The most fascinating aspect of Destiny 2's Beyond Light expansion is the introduction of a new element called "Stasis." This is the first new damage type added to the series since its launch (following Solar, Arc, and Void), and thus also introduces an entirely new subclass. Today, as part of the event just before the start of Gamescom, Bungie released a new trailer that delves further into the effects of Stasis. Yes, it's like ice, and I don't know why it isn't called "Frost."

All I know is that it looks so, ahem, cool. The new subclasses have names, too: warlocks have Shadebinder, who wields an ice wand that shoots shattering energy bolts. Hunters have the Revenant, which uses two ice-pick axes thrown to smash enemies before they freeze. Titans are behemoths, capable of freezing the ground in front of them before unleashing an explosive flying punch.

Bungie has previously said that these Stasis subclasses will be more customizable than the existing tree, but has yet to reveal how. (My guess is that there will be more nodes that can be toggled on and off to suit your playstyle.) Also, Stasis will be in weapons, but you'll have to watch the trailer frame by frame to find any indication of that; the core theme of Stasis seems to be pre-freezing targets before blowing them to smithereens, which sounds fun and, dare I say it, this kind of combo is one of the things Anthem actually does well. [Destiny 2: Beyond Light will be released on November 10 and will feature an all-new objective (the frozen tundra of Europa, one of Jupiter's moons) and the return of a Destiny 1 objective (an abandoned space base on Earth in former Russia). You can read more about what to expect on the official page for this expansion, including a preview of the next raid, but it should be noted that a bunch of old content (actually multiple entire planets) is being simultaneously removed and placed in what is called the Destiny Content Vault.

Phil wrote earlier this week about exactly what will be removed, and it really is a lot (RIP weapons testing and cold air in Tribute Hall). Interestingly, one of the content creators invited to last year's Destiny Summit at Bungie HQ in Seattle sheds potential light on the reasons for vaulting much of this legacy content: Beyond Light is essentially Destiny 3," in a video titled "Why it is 3," Aztecross explains that during the eight-hour meeting, game director Luke Smith told attendees, "We need to take some of these planets off the map. We need to take some of these planets off the map.

The idea that there are substantial problems in Destiny's core code that need to be cleaned up has been floating around for some time, so given that Bungie has chosen to continue iterating on Destiny 2 rather than create Destiny 3, the destinations to be "fixed" Removing them makes some sense. When announcing the content vault, Bungie stated that "content that goes into the Destiny content vault may return in the future, modified (if necessary) to fit the new state of the universe."

The explanation was that the huge amount of content was creating problems for testing, not forgetting that the game's install size has ballooned and is still supported on current consoles. Of course, it should be noted that much has changed since the summit. For one thing, the current overarching plot involves the invasion of a vaulted planet by a mysterious pyramid ship of "darkness," which at least provides a narrative reason for them to leave.

When these destinations return in the future, they will be very different on the surface and probably not for the better.

I asked Bungie for clarification on Aztecross' claims, but since the video remains live, I have to assume the studio isn't too fussed about the NDA he may have broken.