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The original was posted on /r/hobbydrama by /u/Smackrel-of-Piss on 2024-07-22 16:42:00+00:00.

Destiny 2 is a game not unfamiliar with controversy. It's name get shared far and wide for many reasons, both good and bad, but if there is one thing everyone can agree on regarding Destiny 2 it is that the Raids are one of the best parts about the game. I previously made a post about Destiny 2 regarding the Craftening Event, and I felt that this raid focused event was one worthy of a retelling. First, some recap.

Destiny 2 (D2) is a first person looter shooter mmo-lite, meaning you pew pew at enemies for bigger and better gear alongside friends and strangers across the game. Raids are an endgame activity where 6 Guardians team up to fight the biggest and baddest enemies in the game, who all come with their own unique encounters and mechanics involving teamwork and cooperation.

Throughout D2's lifespan there have been numerous Raids released, 13 to be exact (not including the one which this post revolves around), and each one has had their Day One Raid Race. This is when streamers, content creators, and players alike all compete to see who can finish the new Raid first within 24-48hrs. It is intensely competitive on the streaming side, which will be talked about later, and whichever fireteam of Guardians who successfully finish first become Legends within the continuity and the lore of the game, as well as receiving some cool prizes straight from Bungie. These Raid Races take time, hours go by without completion until one team stands victorious.

So you may think to yourself "okay, well, I'd guess it would take 2-4 hours to do that, maybe 5 or 6 for harder ones", and for the most part you'd be semi-correct, but you are not prepared for the history and notoriety that is the Salvation's Edge Raid Race, the longest race in Destiny 2 history.

A Finale Worth Fighting For

June 4th, 2024

The Final Shape (TFS) is the most recent expansion drop for D2, bringing an end to the years long overarching story being told about Light and Darkness since D2's launch in 2017 (and D1 since 2014). In the main story campaign players focus on getting a foothold inside the new destination in which the big bad, The Witness, has been working towards enacting the Final Shape, the end of free-flowing life. After getting our Vanguard Command back and working together, we find where The Witness is weaving it's verse. An order of a full on assault on it's giant monolith is made and fireteams are given the greenlight to go forth and bring an end to this foe before it can calcify all life to a standstill.

June 7th, 2024

Salvation's Edge (SE), the finale raid, goes live at 1pm EST and the Raid Race begins with hope at an all time high, spirits soaring, and excitement so thick you can cut it. Everyone wondered what the raid tied to a finale of storytelling would have in store, and many hoped it would live up to the high expectations. Everyone expected a race, but what was actually waiting for them all was a marathon.

Encounter 1: Substratum

Groups enter the raid, do some jumping and traversing, and find themselves at the first encounter, Substratum. This is a mechanic encounter, meaning there's no boss to damage and beat, just enemies to clear and new mechanics to learn and complete in order to finish the encounter. Now normally that isn't a problem, with enough time players typically learn an encounter's mechanics rather quickly, but this is where Bungie threw a wrench in the system. The Final Shape is being made, literally, as teams are fighting their way up the Monolith to stop The Witness. This takes form as a eponymously named timer debuff that is roughly 3-4 minutes that, when finished, kills everyone and wipes the team. So now teams don't have the luxury of figuring out mechanics as their own pace, it is now a race against the clock, against The Witness in every...single...encounter. Players will find ways to extend that timer but it will always be there, ticking down, bringing a sense of urgency to every attempt.

Time goes by as teams struggle to both figure out the mechanics, kill adds (filler non-boss enemies), and deal with the timer, but progress is being made. Hours 1 and 2 go by, and a few teams are on the cusp of finishing the encounter. 2 hours and 40-ish minutes after launch, Encounter 1 was completed, and some teams moved on to the next.

Here's a fun fact, in this same amount of time entire other Raid Races had been finished. Wrath of the Machine, Eater of Worlds, Scourge of the Past, Crown of Sorrow, and Root Of Nightmares were all beaten in the time it took for Encounter 1 of SE to be cleared. That's right, I didn't type that wrong, whole raids have launched, been explored, figured out, and beaten in the time teams took to get through this ONE encounter. Excitement was high now as people were hoping for a good length race for this raid after the previous one, Root of Nightmares, was done so quickly in 2hr30min, and it was looking like it would be. Well they weren't wrong, it definitely would be long.

Encounters 2 and 3: Dissipation and Repository

I'll keep things brief here because compared to the rest of the raid, these next two encounters were figured out and completed quickly by the first few teams in the lead. Dissipation was a boss fight encounter while Repository was another mechanic encounter, each with their own new spin on what teams had learned so far from the first encounter Substratum.

Damage was pumping against the Herald of Finality in Dissipation (Swords go brrr) and pings were ponging in the 3 arenas inside Repository. At roughly 4 hours and 30 minutes, 2 whole hours after the first encounter clear, one team had made their way into the fourth encounter. Team Elysium, which are (in)famous in D2 for good reason (holding many day one wins), were the first to enter Verity. They began the meat of the raid, the one encounter to forever rule the minds of every racer that day, and the main subject of this post.

Encounter 4: VERITY

4 hours and 30 minutes after launch

The first team, Elysuim, makes their was inside the sterile circular room and immediately things caught their attention. Six statues stand before them. Statues of Guardians, but not just any Guardians though, it was them. Each player was represented with their current gear, their fashion, standing with their shoulders slightly slumped forward in an uncanny way. In the back of the room was another statue that would change as players walked towards it to match them, and projected shadow-shapes morphed together on the wall behind it. The mood was immediately different here, and then things took off. Players were split up, the room changed, statues were holding shapes both 2D and 3D, enemies were dropping shapes, and the Witness was Noticing Them. Hoh boy, this is just getting started.

Verity is a mechanic puzzle encounter, the likes of which we have only seen once before in The Last Wish with the Vault encounter. This has given Verity the nickname Vault 2.0, which is fitting since like Vault, Verity was the major roadblock and time consumer of this raid race. It introduced totally new mechanics and rules that players needed to figure out and be very efficient with since the Final Shape timer was, of course, still active.

Time goes by and a few more teams drop into Verity, but it seems like no progress is being made. This room was turning out to be more complex than anyone could imagine.

7 hours after launch, 3 hours into Verity

The total time of the race passes various other Day One's. [Leviathan, Crown of Sorrow, Garden of Salvation, D...

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