Destiny‘s raids are long, sprawling quests that are meant to be tackled by a full fireteam of six players, all of whom have managed to reach the game’s highest experience levels. There’s no matchmaking for the mode either, which means that raid groups need to be assembled manually, among friends (or using online resources). Bungie set things up this way because the raids require lots of teamwork, communication, and group puzzle-solving.
The hard difficulty for the Crota’s End raid in Destiny is set to launch next week, on Wednesday, January 21, according to Bungie. The normal difficulty version of the raid was released in December 2014 as part of the game’s first downloadable content pack, The Dark Below, but hard mode gives high-level players an opportunity to earn some of the game’s most powerful gear at this point in its life.
In return for tackling and defeating these Herculean challenges, players have the opportunity to earn the game’s most potent gear. Armor earned in Crota’s End is one of only two ways in Destiny power leveling to reach the current level cap of 32 (the other requires a talent for competitive multiplayer during limited-time “Iron Banner” events). In the case of Crota’s End, hard mode is the only place that players have a chance to earn the raid’s primary weapons. Note that in order to play, you need to own The Dark Below DLC.