My PvP piece will have to take a back seat this week, as there is some more, shall I say, interesting news to talk about from the worlds of Destiny.
This past Saturday, near the end of the PlayStation Experience Keynote (which I covered, here), Bungie unveiled a new 3 week event. Similar to the Festival of the Lost Halloween event held earlier this year, Sparrow Racing League will close out the year in death-defying style.
As the name implies, you’ll be racing those hover bikes you’ve been using since you picked the game up, regardless of if you’ve been guardian since day one, or you’re fresh to the Tower and haven’t played more than 15 minutes. That’s right, the thing everyone had on their mind when they first hopped on one of those bad boys is finally making its way into the actual game. The best part? It’s free!
The event starts today (tuesday the 8th), and will last until the reset on the 29th (that’ll be 4 AM Central FYI). You’ll need to talk to Amanda Holliday, your friendly neighbourhood ship mechanic. She’ll give you a Sparrow Racing League license, as well as a few quests and bounties. As is normal with Destiny’s loot systems, the higher your license level, the better loot you’ll get.
Speaking of loot, there is a ton of snazzy new stuff on the way! The Sparrows that have been in circulation for the last year and a bit have all looked the same, just with a different coat of paint. Well not any more! There’s a brand new Sparrow model, and it looks fancy as snot. That’s not to say that the ones you currently own aren’t good. They will more than suffice for the interim, as you get new ones during the event.
You’ll also be able to get new gear (in the form of helmets and suits). You’ll also get SRL inspired shaders, and class items that bear the Sparrow Racing League logo. These all look super slick, and the best part is that you’ll be able to infuse almost all the items you get to be equal to Raid tier gear.
The only disappointing thing so far, is that there are only 2 tracks. Campus Martius on Mars, and Infinite Descent on Venus.
Campus is your traditional circuit course that goes in a circle for 3 laps. There are some interesting hazards in the form of spinning fans right in front of your boost pads, which will no doubt fuel some position changes as players will be able to bash one another into these (and other things along the course).
Descent is a “sprint” course, where at the end, you’ll run into a teleporter, and be shot back up to the top of the course. Super cool! With some massive jumps and tight corners, this track is decidedly more advanced.
Both tracks feature enemies native to the planets which you’ll need to deal with as well, and they can serve as some much some needed speedbumps to push your fellow competitors into (or massive annoyances that are trying to kill you).
What if you don’t want to screw around wasting time trying to get one of those fancy new Sparrows? Tess Everis has your answer! We still don’t know how much they are going to cost, but expect decent ones to be around 500 Silver each. We’ll update with actual prices when we know.
With that said, I cannot wait to get my feet wet in this event. I am super stoked, and it should be spectacular! Here is a video that covers how they used the community to build this event. And with that, I’ll see you star side!
Quinn Smith is a contributor for AYB, and an avid PlayStation fan. When he isnt killing Super Mutants, expect him to be blasting around the Solar System in Destiny: The Taken King. All opinions expressed are his own.
