The new "The Desert Perpetual" raid in Destiny 2 has introduced a big change, as it's the Destiny franchise's first-ever nonlinear raid. Typically, raids in Destiny and Destiny 2 feature encounters, puzzles, and boss battles in a set order, but The Edge of Fate changed things during the Year of Prophecy's initial World First raid race.
Released on July 15, Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate takes Guardians to Kepler, a new destination located on the outskirts of the solar system. The expansion also introduces a new mystery involving the Nine, a new character named Lodi, new activities, legendary weapons and gear, and Exotics. Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate also carries on Bungie's tradition of launching a raid and World First race within the first week of the expansion's launch.
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Posts 1The World First race for Destiny 2's The Desert Perpetual raid began on July 19 at 10:00 a.m. PDT, and not long into the race, Destiny 2 players on Reddit quickly discovered that the raid is nonlinear after completing the first encounter, Predestination. After clearing the Predestination encounter, players can interact with various spheres on platforms in the raid's hub area, which can be activated to grant access to an encounter through a door designated with symbols of the Nine. There are three bosses to battle in any specific order that the fireteam chooses: Iatros, Agraios, and Epoptes. Since the raid is still fresh and in Contest Mode for 48 hours, many players stumbled onto their first boss and proceeded to defeat it and move onto the subsequent bosses in a nonlinear order, intentional or not. Although the idea is not wholly unique, the ability to pick encounters in the raid does set Destiny 2's The Edge of Fate expansion apart from previous expansions.
Destiny 2 The Desert Perpetual Raid Lets Players Pick Their Boss Encounters After Completing the First Encounter
Thus far, it appears that many Destiny 2 fireteams went after the Iatros boss first, as there are already guides and other tips being shared and posted online for others to use and share with their fireteams. It's suggested that defeating the three known bosses leads to the final raid encounter, as a fourth platform is present in the raid's hub area. However, it should be noted that the World First race for The Desert Perpetual is ongoing at the time of this writing. In the coming weeks, players will likely come up with the best loadouts and Artifact mods in Destiny 2 for The Desert Perpetual, along with optimal routes for defeating all the bosses.
CloseAt the very least, the community's discoveries show that Bungie may be willing to experiment and try new ideas with raids in the post-The Edge of Fate era of Destiny 2. Letting players pick the encounters they want to play could help them optimize their time spent in raids, as those who complete The Desert Perpetual could return to the raid later on to farm gear from specific encounters.
