Destiny 2 players hoping for some game time before Lightfall will have to wait until the expansion launches tomorrow to play the game again. The Destiny 2 servers went offline at 10:45 a.m. CT today, marking a 24-hour maintenance window before Lightfall was released. Once the server is reset tomorrow, players can log in again.
Destiny 2 often has long maintenance periods before bigger updates like seasons and expansions, so the long downtime isn’t all that surprising. On the other hand, the maintenance window for Lightfall is much longer than its predecessor’s. Servers for The Witch Queen went down at 8:45pm CT and returned at reset, about 14 hours.
DESTINY 2 MAINTENANCE
❖ Update 7.0.0.1
Destiny 2 is being brought offline for expected 24-hour maintenance.
REMAINING TIMELINE
❖ Log in: February 28, 9 AM PST (-8 UTC)
❖ End: 10 AM
More info: https://t.co/48Mjp1drx7
— Bungie Help (@BungieHelp) February 27, 2023
When players log into Destiny 2, they can enjoy the new Lightfall addition and a bevy of other features that the expansion will bring to all players—even those who do not acquire the DLC.
Lightfall is reworking the game’s buildcrafting mechanism, adjusting the ability economy, tinkering with The Witch Queen’s crafting system, and balancing the difficulty of nearly every activity. And that’s before expansion owners ever get to experience the new area of Neomuna, the abilities of Strand, the challenge of the new raid, or the adventures of Season of Defiance.
Due to the extended maintenance, Bungie lets players download Lightfall around the time maintenance starts. Getting your storage and internet speed ready would be best because this looks like a long download.
According to Bungie’s platform storage page, PC users on Steam and Epic Games will need more than 200 GB of storage space to preload Lightfall, and the same principle will apply to some consoles. The company stated that the live version of Destiny 2 and the Lightfall preload would be necessary for users on select platforms in the February 16 This Week at Bungie blog post.
Having the game on disc won’t necessitate the full 200+ GB, as the old version will be erased once the servers go back online, but having the Lightfall preload will still necessitate a massive amount of storage space.
The Destiny 2 servers are typically overloaded once expansions start, so players should anticipate traffic and waits in-game owing to the massive demand. However, preloading will save some time and allow players to reach Neomuna more quickly. On February 28 at 11am CT, the Lightfall expansion will be released, allowing players to reaccess Destiny 2.