's third (and massive) expansion is coming on September 15, and with it Bungie is taking the opportunity to completely change some of the systems the open-world shooter has had in place for the past year. Leveling is going to be different, the weapons will change, the lore is being handled in a new way - there's a lot going on here.

Bungie has dropped a megaton of information on The Taken King expansion. This week's reveal of the cover story and our hands-on time with Destiny at Gamescom 2015 brings to light many of the new features Bungie has been hiding behind the curtain for the last few months. In order to keep you in the know, we've collected all of the information revealed about the third expansion so far. So without further ado, this is the new Destiny.

The Taken King expansion is jam packed with content. The new, high-level activities take place on Mars' moon Phobos, Mercury, and within a massive Hive Dreadnaught full of great halls to explore. The Dreadnaught acts as a new planet, giving Guardians more difficult Patrol challenges, environmental puzzles to solve, and hidden treasure tucked away in the nooks and crannies. There will be four Strikes on PlayStation, (three on Xbox), a massive raid mission, and a story campaign that has a greater emphasis on cinematic storytelling and character development.

You won't be fighting the same Vex, Fallen, Cabal, and Hive enemies. Instead, you'll face the Taken: an army of the old enemy species, only they've been mutated and transformed by the Taken King, who’s given them ethereal qualities and remixed abilities. For example, the Taken version of the Hive Wizard can spawn groups of thrall-like minions to overwhelm your fireteam, forcing you to take it out as quickly as possible. There are also plenty of bosses to encounter, but don't count on them waiting for you at the end of a Strike; some of the game’s tougher enemies will appear in Patrols as well.

Grinding and grinding and grinding for that one piece of gear needed to hit max level is a thing of the past. At least, we hope. Until the Taken King, after you hit the max level of 20, you'd have to get better and better armor pieces by completing the game's more difficult challenges, raids, and strikes in order to increase your light level - which led to lots of grinding and even more frustration for some players. In The Taken King, players will progress from level one to 40 by gaining experience points, much like you would in any MMO or RPG. So, you could be a level 40 Titan wearing all rare class armor if you wanted to, but you'd definitely be much weaker without the superior stats of legendary or exotic equipment.

We have some fond memories of our time with our legendary hand cannon Fatebringer that we farmed out of the Vault of Glass, but the vanilla Dark Below and House of Wolves legendaries can not be ascended in The Taken King. It seems it's time for some new weapons to lead the pack. But, before you start going through your vault and disassembling your guns, Bungie has teased that the old gear will have some sort of purpose in the expansion. If you're worried about your Exotics, there's been no mention of holding those pieces of equipment back, so we're guessing they're likely to have stats boosts available come the expansion.

Part of the reason legendary equipment will not be buffed up to the new level cap is that you'll be hunting down more powerful weapons and armor. Those of us who have been collecting the purple legendaries and yellow exotics over the past year will once again wear the rare blues, uncommon greens, and (dare I say) basic white items. They'll be higher level equipment with stats that will make you shed your old purples. Light values will still have a part to play in your equipment, but Bungie is still keeping those details under wraps.

All of the missions in Destiny will be receiving a "quest" treatment and exotic bounties will be even more elaborate. Part of the change includes a new progress screen that allows you to track your bounties and quests from the Ghost nav. Another interesting bit is that the subclasses (new and old) will require that you complete quests to earn the new powers. There are unique questlines to acquire the Sunbreaker, Stormcaller, and Nightstalker abilities for their respective classes, which will have you hunting for mysterious nomads, joining rogue Titan clans, and engaging in shamanistic rituals.

With all this much content being added in The Taken King, you’d better believe there's going to be a truckload of new weapons to go with it. In the expansion, some guns will be categorized by manufacturer, or what the game calls Weapon Foundries. Guns in the same Weapon Foundry share common traits and visual style. Suros weapons have extra perk customization options, Hakke weapons are all-around weapons for any situation, and Omolon guns lean more on the experimental, energy projection side of weapon creation.

Poor Dinklebot didn't get the warmest reception in vanilla Destiny and it's been a while since we've heard our little Ghost say anything new. But good news, the Ghost is going to be volved in the story than ever...just with an entirely new voice. Bungie is replacing all of the Ghost's old dialogue with the voice talents of Nolan North, the actor behind iconic video game characters like Nathan Drake. North hopes to bring plenty of life to the character and help it evolve over the life of Destiny. And with Destiny's ten-year plan, we have plenty of time to get reacquainted with our little light.

You'll no longer be constrained to only waving, pointing, dancing, and sitting. New emotes can be found and equipped, giving you even more ways to express yourself. And, that's all there really is to say about that. Moving on.

Not only is the Gunsmith getting his own reputation system that allows you to take on challenges with prototype weapons, Bungie is also giving Guardians a reason to visit the gravel-voiced Exo on a weekly basis. Once you level up to a specific Gunsmith faction rank, you unlock Armsday, which gives you the option to spend glimmer on legendary weapons (after completing a set of said challenges) which will arrive on Wednesdays with random perks.

The crowded vault issue is a big problem in Destiny right now. Vaults of players with multiple characters are bursting at the seams with weapons, armor, and items. In The Taken King, it seems Bungie is tweaking some systems to give us a bit more space in our inventories. Emblems and shaders will now be assigned to an interactive console in the Tower, removing those icons that are taking up space in your inventory and vault. It’s a step in the right direction, but we're still crossing our fingers for a much more spacious vault.

For the past year, the to read through the grimoire cards you've collected, which is not ideal. Now it seems your Ghost will fill you in on any additional information about Destiny's worlds and characters with the press of a button, giving you instant access to the grimoire from within the game.

The random number generator-based loot system (which the community has dubbed RNGesus) has been the bane of many a Guardian's sanity. Much of Destiny's higher-evel gear can only be acquired through random drops from the various raids, Strikes, and Crucible modes, and the grinding is sure to continue in The Taken King. But Bungie has made improvements to how we will be awarded our random loot. The system will take into account the items you already own, so there is less of a chance to get repeat drops.

PvP is a huge part of Destiny, and Bungie isn't shying away from adding more competitive modes and features to let you blast your fellow Guardians. The Taken King will be adding eight new Crucible maps and three modes called Mayhem, Rift, and Zone Control. There will be Crucible quests that are meant to help newcomers ease into Destiny's competitive side, and a new system will give players legendary or exotic equipment upon completion of a set of weekly bounties. On the technical side, the Crucible matchmaking will now take skill and connection into account when gathering Guardians, and a "Mercy Rule" system will cut off dramatically mismatched games early to help preserve players' records.

Developer Bungie has a long history of sneaking secrets into their games, and their latest project they’d included, presumably to check they hadn’t slipped anything too naughty in there.

I’ve been scouring the planets in search of hidden details, and listed my findings over the following slides. Hopefully you’ll find some new information in here, to enhance your enjoyment of Destiny’s world(s)!

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Amazingly, the first Destiny Easter egg actually appeared in Halo 3: ODST, way back in 2009. An advertising board with the seemingly innocuous title “Destiny Awaits” could be found in that game, complete with a shot of the Earth... but wait, is that the Traveler hovering over it?

Bungie had suggested for some time that there was still a final secret to be discovered in Halo 3: ODST, and when eagle-eyed players noted this display after the first Destiny details were announced, series digital artist Vic Deleon confirmed it by tweeting “IT’S FINALLY BEEN FOUND!”

IT#39;S FINALLY BEEN FOUND!

In the game itself, the first Easter egg appears during the opening cinematic sequence, as a group of astronauts land on Mars and begin exploring the planet. Look closely at the spaceman’s boot as they descend from their craft, and you’ll notice what looks like the Destiny logo embedded in the tread. This can also be seen in the dusty footprint they leave behind as they set off across the planet’s surface towards the Traveler.

On your visits to the Tower you'll no doubt have noticed various ships buzzing around the place, and probably dismissed them as little more than background furniture. However, rather than just being randomly generated to make things look busy, these are the actual transport belonging to the guardians currently visiting this location.

To confirm this, as soon as you warp into the Tower Plaza, turn right and sprint into the Tower Hangar. Get inside quickly enough and you’ll spot your ship being flown in and docked, before it gets lowered into the subterranean parking lot.

A giant football first appeared in Halo 2, and made several appearances in subsequent games in the series. As a possible homage to this a football can be found in the Tower Plaza, which normally spawns on the left hand side under the stairs. By running or sliding into it you can kick it around, and perhaps get a little game going with your fellow guardians.

Also in the Tower Plaza is a large purple ball, which is much more lightweight and floaty than the football. This normally appears on top of the crates next to Bounty Tracker Xander 99-40, although it can also be found on the table by the Cryptarch’s tent. Knock it into the air, then see how long you can keep it up for... or, like me, spend an age trying to balance on top of it before some sod immediately kicks it away. Cheers, mate.

The trees in the Tower Plaza may help to brighten the place up, but the one near Gunsmith Banshee-44 can also be scaled to take in the view over the whole area. A few carefully placed jumps will get you most of the way up the trunk, then a final sprint jump will launch you into the branches. Have a little boogie up here and lord it over the guardians collecting their bounties below.

Here’s a secret feature of the Tower Plaza that requires at least two people to experience. On top of the Postmaster’s building is a large fan, and this rooftop can be accessed by sprint jumping from the nearby steps.

Once you’re on top of the fan, you need a second player to head up the steps at the side of the Plaza and onto the balcony overlooking the area. At the far end there are some panels on the floor, which provide an ‘Activate Fan’ prompt when stood on--hold down the button here and anyone stood on the fan will be launched high into the air. Get the timing right, and combined with a jump you can reach the top of the flagpoles or even the pillars above the Vault terminals.

While exploring the final planet Mars, fans of the Halo series may spot a building which bears more than a passing resemblance to a familiar character. This can be found in the Trenchworks area of the map used in several missions, though it can also be accessed during the Mars Patrol--head straight forwards from the start and follow the valley to the Scablands, go straight across it and through the next valley to Giants’ Pass and the Valley of the Kings, then down the tunnel at the far end until you reach the Trenchworks.

Here you’ll find this building, which thanks to its glowing golden window and central green banner looks an awful lot like the Master Chief himself. Purely coincidental, I’m sure...

Destiny’s developers have obviously been using their lunchtimes to play other games, and you can find a number of references to what’s been on the office machines hidden away in some of the armour descriptions. The first is a piece of Exotic chest armour called Heart of the Praxic Fire, which comes with the description, “In that last moment she seemed as wholly luminescent as the Sun, and I wished to be so brave.” Dark Souls players should pick up on the nod to the cheerful and powerful Knight ‘Solaire of Astora’ – who can be summoned to help players with many of the bosses in the game – but if they didn’t the ‘Praise the Sun’ perk carried by the armour should hammer home the reference.

And if you’re really looking to complete the Dark Souls look, try equipping the Ghost Angel Cloak for your Hunter. The tagline is, “We are an army of the chosen dead.” So get out there and round up some more recruits. By shooting ’em in the head.

As we’ve already seen, Bungie loves to leave subtle nods to other games in their creations. But the studio doesn’t stop there: books and TV shows have every chance of appearing in Bungie’s works. Head to the Cosmodrome on Earth, pick up some Patrol missions and you’ll eventually come across one called ‘Four Arms Good, Two Arms Better’. Aside from the Vandals you fight in Old Russia having four arms, this is a knowing reference to Animal Farm (ask your parents) where the pigs eventually used the maxim, “Four legs good, two legs better!” as they became more human.

Showing that they can also riff off modern pop-culture, Bungie also included a Bounty called ‘All in the Game’. Which is eerily similar to the words Omar Little says in the final scene of the first season of HBO’s The Wire, “It’s all in the game, yo. All in the game.” That on its own might not convince everyone, so consider this: the Bounty also has you killing Fallen enemies and pick up Wire Wraps. Not just a coincidence after all, then.

Cortana may now be known to most people as Microsoft’s answer to Siri, but she started out life as the AI in the Halo series. Bungie was obviously keen to hang on to their iconic blue guide in some way, and although she doesn’t appear in physical form in Destiny you can hear Jen Taylor, the voice of Cortana, talking over the PA system in the Tower.

Listen long enough and you can ever hear her quit during an announcement – tired of being everyone’s personal assistant, we presume.

This next Easter egg comes direct from the internet detectives on Reddit. Take a look at the Director map screen and, around the edges, you’ll see a series of numbers on the top right, bottom left and left hand side. These are HEX codes. Reddit user Arukemos took these digits and changed them into ASCII code, then soon discovered the bottom numbers translate to “Alright OK”. alrightok.com takes you to a page for a User Interface artist who worked on the game. The left hand side numbers mean ‘Be Dave’, which Dave Candland, Lead UI designer for Destiny, confirmed was correct by tweeting ‘Reddit finds my egg’ and adding there are currently 32 Daves working at Bungie. The top sequence? That says ‘mackay’ – another UI artist, MacKay Clark.

When the House of Wolves expansion was added to Destiny in May 2015, players got access to a host of new areas and challenges. One of these was a new social space called the Vestian Outpost. Head here and look right as soon as you arrive and you’ll see the Postmaster. Next to him is a lamp you can turn on and off to your heart’s content. Light goes on, light goes off, light goes on, light goes off, light goes on, light goes off… Did somebody order a disco?

You can find this little treat every time you go to the Tower. As soon as you spawn in, look down at your feet and you’ll see the phrase ATRIVM PROPVGNATORVM. Translated from Latin this becomes Hall of Champions. So the Tower isn’t just a nice place to hang out, it’s a memorial to every Guardian fighting against the Darkness.

So we all remember the song called Breaking Benjamins that was written for Halo 2, right? Good. In that case you’ll remember the first line of the chorus was ,“Only the strongest will survive,” which is something you’ll hear a lot as you start matches in the Crucible. Coincidence? Maybe, but probably not knowing Bungie.

While tackling the Will of Crota Strike on Earth – released as part of The Dark Below DLC – you’ll hear Eris Morn giving you instructions as you make your way towards Omnigul. However, if you’re the first player to reach the sealed door in the Jovian Complex and use your Ghost before Eris has finished telling you about Omnigul’s purpose, she’ll inform you that, “In its dying breath the Traveler released the Ghosts… to open doors.” Poor Dinklebot. Will he never catch a break?

Look closely around in certain areas of the Tower – on the Speaker’s desk or at the top of the tree near the Gunsmith, for instance – and you should see some coins. There are seven of these (of course there are) located around the Tower, and the first person to find them all and send photographic evidence to Bungie received a special player emblem only available from the developer for their troubles.

But don’t give up. Players have since discovered that the House of Wolves DLC also had some hidden coins in the new areas. Only two have been found to date, so there’s still time, Guardian. Who’s guessing there’ll be five more?

The Beatles’ Sir Paul McCartney wrote the song ‘Hope For the Future’ specifically for Destiny, and it doesn’t contain the phrase, “Hey Jude,” even once! Want to listen to it? You’ll need to select the credits from the Director map screen once you’ve finished the main story missions. The song was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in the UK by a 120 piece orchestra.

During any mission you’ll notice enemies coming out of doors which close again once everyone is safely though and walking into your bullets. They won’t open again if you walk up to them, but summon your Ghost and they’ll slide apart. Apart from the isolated Strike strategy cheese it’s a useless trick, but worth seeing at least once all the same.

As you’ve probably gathered by now Destiny is full of references to TV shows, games, and popular culture. For example, there’s a Patrol mission on the Moon called ‘Power Underwhelming’, which also happens to be the code for activating God mode in Starcraft. Then there’s the Legendary sniper rifle ‘Final Boss’, named after a MLG Halo 3 team. And finally, a Legendary shotgun called the Comedian is a nod towards the gun-toting Watchmen character of the same name. He loves shotguns, too.

Win nine matches without a single loss in the Trials of Osiris and you’re granted access to the Lighthouse where you’ll find a chest full of goodies. But head to the left when you arrive and you’ll discover a secret room underground. It’s been suggested that this is Osiris’ room, and it looks like a bloody battle took place at some point – look around and you’ll find bullets and weapons on the ground, along with the bodies of those who didn’t make it through the fight.

So, those are the Destiny secrets we know about so far. But, as Bungie are the masters of Easter eggs, there’s undoubtedly still more to be discovered. Had you spotted any of them before, and are there any others you know of? Tell us in the comments below.

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