Destiny: The Taken King adds perks to class items, ditches Light system - report

Destiny class items may end up as more than just expensive vanity items.

Destiny: The Taken King is gonna shake up the shared-worlds shooter. In addition to introducing a third subclass, it'll add a whole new Destination and two PvP modes among loads of other goodies.

The expansion is hands-on at E3 2015, and things are subject to change before it launches in September, but at the moment it looks like we can expect a major overhaul to the equipment system. During a hands-on session, Kotaku noticed a bunch of new equipment perks.

Bungie said the perks were experimental and from Kotaku's observations its clear some of them weren't even close to finished, so it's probably not worth getting too excited about them yet, but there were some very interesting examples: perks that raised reputation gain, perks that increased weapon growth, and perks that allowed you to select which stat your armour would boost.

Apparently equipment shown in the demo for The Taken King did not have upgrade slots to increase your Light level; it's possible you'll be able to wear whatever armour you want rather than needing to wear the "best" gear (or upgrade gear to maximum values with Etheric Light). That's a huge change, if it makes into the final build.

Fiunally, class items seem to have perks now, which is rad. An extra slot for build tailoring? Yes please.

There are loads of other interesting new details in Kotaku's preview, such as Titan Vanguard Commander Zavala acting as mission guide, 20 slots for Bounties and a new Progress menu tab tracking various systems, so go have a read.

Destiny: The Taken King launches on September 15 this year. Pat got a chance to chat to Bungie at E3 2015 and learned that much of The Taken King is set on Phobos, a moon of Mars in addition to Oryx's Dreadnought, where the new Raid and some missions take place.