When Bungie first announced their original intent for the Destiny franchise, it was to build a single evolving world that would continue to grow. However, production woes occurred that involved completely re-writing the game late into development, plus then-publisher Activision's aggressive expectations for new content all led to a somewhat compromised vision.
In 2019, Bungie severed ties with Activision, and players were hopeful the now-independent studio would be able to bring their vision to light. However, less than one year after their first independent release, Shadowkeep, Bungie has announced the Destiny Content Vault. This system will replace content yearly and, as detailed in their latest post, actually make the game much smaller. Destiny 2 post-Beyond Light will be a very different experience for new and old players alike.
What is the Destiny Content Vault?
Bungie's reasoning for the DCV is practical beyond anything else. Destiny 2 has received a steady stream of content releases that now have the game take up a whopping 115 GB of hard drive space. Simply put, the game has just gotten too big for current and even next-gen hardware to keep growing without breaking. Also, much of the older content has been rendered irrelevant in Destiny 2's ongoing end-game. Paying players just aren't using the old content as much. Bungie has also introduced a sunsetting system this season which puts a power cap on most of the game's current catalog of gear, rendering it useless come Nov 10.
However, the DCV goes into effect the same day as the upcoming Beyond Light expansion. It's unclear exactly how much new content will be coming with Beyond Light; all players know is that there will be one new world, Europa, and the introduction of a new elemental damage type. Bungie has stated that this first rotation of content will see the most significant losses, but it's unknown how the DCV will function long-term.
What's Leaving?
A ton, quite frankly.
Destiny 2 is losing access to four of its planet's— Mars, Io, Titan and Mercury, and all of the PvE content that is associated with these worlds. This removes most of the Free-to-Play content, like the original Red War campaign, along with the Curse of Osiris and Warmind campaigns. All of the associated strikes will be removed as well; this accounts for seven of the 18 currently in the game, although Beyond Light will include new strikes.
In addition, all of the Year 2 seasonal content will be removed. This includes the Black Armory Forges, Reckoning and Menagerie activities, along with The Scourge of the Past and Crown of Sorrows raids. The Leviathan ship and all of it's associated Raid activities will likewise disappear. This leaves behind only the Last Wish and Garden of Salvation raids.
Gambit and Gambit Prime are being merged into a single activity, something Bungie will detail specifics at a later date. However, both Gambit and Crucible are being treated differently regarding what gets removed. The PvE content is all linked to the story, meaning there will be an in-game reason they are leaving. Gambit and Crucible are being treated as a rotating "best of," and will feature some maps from worlds that are being vaulted.
Crucible is losing 11 of its 31 maps, along with seven of their weekly rotational game modes, though a couple will be coming back later in Year 4. Gambit is vaulting two of its six maps. The competitive PvP mode Trials of Osiris will be unaffected, despite Mercury no longer being available.
Quests associated with Exotic weapons will be removed from the game, but no weapon will be retired. These old Exotics will be purchasable from a new kiosk. However, 11 of the Exotic Catalysts (upgrades which greatly improve a weapon) will be going away, and any incomplete Catalysts will be wiped. Similar to Exotics, all Pinnacle and Ritual weapon quests will be wiped, with new means of gaining them introduced.
What's Staying (And Coming Back)?
All of this vaulted content leaves Free-To-Play players with access only to Earth, Nessus, the Tower, Strikes, Gambit, and Crucible. Paying players who own the Forsaken and Shadowkeep campaigns will retain access to all the content from these releases, as well as whatever comes with Beyond Light. Bungie has promised a brand-new tutorial experience for Free-To-Play gamers.
This comes along with the return of the Cosmodrome, a map from the original Destiny. Bungie is also bringing back a re-tooled version of the Vault of Glass, the first Raid in Destiny, but not at Beyond Light's launch. They also intend to introduce a couple of Strikes from the first entry further along in Year 4.
While paying players will still have plenty of content to explore, the DCV is taking away nearly all of the single-player content available to their Free-to-Play players. It's a massive culling, the ramifications of which have many Destiny 2 fans nervous for what lies ahead.