There are a lot of things people like and dislike with the original incarnation of Destiny and it’s first DLC the Dark Below. Whether it was the lack of story, “grindy” nature of the game or limited end game options, there was usually at least one hot topic that players would get stuck on, and write off the game because of it.

With House of Wolves, Bungie has gotten ahead of the comments and made a point of ensuring the players that they are listening, and many of the changes coming with House of Wolves were done with their concerns in mind. With the launch of the DLC on May 19th, we decided to take a look at some of our favorite changes coming to House of Wolves and how they will change the game for the better.

No More Commendations

It wasn’t one of the major bullet points of the expansion but this small change will make a huge difference in getting your hands on new gear. If you played a lot of Crucible or Strikes you will be familiar with the Commendation system which not only required you have the appropriate amount of marks to get a piece of Crucible/ Vanguard gear, but also a Commendation. Commendations could be acquired by increasing your reputation level with that faction by an entire level, no easy task.

When the system was first put in place it made sense, as it would prevent players who had saved up a ton of Marks from purchasing all of the best gear instantly. The downside of course, was that it made it extremely labor and time intensive to get even a single piece of Vanguard/ Crucible gear, which didn’t help the grindy reputation the game already had around it.

With House of Wolves the Commendation system has been completely removed and returned to the single Mark currency, meaning much shorter gear farming times and a better experience all around. If you have built up a collection of Commendations, they can be exchanged for faction reputation when the DLC goes live.

Gear Ascending

A game’s expansion can be an exciting and somewhat depressing time as you get access to all new content and gear at the expense of all the weapons and armor you spent so much time to get and upgrade. The House of Wolves hopes to dull that sting with the introduction of its “Ascending” process that will instantly upgrade your current Exotic/ Legendary items to the new damage, stat and light benchmarks.

Of course Ascending comes at a cost. Ascending a legendary item costs an Etheric Light (Obtained in the new end game content and Iron Banner) along with a handful of resources, while Ascending an exotic item will cost an Ascendant Energy and even more resources and glimmer.

The best part about the system is that your upgrades and unlocks on the gear remain intact after the Ascension. Those hours and hours of gameplay will not be erased. It also means that there are even more ways than ever to reach the light cap, something that was only previously attainable by running Crota over and over again.

Material Exchanges

Ever have an inventory full of Ascendant Energy but all you need are Ascendant Shards? Previously you would need to keep on farming, but no more with House of Wolves.

The Speaker in the tower will now offer material exchanges at a 1:1 rate. If you need 20 Shards and have 20 Energy, make the swap and you’re set.

Crucible Rewards Increased

The rewards from the Crucible definitely weren’t terrible, but they were lacking when compared with strikes and weekly bounties. Luckily the new DLC will be changing all that, as the Mark and Reputation gains from the Crucible will both be doubled. This is a hug time saver for players who would have to play through dozens of Crucible matches to get a single piece of gear.

Not only that, your chance at receiving a random drop has been substantially increased along with the odds of receiving currency such as Motes of Light and Strange Coins.

As you can probably see there is a common theme to the changes coming with House of Wolves, and that is reducing the amount of time it takes to get geared while increasing the variety of activities that reward it. What are your favorite additions to Destiny in the House of Wolves? Let us know in the comments. 


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Destiny Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

About The Author

A man of many hats, Greg divides his precious gaming time between competitive games like League of Legends and Dota 2 and Action/ Adventure Games like GTA, and Destiny. At Ten Ton Hammer he specializes in making guides for new and veteran players alike.

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