Destiny 2 Seasons Are Getting A Fortnite-Style Battle Pass

Bungie continues to detail the major changes coming with the start of the third year of Destiny 2 and the launch of Shadowkeep, its next expansion. We already knew Bungie was overhauling the premium Eververse Store and the various cosmetic rewards you receive from it. Now we have a better idea of how you’ll earn a lot of the rewards that used to come from Eververse, as well as some other cool gear, in the game’s upcoming new seasons.

In a new blog post, director Luke Smith outlined the new Season Pass system coming in the next year of Destiny. In the current Destiny 2 year, players purchased an Annual Pass, which included three new seasons of content–including new activities and stories, new Exotic weapons, and new cosmetic gear. In Year 3, you’ll purchase a Season Pass for each new season for $10 a pop, and it’ll function a lot like the Battle Pass system used in Fortnite or Apex Legends.

Starting with the Season of the Undying, which launches as part of the $40 Shadowkeep expansion (and is included in the price), you’ll now work on a Season Rank, which looks exactly like the Battle Pass in Fortnite. As you complete activities and bounties, you’ll earn points toward your Season Rank, whether you paid for the Season Pass or not. Increase your rank and you’ll regularly get new drops that include two Exotic weapons, new finishers, emotes, and armor. You’ll get more rewards faster if you pay in–including an Exotic weapon with your first Season Rank–but there are several rewards you can get even if you play without paying using Destiny 2’s free New Light version.

The system doesn’t sound too different from Destiny 2’s old seasonal engram system, which provided random drops to paying Annual Pass players throughout each season as you leveled up your character over the game’s level cap. The difference here is that drops won’t be random, and that there’s a path for players who don’t buy in. There are 100 levels to earn in each Season Pass, Smith wrote, and Bungie is planning to let you buy ranks toward the end of the season if you’re lagging behind and want to catch up on some rewards you don’t have time to earn as you play.

Here’s the rundown Smith provided about the free and premium tracks in Shadowkeep and Season of the Undying.

Premium Season Pass Includes:

• New seasonal activity, the Vex Offensive, which includes:
  • Four Legendary Weapon drops
  • Additional weekly and daily bounties
  • Additional weekly challenges with powerful rewards
• A new weapon quest for an Exotic Bow, Leviathan’s Breath
• A new Exotic Hand Cannon, Eriana’s Vow
• Three seasonal Legendary armor sets (one for each class)
  • All sets unlock at Rank 1
• Three universal ornament armor sets (one for each class)
• Exotic weapon ornament for Eriana’s Vow
• Two Legendary weapon ornaments
• New finisher
• Exotic emote
• Exotic ship
• Everything on the free tier, but quicker

Free Season Pass Includes:

• Eriana’s Vow
  • Awarded on Rank 35 of the free track
• Three seasonal Legendary armor sets (one for each class)
  • Collect a complete set during the first 25 ranks of the free track
• Two Legendary weapons
• Best of Year 2 Bright Engrams
• Glimmer and upgrade modules

All Players Get:

• Patrolling the Moon destination
• The opening mission of Shadowkeep
• Two new strikes
• Crucible Updates (which I discussed in [link to previous Director’s Cut])
• Two returning PvP maps from the D1 era—Widow’s Court and Twilight Gap
• Elimination in Crucible Labs
• Armor 2.0 build customization
• Eye of the Gate Lord Seasonal Artifact
• New finishers
• Two new pinnacle weapons: one for Gambit and one for Crucible