Destiny 2 is bringing Vault of Glass back with ‘fresh coat of paint,’ not reworking it

The Vault of Glass raid from the original Destiny holds a special place in the heart of every veteran player. Not only was this raid the first true test of skill and team coordination that the series saw but it was the activity that brought the franchise back from the brink of death due to its lackluster launch.

When Beyond Light and the future of the Destiny franchise was revealed earlier in the year Bungie also made a surprise announcement that this classic raid would be returning sometime in 2021.

In a recent interview with Polygon, Assistant Game Director Joe Blackburn gives the community some insight into how Bungie plans on bringing this iconic raid back into the series.

“I think the ultimate goal here is to make it feel like Vault of Glass felt when the first time you did it,” said Blackburn. “Which is probably pretty different than if we just did a straight port of Vault of Glass.”

Currently, there is a plethora of weapons and abilities in the game that are able to absolutely trivialise many encounters. Those of you who have been playing for some time should realise just how much more powerful our Guardians have become when compared to our Destiny 1 counterparts. If Vault of Glass comes back into the franchise as a 1:1 copy of its original form it will be an absolute walk in the park.

So this begs the question: How will Bungie bring back Vault of Glass and make it a challenging experience while keeping the identity of the raid intact?

“We definitely are going to make changes to make it feel challenging, like it felt before,” said Blackburn. “But we don’t want to go too far, and make it feel like it’s a different raid.” Blackburn then notes that the team had to conduct something similar when both Vault of Glass and Crota’s end were redone for the Age of Triumph update for Destiny 1. “There were some slight mechanical tweaks,” said Blackburn. “There were some slight sandbox tweaks, but it was like, ‘Oh, yeah, this is still the Oracles encounter, this is still the Templar encounter.”

However, the sandbox has changed much more dramatically since then and so it's likely that some larger changes will need to be made.

At the heart of any raid is its loot and Blackburn agrees. “Just like I don’t think you can bring back Vault of Glass if it doesn’t feel like Vault of Glass, and call it Vault of Glass, you can’t bring Vault of Glass without the weapons that feel like Vault of Glass, right? And so I would expect favorites to return,” said Blackburn.

That's right, community favourites such as Fatebringer, Found Verdict, and Vision of Confluence will be returning to be earned inside the Vault of Glass raid.

Just like how the raid encounters will need to be adjusted in order to not become pushovers, Blackburn says that these iconic weapons will need to be adjusted in order to not feel weak alongside the current sandbox. “There’s obviously some [Destiny 2] updating to go into those perk pools,” said Blackburn. “But no one is out to create a Found Verdict or a Fatebringer here that feels radically different than the original Fatebringer. Because then it just feels like we’re lying to players, right? Like, ‘That’s not what Fatebringer feels like.’ Everyone knows what the recoil pattern is on that gun. Everyone knows what perks they wanted.”

Despite these changes, Blackburn seems confident that the team at Bungie will be able to deliver an experience from the revamped Vault of Glass that will present a challenge to the community while still keeping that classic feel.

No word on even a rough estimate for when the raid will be coming. All we have to go off is still ‘Year 4’ which would be sometime during 2021.