Campaigns
There really isn’t any campaign-exclusive gear to mention, to my recollection. There are the various quests on each of the destinations that were removed with Beyond Light, though. Two of these gave legendaries (MIDA Mini-Tool, Drang), and three unlocked exotic quests (MIDA Multi-Tool, Rat King, Sturm), while the fourth gave a legendary LFR (Man O’ War). They might put the world quests and adventures back in for people to experience those story beats, but I doubt they’ll return those items to their original sources. MIDA Mini-Tool and Drang already have current sources as it is, so the only weapon that would need to be updated would be Man O’ War. Seems unlikely.
There’s also the Lost Prophecy missions from Curse of Osiris and at least a couple quests from Warmind, but hard to say what happens with those. I’ll cover them in their respective destinations.
There are some cosmetics related to the campaigns that might be brought back. This includes Sagira’s Shell from CoO, as well as The Gambler’s Palm Sparrow and The Great Beyond ship from Forsaken. Hard to say if they will or won’t, but it would be nice for them to make a return.
Destinations
With five destinations returning, that’s a lot of gear that needs to be covered. Let’s go through them one by one.
Titan
Destinations from the base game are tricky because they don’t exactly have a specifically defined weapon set. Sure, some weapons did drop from each location, but they aren’t exactly themed around that location. They were always a group of weapons from various foundries with no common thread between them.
In Monument of Triumph, Bungie went back to destinations that didn’t have a distinct set of weaponry and figured out something thematically appropriate. This includes the EDZ (Field-Tested weapons, tied to Devrim), Nessus (season 8 and 9 pass weapons and two FWC weapons, tied to the Vex/Cabal/Lakshmi/Conductor), and the Cosmodrome (Seraph weapons, tied to Rasputin). With Titan and Io being brought back, it’s a chance for those destinations to get their own weapon sets.
Titan was the hardest one for me to come up with a reasonable weapon set. Like Io, it had very little play in the story before its removal, but unlike Io, it had some story development when it returned in a limited capacity in Season of the Deep. Most of the weapons from that season would be a tough fit, though. There were two weapon sets, a reprisal of some of the Reckoning weapons and a Taken revamp of those same weapons, the latter being craftable. The Taken weapons would work thematically, but craftable weapons can’t drop as tiered, so that wouldn’t really gel with the current system. Barring pulling weapons from multiple sources, I think reprising any of the remaining Gambit/Reckoning weapons would be acceptable. Could even move the complete Reckoning set to Titan while reprising any missing original Gambit weapons at Drifter, however they want to do it. This is just spitballing, but it’s the best I could come up with. It would also help them return all legendary weapons with ornaments to the game, which is a stated reason why they weren’t allowed to put legendary weapon ornament decryption in game; if you couldn’t have access to every weapon with an ornament, they weren’t allowed to sell ornaments to you, even indirectly.
These weapons would include:
- From Gambit:
- Dreaded Venture
- Pillager
- Distant Relation
- Hazard of the Cast
- Parcel of Stardust
- From the Reckoning:
Titan’s armor set is Lost Pacific. Set bonuses could maybe revolve around Taken energies or something similar.
Io
Similar to Titan, Io doesn’t have a defined weapon set. However, I found it a lot easier to think up an appropriate set for the destination: Season of Arrivals. Io was the first destination that a Pyramid arrived at, and it was the central location for the season. A reprisal of that season’s weapons would fit perfectly. Some of these were already reprised in Heresy, but they’re not easily available anymore, so I don’t think anyone would mind seeing them return or have a central location to farm them. (And some have been reprised elsewhere, but whatever. This is a thought experiment, not everything is going to line up perfectly.)
These weapons would include:
- False Promises
- Whispering Slab
- Hollow Words
- Temptation’s Hook
- Cold Denial
- Falling Guillotine
Io’s armor set is Gensym Knight. Perhaps a sword-related set bonus, though we have a lot of those already.
Mercury
Once we get into expansions, weapon sets get a lot easier. For Mercury, the obvious answer is the Lost Prophecy weapons. I dunno if they’d want to return the original Infinite Forge activity to unlock them to begin with, but I kind of doubt it. Some of these have been reprised since then, but they’re only available as world drops to my knowledge, so I could see them moving those to Mercury so the complete set would be in one place.
These weapons would include:
- Garden Progeny 1
- The Conqueror 2
- Jack Queen King 3
- Machina Dei 4
- Traveller's Judgement 5
- Sol Pariah 6
- West of Sunfall 7
- Infinite Paths 8
- Null Calamity 9
- Future Safe 10
- Perfect Paradox (maybe)
I’m not sure if they’d want to throw Perfect Paradox in there or not, but I don’t see why not, really.
Mercury’s armor set is Kairos Function. Maybe a Vex-themed set bonus, or perhaps something related to time travel.
As mentioned above, Sagira’s Shell was a cosmetic reward for completing all of the Lost Prophecies. Maybe it’ll be brought back, maybe not.
Mars
Mars also has a well-defined weapon set in the BrayTech weapons. Furthermore, almost none of these have been reprised before, so they’re easy choices to bring back.
These weapons would include:
- Niflheim Frost
- 18 Kelvins
- The Frigid Jackal
- BrayTech Winter Wolf
- BrayTech RWP Mk. II (maybe)
- BrayTech Osprey (maybe)
The RWP Mk. II is the legendary version of Polaris Lance, originally acquired from a Mars quest. I could see it being given the random roll treatment, but they also might leave it out. The BrayTech Osprey was originally a Nightfall drop from the Strange Terrain strike, but it was also reprised as a Nightfall weapon a couple times over the years. I could see it being brought back for the Mars set instead.
That does leave the question of what to do about Escalation Protocol, assuming it’s brought back. Originally, this was where you got the IKELOS weapons (except the hand cannon which came from a separate quest). Those weapons have been reprised twice, first in Season of Arrivals and then in Season of the Seraph, the latter version being craftable. As mentioned above, crafted weapons can’t drop as tiered versions, and I doubt they’d want to reprise the IKELOS weapons a third time just to give them a tiered version to drop from EP. I think it’s more likely that EP would drop the standard Mars weapon set alongside armor pieces, though maybe it could drop IKELOS v.1.0.3 weapons as well if you still need red borders and are tired of running Operation: Seraph’s Shield for them.
Mars has two armor sets: BrayTech and Escalation Protocol. The former I could see having Stasis set bonuses to go with the cold theme, while the latter could have some Rasputin-themed bonuses similar to the Seventh Seraph set.
There were quite a few cosmetics related to Mars content. Escalation Protocol had a complete equipment set (Block-Z Shell, Pacific Deception Sparrow, Groundswell Nullifier99 ship), and there was other equipment that could be acquired from regular patrol activities. The Sleeper Nodes and Lost Memory Fragments also had cosmetics tied to them, including the G-335 Anseris Overdrive Sparrow that was the reward for destroying all the fragments. Whether all of those will come back is unknown. (I hope they do, I never got the Polestar II Shell.)
Tangled Shore
Again, expansion destinations are easier since they launched with their own weapon sets. The Tangled Shore has a collection of Fallen-themed weaponry that can easily be reprised, especially since none of them have appeared since their removal.
These weapons would include:
- Ether Doctor
- Wrong Side of Right
- Trackless Waste
- Thin Line
- Right Side of Wrong
- Dust Rock Blues
Like Mars, the Tangled Shore also has two armor sets: Scatterhorn and Tangled Web. Both have Fallen themes to their design, so there could be some overlap between the two for set bonuses. Maybe one of them could be sniper-themed?
Not as many cosmetics here, only a couple from completing Spider’s bounties. Most of the cosmetics were from the Dreaming City, which was never vaulted.
Other Activities
While we have no confirmation whether anything else will make a comeback, there are a variety of old activities that could see a return. Much of their loot has been redistributed at other points, though, which makes the reward space for these activities tricky. For completeness’s sake, I’ll include them here:
- Black Armory Forges: Weapons have already been reprised as Arena Ops loot. Armor has not been reprised; though it was previously available for purchase, it doesn’t seem to have a current source.
- Gambit Prime/The Reckoning: Most weapons were reprised in Season of the Deep, then a different set was reprised in Monument of Triumph as Gambit loot. Armor sets have not been reprised, but can all be purchased from Drifter.
- The Menagerie: Weapons were reprised in Season of the Haunted/Season of Defiance, and are craftable. Armor has not been reprised, and is in the same state as the Black Armory sets.
- Other seasonal weapons/armor: Most have been reprised at some point, though there are some exceptions (Season of the Hunt/Season of the Chosen in particular are pretty sparse on reprisals). I doubt most if any would be updated at this point, especially the armor sets.
- Other year 1 weapons: Again, not likely any of these would be updated to support random rolls, outside of the ones already being looked at. Trying to keep reasonable expectations here.
Raids
Finally, we come to the meat of it, what most people are probably interested in seeing make a return. Most of this will be pretty simple, but there are a couple of wrinkles thrown in, with the biggest being Pantheon. A couple of old weapons were reprised for the Pantheon loot pool, so what might happen with those weapons is anyone’s guess. I would imagine that they’d also drop from their original sources, though whether they’d also have the Pantheon origin trait as well, I’m not sure. It would save them having to create another version of those guns so soon, at least.
We also don't know what will happen to the various raid exotics from unvaulted raids (Legend of Acrius, Anarchy, Tarrabah). They got moved to the Monument to Lost Lights kiosk in the Tower when the raids were vaulted, but they might get moved back to their original sources instead. Hard to say until we know more.
Leviathan
Leviathan has a total of eight weapons that drop from the raid, one of which was reprised in Pantheon. These include:
- Conspirator
- Ghost Primus
- Inaugural Address
- It Stared Back
- Midnight Coup
- Mob Justice
- Sins of the Past
- Alone as a God (Pantheon reprisal)
It also has two armor sets, the normal set (which I’ll call Named Shadows I) and the prestige set (Emperor’s). We don’t know if Bungie will include the prestige raid or some other variation of what we’d call “master” raids today, so it’s not clear whether the prestige set will return. I’d hope so, complete with its own set bonus, but we’ll have to see. Maybe some kind of greed-related set bonus.
Leviathan was sparse on cosmetics for the most part, though it did have a couple. There was the Contender’s Shell, which could drop from any encounter, and a Calus-themed ornament for Legend of Acrius that came from beating the raid on prestige difficulty. I don’t think it would be hard for them to bring them back.
Eater of Worlds
As a raid lair, Eater of Worlds has a smaller loot pool, only two weapons. These are:
- I Am Alive
- Zenith of Your Kind
It has a single armor set, which I’ll call Named Shadows II. The ornaments were originally unlocked by completing each of the challenges in Leviathan, as well as Eater of Worlds on prestige difficulty. I think they’re currently a low drop from Pantheon, but I’m not sure if that’s been confirmed or not. Again, they’d have to return prestige difficulty to restore those to their original sources, so who knows if that will happen or not. Vex-themed bonus?
The Contender’s Shell could also drop from Eater of Worlds encounters, so if it’s brought back, it should come back here as well.
Spire of Stars
Spire of Stars also has a small loot pool thanks to its raid lair status, and also has only two weapons. These are:
- The Emperor’s Envy
- Last of the Legion
Its single armor set is the Shade set, and its ornaments were unlocked in the same way as Eater of Worlds (complete every Leviathan challenge and complete Spire of Stars on prestige difficulty). As above, restoring the original drop source depends on whether they return prestige difficulty. I have no idea what set bonus it could have, so I’m just gonna say that it calls drop pods on your enemies.
Spire of Stars was also the original source of the Luxurious Toast emote. While it can currently drop in Pantheon, I think it would also make sense for it to drop here too. And like the other Leviathan raids, the Contender’s Shell also dropped here originally.
Scourge of the Past
Now here’s where things get tricky. Scourge of the Past had four weapons associated with it, all of which were Black Armory-themed. However, three of these were reprised as part of the Arena Ops loot pool, while the fourth ended up in Pantheon. What this means for the loot pool of the returning raid is unclear. Will they pull the weapons from the Arena Ops pool to have them exclusive to their original source? That could be potentially frustrating for those who like how they’re easier to farm currently. Will they have them drop in both locations? That would be lackluster and make Scourge less interesting to run. Will they give Scourge a new loot table? Unlikely, but maybe reprising a different set of weapons could be seen as a better play. I definitely don’t think they’d build a new set of Black Armory weapons for it, but I’m open to being surprised.
At any rate, the original loot table was as follows:
- No Feelings (Arena Ops reprisal)
- Bellowing Giant (Arena Ops reprisal)
- Tempered Dynamo (Arena Ops reprisal)
- Threat Level (Pantheon reprisal)
Scourge’s armor set is the Smith’s set. I could definitely see it having some interplay with Black Armory weapons like some other armor sets do.
The Always on Time Sparrow was a rare reward from the secret chest in the Sparrow section of the raid. While it is now available from the Tower kiosk, it would be nice to see it return to its original source, leaving the kiosk as an optional avenue for those with a glut of spoils to spend.
Crown of Sorrow
The last returning raid, and a lot less to say about this one. Four weapons, one of which was a Pantheon reprisal. These are:
- Gahlran’s Right Hand
- Calusea Noblesse
- Emperor’s Courtesy
- Bane of Sorrow (Pantheon reprisal)
Crown’s armor set is the Shadow set. Maybe some Hive-themed set bonus? I’m running out of steam here.
