Destiny: The Taken King - everything we know about Court of Oryx and player events

During Bungie's Destiny: The Taken King livestream today, Court of Oryx architect Ben Wommack provided some details on the area which is located within the Dreadnaught.

Viewers of last week's livestream were given a look at the inside of the ship with the Shield Brothers Strike. Today, the team ventured further into the bowels of the ship, to reach the Court of Oryx.

Players will travel through the Hall of Souls to reach the Court of Oryx, which was described as a "giant arena". While only Tier 2 was shown, the developer said lower tiers will not play the same bosses every time, providing variable encounters and dynamic dialog. This will help keep things fresh. For example: a Tier 1 and Tier 2 event can be combined for harder difficulty, tossing up to four bosses into the event alongside the usual enemies.

There are three Tiers for The Court of Oryx. Tier 1 bosses are around level 36 difficulty, and Tier 2 bosses will be much harder - similar to Nightfall difficulty. All bosses will have special mechanics, so there won't be any "bullet sponges".

Two events for the Court of Oryx were shown. One featured two Knights which must be lured together in order to bring their shields down. The second event features an large Ogre, and the only way to bring his shield down was to use an exploding Thrall.

According to Bungie, there will be various player events along with mysteries to discover such as Taken objects - which the developer didn't wish to spoil. These events aren't random, as all are established by the players. Up to six other players can assist your Fireteam in the Court of Oryx, and the entire Fireteam must enter the court or the event will cancel.

Runes are a currency of sorts for Court of Oryx, and once all are acquired - we know of four - players will be handed a large loot chest. These Rune are used to start player events.

To trigger an event, a player must hand over a Rune to one of the statues which spawn challenge missions. The player which presents the Rune to the statue will receive better loot than the rest of the team upon the event's completion however, Bungie has put a debuff in place called Summoner's Exhaustion which allows other players an opportunity to initiate the next event.

Antiquated Runes are rare drops in Tier 2, the Nightfall, and Raids. They are used to start Tier 3 events, which Bungie did not show. Wommack said players will have to wait until The Taken King's release to get a look at Tier 3.

Runes are explained in more detail through the video we posted earlier, and a 10 minute gameplay session featuring the lead-up to the Court of Oryx can be found through another post.

Also of note, Swords will not drop in The Taken King, which means players you will have to forge them. New Ghost Shells will have perks to help players find planetary materials by adding a Waypoint when they get close. One of the new Exotic swords was shown and it's called the Raze Lighter and like many Exotics with the expansion, they will only drop in the game world.

Destiny: The Taken King will be released on September 15, and the first Raid, King's Fall, will release three days later on September 18.