Destiny 2 fans enjoyed a nice couple of weeks now after the launch of Season of the Deep, its Ghosts of the Deep Dungeon, and the first trailer for The Final Shape expansion at the PlayStation Showcase. Ghosts of the Deep is not the only Dungeon Destiny 2 players are getting this year, as Bungie is following a pattern of two Raids and two Dungeons in the span of an entire in-game year, with each season including one. The next Dungeon would see the light of day in Season 23, which will supposedly be the closing one for the Lightfall era ahead of Destiny 2's The Final Shape expansion, whereas Season 22 will see a returning Raid that will most likely be Wrath of the Machine, making 2024's own Raid a controversial one already.
Based on Bungie's current pattern, 2024 is supposed to come with two Raids - a new one that will be tied to The Final Shape campaign and expansion and launch alongside it, and a returning one selected from past Raids that are not in Destiny 2. So far, Bungie has always picked them from Destiny's own selection, with King's Fall in Season 18 of last year being a great example of this logic, but things may look a bit dire when it comes to The Final Shape's returning Raid.
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The main problem with returning Destiny Raids is that there are only two left, with them being Wrath of the Machine and Crota's End. Both would represent a challenge to port to Destiny 2 for different reasons, such as designing an entirely new Exotic for the former (considering that the original Exotic for it was Outbreak Perfected and that it is already available in the game). When it comes to Crota's End, Bungie itself stated in the past that the Raid was too short for the scale of Destiny 2.
This means that Bungie would either have to rework the original Raid to make it meet Destiny 2's standards or simply avoid it entirely. Neither of these options is great, and with Wrath of the Machine being the most likely candidate for this year, Bungie would still be stuck with that choice and its consequences next year. In fact, the alternative for a reprised Raid that is not Crota's End would have to fall on vaulted Destiny 2 Raids, and that is always going to be a controversial choice.
The community is often not too pleased with reused content in Destiny 2 if it comes from the Content Vault, and that's because paying for content only for it to be removed and then added as paid seasonal missions or even Raids later is generally frowned upon as a practice. In particular, the Destiny Content Vault's existence was lamented by the community since it would end up halving the content available in the game and removing plenty of vanilla destinations and maps, which many felt was unfair. If Bungie ends up taking an old Destiny 2 Raid and making it available with a fresh coat of paint in 2024, the result could very well be a controversy.
And yet, with only two Raids left from the original game and four vaulted Destiny 2 Raids, this is very much a possibility - and if 2024 is not the year this happens, it could very well be the year after that. The Final Shape expansion already has a lot riding on its shoulders due to the shortcomings of Lightfall and player expectations, and with Cayde-6 returning in Destiny 2 Bungie is already pleasing many. As such, Bungie should be wise not to reprise old Destiny 2 Raids unless they see major changes, much like what happened to the Leviathan with Season of the Haunted.
Destiny 2 is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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