In the Forsaken expansion, Bungie Destiny led 2 players to an unattainable goal: defeat the Dungeon Shattered Throne at level 999 to break the curse on the Dream City. One year later, with “Season of the Undying” and “Shadowkeep”, the studio finally raised the level limit enough for a player to take over the dungeon alone – while the entire Destiny community watched.
But after all this time Bungie did not seem to be prepared for what came next.
The curse on the dream city
When the players first defeated Riven of a Thousand Voices in the Last Wish Raid last year, a curse overcame the place in Dreaming City in the game and allowed him to enter a three-week content cycle. The curse is a clever way to understand the weekly reset, but it also has some relevance to the tradition.
Savathun, the sister of Oryx (also known as the main villain of the Destiny expansion: The Taken King), has purposely invented the curse. In the third week of the curse, just before he is reset to the first week, the Shattered Throne dungeon opens and guards can kill Dul Incaru, Savathun’s daughter.
According to Destiny tradition, killing Dul Incaru feeds Savathun with energy and makes her stronger. But if guards do not kill her, she’ll ruin the dream city forever. At the end of the third week, Dul Incaru always returns when the curse is reset. Guardians have been canonically killing Dul Incaru every week for a year, providing power to Savathun, but preventing the destruction of the Dream City. For Guardians in history, this is a situation in which you can lose.
Players always thought that they would find a way to end the curse in the Dreaming City so that the guards could finally defeat Dul Incaru and not strengthen Savathun. A narrative book added weeks after Forsaken gave an indication of how the curse can be ended – players only had to wait another 12 months.
The search for 999 power
By participating in an activity called “Blind Well”, players can purchase a book titled “Truth to Power” by Queen Mara Sov. Some of these heritage records give hints to Destiny’s biggest secrets. However, the Lore entry “ActIChooseIReact” brings to life the longstanding theory that players can end the curse in the dream city.
“ActIChooseIReact” offers a quest for players: “Achieve Light Level 999 and defeat Dul Incaru in a one-person fireteam to unlock the true end of the Dream City,” it says. At that time, however, Forsaken’s power cap (called the original Destiny and the Light Level lore) was only 600.
Players waited until the Black Armory 650 cap, the Season of the Drifter’s 700 cap and the Season of Opulence’s 750 cap. In October, Bungie released Shadowkeep with a cap of 960 and the ability to drive a technically unlimited number of forces beyond.
The players were finally able to reach 999 Power and find out what the book had to do with the “true end of the dreaming city”. And so began the grind.
The Shattered Throne Attempt of Bagel4k
(embed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HONqRoRbR8w (/ embed)
In order to reach 999 Power in Shadowkeep and Season of the Undying, players had to earn millions of experience points. The Seasonal Artifact – an item that you upgrade each season and that gives you new benefits and perks – earns a bonus for each level. To get from 960 to 999, players needed about 40 artifact levels. The grind was long, but one player reached the milestone about a month after its release.
Bagel4k, a UK-based Destiny streamer, beat 999 ahead of everyone else. For two weeks he played on average over 18 hours a day. But to accomplish the tradition, he had to accomplish the Shattered Throne Dungeon on his own – a task normally done by three players. To make things even more difficult, Bagel4k had only completed Shattered Throne a few times and never on his own. Join Gladd and Company, the Destiny streamer and his friends, who are responsible for all sorts of solo runs and world premieres.
Gladd sat on Discord with Bagel4k and led him through voice chat and screen sharing through his first solo attempt by Shattered Throne. After less than two hours, Bagel4k defeated Dul Incaru with 999 Power.
Nothing has happened. At least not in the game.
Bungies pointing to the future
An excerpt from the On the Power Climb blog postBungie via Polygon
On November 6, Bungie posted a blog post titled “On the Power Climb” on his website. The post is bizarre and takes time to talk about player performance in the last month. “I am Savathun, starving!” Is a message. “I put the noose and lured the trap,” says another.
Savathun reveals in the post that it was a trick: “I am the finality, the reward – I am the true end.” The post ends with “The wait is long, but I’m incessant.” Post and Bungie Community Manager dmg04 went on Twitter and operated by Savathun.
I̴̧̪̙̐͝ş̴̪̙̐͝ ̴̤̣̓̈̊v̴̤̣̓̈̊č̵̯̯̠̙ǐ̵̡̘͓͇̿̏̊t̶̡̟̖̮̚ő̶͖̹r̶͎ ̶͚͔̖͖̇̋s̴̮̒ỏ̷̰̉̓ ̷̻̳̖̾͐̄̿ȩ̴̨̖̩̏a̷̻̳̖̾͐̄̿ȩ̴̨̖̩̏s̸̡̹̼͖̾y̴̫̣̯̔, ̵̰͔͓͓͊̏ ̵̰͔͓͓͊̏h̵̟̞͎͆̆͜è̶̟̥̬͒̕̕ö̵̩̝̐ŕ̸̬͇̓͘? ̵̒
– dmg04 (@ A_dmg04) November 6, 2019
His tweets are “Truth to the Force” and “Is Victory So Easy, Hero?”. Shortly afterwards, he returned to Twitter and said, “Alright, I just do not remember the last tweets on my account, so weird .”
With this post, Bungie suggests that Savathun is probably the next big evil we’ll face in Destiny – something that players have been suspecting for years. But weeks later, that’s all the studio has said about the achievements of the community.
An anticlimactic end to a yearlong search
With Destiny 2: Shadowkeep, Bungie began to advance the story of the series. At the end of the campaign, players got more questions than answers.
This step back to Bungie’s little teasing is frustrating. The Destiny community came together by itself to praise a player for his amazing achievements and lead him to the final. Instead of a capstone for this performance, however, Bungie promised that players would learn more over time. It was a very good brand for Bungie.
In a game like Destiny – something that players spend hundreds of hours each season waiting for until the next content drop occurs – there is a relationship of trust between the player and the developer. The community buys and plays and Bungie does something worth the time and money of the player. In this case, Bungie put the pins on and when the players knocked them down, the studio offered little return: An IOU saying: “Stay tuned for the next big adventure.”
It’s a missed opportunity for Bungie. It was an event for which the developer had a year to plan something special. Something that the authors themselves have set up with a narrative book. Instead, the fans got the bungie that they have always known – full of promise from tomorrow.