5 Ups & 5 Downs From Destiny: Rise Of Iron

Whether it be good or bad, there's a lot that can be said about Destiny and its various expansions. Rise of Iron is the most recent, and comes at a much needed time.

The Taken King is now a year removed and us guardians have torn through the content like it was a (Sparrow) race. While some stuck around, going through the same raids and missions for quite some time, others up and abandoned the game altogether. Thankfully, Rise of Iron sparked a new life into Destiny; it brought payers who'd been out of the game for awhile back in, and with it, a new "story" to tell.

With that came changes, including reworked strikes and enemies, along with new weapons and gear. Rise of Iron sure did come with its highs and lows though, as does almost anything Destiny-related. While most of the highs do outshine the lows, it's not to say the expansion doesn't hit its bumps along the way.

Rise of Iron as a whole is a fantastic expansion, and was something Destiny needed before it faded into obscurity yet again. But with that said, here are the things Rise of Iron struggled with...

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Downs...

5. Archon's Forge

One of the new things Rise of Iron brought in was the Archon's Forge; a new area in the new Plaguelands patrol. It plays similar to Court of Oryx from the Dreadnaught with a little bit of Prison of Elders thrown in. While it's a good idea, it just simply does not connect for so many reasons and may be Rise of Iron's biggest blunder.

First, to start the event you need to present a SIVA offering, much like runes from Court of Oryx. The SIVA offerings come in three tiers, increasing in difficulty just like the runes. However, unlike the runes, SIVA offerings do not stack, and you can only carry one at a time regardless of tier. On top of that, they are not all that common to come across. Even with a fireteam of three members there's a good chance you'll run out of SIVA offerings and have to go out hunting for them - simply because you can only hold one, and there's no way to build up a reserve. If you're holding onto a Perfected SIVA Offering but are still just a little too low a level to do it, you'll need to dismantle it in order to hopefully find one you can actually complete.

Second, is the location of Archon's Forge. It's the farthest area from where you spawn in on patrol, and you won't be able to find it unless you actually know where you're going. Thanks to it being so far off the beaten path, finding anyone to do the activity with is near impossible. Having a full fireteam is about the only way you can guarantee help, and even then, a Perfected SIVA Offering will more than likely be too much for you.

Lastly, (yes there's even more wrong with Archon's Forge) is how asinine the rewards are. In Court of Oryx, the person who presented the rune was guaranteed rewards, while others had a possibility of gaining some. However, in Archon's Forge, no one is guaranteed rewards, not even the presenter of the offering.

Having found a Perfected SIVA Offering, going through the work of defeating the bullet sponge boss only to get a Mote of Light while some random player gets a Legendary Class Item is beyond frustrating and speaks to how frustrating Archon's Forge is as a whole.