the raid that enabled some extra difficulty with rewards for their completion.

READ MORE: Is Destiny 2 Worth Playing Right Now?

Shimmering Glass

A Titan ornament set that is obtainable through the revised Vault of Glass.
Credit: Bungie

Bungie announced months ago that some old activities and locations from Destiny were going to start returning sometime in 2021. As of now, some old strikes and the Cosmodrome have been made available in Destiny 2.

The next season will apparently be when The Vault of Glass will finally release in-game. Bungie has stated that there will be a worlds first raid race for this iteration at launch. Much like other worlds first races, power level will be capped; however, in addition to the cap, challenges will be added for the competitors to tackle.

Old memories of the original run into the Vault will arise that day, as it’ll open and allow new players to plunder its secrets once again. As Destiny continues to improve, it’ll be nice to receive the occasional nostalgic return to content like Vault of Glass every once in a while.