If you play Destiny 2 (and you probably do if you’re reading this), then chances are that you’ve heard something about the Master Mode of the Vault of Glass Raid making its way into the game pretty soon. This is a new and improved version of the Raid, designed to give players a much tougher challenge than the regular Raid itself, by changing up a few things within it. Many players, like myself, have been looking forward to Master Mode for quite a while now, especially since the regular Vault of Glass Raid is a complete cakewalk, and a solid half of it is spent just standing around doing nothing but waiting. So, how exactly does Master Mode change that? Here’s how the Vault of Glass Master Mode is going to work when it drops at reset on Tuesday, July 6!
Vault of Glass Master Mode
Bungie gave us a few details on how the Vault of Glass Master Mode is going to work in the latest This Week at Bungie post a few days ago, so players should have a pretty good idea of what to expect when they head into the Vault to face Atheon with a much greater challenge. So, how does it work?
Participating
Here’s what Bungie has to say about how to participate in the Vault of Glass Master Mode: “When signing in next Tuesday, Vault of Glass will offer a Master difficulty option to launch for you and your fireteam. While there is no minimum Power requirement to enter, enemies will be at 1350 Power, so you will want to earn some Pinnacle Power and raise your Artifact levels before attempting a run.” While it is certainly nice to see that Bungie isn’t requiring a minimum Power Level to enter, you’re definitely going to want to grind out some bounties and activities to increase your Power Level bonus from your seasonal artifact if you want to have a chance of doing any damage to enemies whatsoever. For comparison, enemies within the Grandmaster Nightfalls are Power locked at 1360, so theoretically this should be a little bit easier than Grandmasters, but it probably won’t be a walk in the park.
Loot
If you decide to enter the Master Mode of Vault of Glass, what sweet, precious loot will you be able to walk out with as a trophy of your accomplishments? Well, Master Vault of Glass is the first step to unlocking the final Triumphs required for the Fatebreaker Seal and title, so once you complete those, you will be able to equip your in-game title and purchase the Bungie Rewards pin, if you are at all interested. Vault of Glass Master Mode also introduces Timelost weapons to Destiny 2, which are similar to Adept weapons from Grandmaster Nightfalls and going Flawless in Trials of Osiris, but unlike Adept weapons, Timelost weapons offer an additional perk in columns three and four for a bit of added customization. Here’s how this is going to work: “Complete Vault of Glass Challenges in the Master difficulty of the activity, and you will be rewarded. Each week will feature a specific Timelost weapon for you to hunt, rotating alongside the available challenge. Once you’ve earned a Timelost weapon, you may also purchase additional rolls from the chest at the end of the raid (on Master difficulty) using Spoils of Conquest. Note that these will be at a higher price than normal versions of these weapons.” Unfortunately, weekly reward lockouts are split between both Normal and Master difficulties of Vault of Glass, which means that you will only get gear from the first time you complete encounters, challenges, and find hidden chests in either difficulty each week. You must also complete Master difficulty first to earn Timelost weapons and stat-focused armor. Speaking of stat-focused armor, Vault of Glass Master Mode armor will be on a weekly rotation of focused stats, so it doesn’t really look like we’re getting a new Master Mode armor set. I’m still kind of bummed about weekly reward lockouts, especially for endgame content like Raids, because it doesn’t incentivize players to do those activities more than once a week.
Master Mode
Alongside a Power Level increase, enemies will also be more aggressive, you’ll be dealing with some more Champions, and even more modifiers will be active in Vault of Glass Master Mode! Yay, more modifiers! More Champions! I do wish that some of the mechanics could have changed – just a little bit – so that it’s not just “Hey, enemies are harder and you have to deal with more Champions. Oh, and now you have to deal with Match Game and Attrition. Have fun!”
Alas, I have no doubt that we’ll all end up having fun, and the sigh of relief that we will all breathe after defeating Atheon in Master Mode will be all the more satisfying.
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