I’d like to see raid locations of Vault of Glass & Crota's End reused for new strikes. Would also be cool way to integrate some lore on these locations through dialogue. Crota's End-based strike: [b]Chorus of Dread[/b] A powerful coven of deathsingers have taken control of Crota's Oversoul Throne. Stop them before they can harness the power of the god-star to it's true potential. [spoiler] [Eris Morn: [b]I foolishly hoped that in Crota’s death, the Oversoul would lie still, but now something stirs the god-star. It is the deathsingers that seek it’s power. They will use it to claim the Dreadnaught & take away our foothold into Oryx's reality. We must deny them this power.[/b]] Players start at Hellmouth & jump down to the pit. [Eris: [b]Something is wrong here. The crushing weight of Darkness that permeates this pit is receding. It is is being pulled back towards Crota's throne, but why?[/b]] [Ghost: [b](sighs) So not being smothered by Darkness is bad thing...[/b]] [Eris: [b]They may be using the Darkness for a ritual. Guardian... something is here. They sense your Light![/b]] Major ogre Sharek appears & thrall swarm attacks. Fight off endless horde & kill the ogre to cross the portal to the Oversoul Throne. Eris Morn speaks 1 of 2 options. [(option 1) Eris: [b]Beware. This is no longer the physical realm, but one of the Hive’s netherworlds. Universes forged by the will of a gods & governed by the physics of the sword logic. Remember; to kill is to grow in power, much like the sword of a knight grows stronger & sharper through eons of slaughter.[/b]] [(2) Eris: [b]I can sense Darkness amassing on the other side. There is a familiar presence, but twisted &... Taken. I fear we will find out what it is.[/b]] At Oversoul Throne, players attacked by a variety of Hive. Kill swordbearer knights to take swords, which must then be used to kill gatekeepers on the other side of a bridge (immune to all but Hive swords). Blights appear on other side of bridge. Taken spawn. Swords don’t expire until this portion is over to allow players to have have fun slashing the Taken. [Eris: [b]If the blights are here, the deathsingers must be in leagues with a powerful Taken. Find the deathsingers & end them.[/b]] Players enter final area, & they find 3 deathsingers with Taken blights. Verok, a Taken Wizard ultra spawns from blight (Alak-Hul's mate). [Eris: [b]They conspire with Verok! It was her spawn that held down Tarlowe as her mate's wretched ax snuffed out his light! She must not live![/b]] Before fighting Verok, players must kill the deathsingers who begin songs with a 30 second timer. If any of the deathsingers are alive by the time song ends, the players die. Deathsingers are also aided by knights & acolytes. When deathsingers die, players fight Verok. She summons massive hordes of shadow thrall -- way more than a regular Taken wizard. When she is at 1/4 health, a message saying appears "Verok hides her death in the oversoul," & she becomes immune. The oversoul will activate & kill players, but Verok will die instead if the oversoul is destroyed by players shooting at it. Once the oversoul is destroyed & Verok dies, the strike ends with 1 of 2 options. [(1) Eris: [b]The Hive exploit the alien physics of their netherworlds to terrifying effects. Death can be made tangible though song, & they even partition their own deaths to hide in secret places & oversouls, & yet you still triumph. This is a great victory guardian; the oversoul lies dead & silent.[/b]] [(2) Eris: [b]In studying the calcified fragments found on the Dreadnaught, I discovered that Ir Halak and Ir Anuk did not create oversouls to be mere weapons, but instead something far worse. Hive gods return from death as long as they are not killed in their own netherworld, but an oversoul can allow any ascendant to hide their death. Verok & the deathsingers discovered this secret purpose, but thanks to you, they could not escape with it’s power. I thank you the gift of vengeance.[/b]] [/spoiler] Vault of Glass-based strike: [b]Weavers of Time[/b] The Vex attempt to undo the Vanguard conquest of the Vault of Glass to restore Atheon, Time's Conflux, into being. [spoiler] [Ikora Rey: [b]First with the Undying Mind, then with the Restorative Mind, the weavers of the Vex have sought to undo our actions & correct time in their favor. We have stopped them twice before, but now the Connective Mind seeks to restore the causal loop from which Atheon was birthed. If Time's Conflux is allowed to be reborn, our victory will be undone.[/b]] Players spawns outside the Vault and attacked by 3 waves of Vex legions. [Ikora: [b]The Praetorian are the axis minds guarding the entrance into the Vault. Wipe out the legions to force the Praetorian out into combat. Their mind cores hold the spire codes.[/b]] After waves of Vex are killed, 3 Praetorian spawn. Each drops a relic when killed to be taken to a different sync-plate to activate them. Once all plates are active, the spire forms, & the Vault opens. [Ikora: [b]The Vex collective mind links all units across space & time. Memories from past, present, & future exist as a unified whole. To the Vex, the future is just as much a memory as the past -- a history already written. I believe this is the Pattern Praedyth spoke of, but our Light allows us to change this history & disrupt their pattern. That is why we are a threat.[/b]] Players must reach Templar's Well where they will fight 3 weavers, which look like smaller versions of the Restorative Mind from the Echo Chamber strike. [Ghost: [b]These are the weavers![/b]] [Ikora: [b]The Vault is not just a temporal nexus, but a great ontological project. Within the Vault, the Vex can decide what is allowed to exist, & what is erased from time. Do not let the weavers use this power against you.[/b]] Weavers summon Vex to attack. Weavers periodically use an ability that erases players caught in their gaze, causing wipe. Once the weavers die, use ghosts to activate a Vex gate. Ikora delivers 1 of 2 dialogue options. [(1) Ikora: [b]Praedyth claimed the Vex lack imagination, but how else could they create such technology? Was the very first Vex simply born with this knowledge through it's connection to units eons into its future? It is possible the Vex made themselves through the bending of time, but If that is the case, then the concept of a "first" is entirely meaningless.[/b]] [(2) Ikora: [b]The Vex sought to make themselves inseparable from reality, & thus everlasting. The Sol Progeny were meant to use the use the Darkness within the Black Garden to spread the ontological power of the Vault into the universe. You destroyed this dark Heart, & put an end to the plot, but the power of the Vault remains a threat.[/b]] A Vex gate leads to Atheon's room where 2 more gates are on either side. At the center is a conflux, & a ghost must scan it. [Ghost: [b]These data streams suggest the weavers are hiding the Connective Mind from us in another timeline. We can't access it.[/b]] [Ikora: [b]Then you must destroy the weavers to restore the mind into our timeline. It cannot be allowed to escape & enact it’s purpose.[/b]] [Ghost: [b]The weavers seem to be hiding across time. I think we can find them with these gates. Ready for some time travel, guardian?[/b]] The ghost activates gates leading to the past & future. Kill the weavers inside both gates before returning back to Atheon's room. Once the weavers die, the conflux will summon a boss hydra called Arachenon, the Connective Mind into our timeline to fight. Arachenon teleports to flank players, forcing them to be mobile. Precursors & Descendants spawn during the fight. When boss is close to death, oracles spawn & they warp reality around the boss to make it immune. Kill the oracles, & the boss can then be killed. Once the boss is dead, Ikora will say 1 of 2 options. [(1) Ikora: [b]Does a history unmade still exist somewhere among an ocean of infinite timelines? Does the Vex pattern change in response to our revisions to their history? We must learn the answers to these questions & understand the workings of time if we are to ever to end the Vex.[/b]] [(2): [b]The Vex are slaves to their pattern; the cumulative history experienced by the collective mind is all they know, & it is the only path they can see. Unlike them, we are free to make our own destiny. I wonder if that will be enough.[/b]] [/spoiler] These ideas use existing places/models/mechanics, so it’s doable. Would be a great use of the locations, more details in dialogue would add context to past actions details. I would be fine with the mechanics & boss encounters to change as Bungie sees fit; the main point is the location & the lore. Thoughts? Before anyone brings it up, while I would like Year 2 versions of VoG and CE with Year 2 (rebalanced) raid gear, this thread is not about that.