Destiny's New Crucible Maps, Trials of Osiris, and Elimination Mode

Last week, Bungie revealed details about The Reef, Destiny's new social space in the upcoming House of Wolves expansion. As part of this week's continuation of coverage, the developer discussed additions coming to Destiny's PvP during a livestream presentation today. GameSpot went hands-on with the content last week and here's the full rundown on what to expect.

One big point of contention for House of Wolves when it was announced was the lack of a new raid. But one thing that Bungie will be adding to help ease the pain of that omission will be The Trials of Osiris. This new end-game PvP activity will run every week from Friday to Tuesday. Trials of Osiris is based on power like the Iron Banner and will be played on a new 3v3 mode called Elimination where two teams of three face off in a deathmatch. You'll be able to revive your teammates in this mode, and the first team to win five rounds wins the match. In order to help players focus their strategies, there will only be one map available per week.

In order to enter the Trials of Osiris you will need a Trials Passage. You'll be able to earn some by accepting quests that involve talking to NPCs on the Reef. But after that's completed, Trials Passages will cost 100 Glimmer each. In addition to earning you admittance into Osiris, the Trials Passage tracks your wins and losses. Once you lose three times, that specific Trials Passage is done and you can turn it in. Your package rewards are based on the total number of wins you accumulate.

Here are the rewards in Trials of Osiris:

• Two to three wins -- A blue package that can contain Motes of Light, Passage Coins, and other items
• Five wins -- Ability to purchase the weekly armor
• Six wins -- A legendary package
• Seven wins -- Ability to purchase the weekly weapon
• Eight wins -- Ability to buy a legendary package (Bungie did not disclose the packages rewards, but they did mention that it will not contain Exotics or Trials of Osiris armor)

The rewards are cumulative. So, for example, if you garner seven wins, you'll be able to purchase the weekly weapon and you'll also earn every lesser reward.

If you start off poorly or if you just want to begin a fresh card with a new team, you can discard your Trials Passage at any time. Brother Vance sells consumables that will help you get more wins and negate some losses. These items cost Passage Coins that you will receive as rewards from the Crucible and other places. Passage Coins are a new currency coming to the game that can be used to buy consumables from Trials of Osiris NPC Brother Vance.

Trials of Osiris will contain two sets of armor. The better set will be gated through Crucible wins, whereas the other set will be randomly dropped after matches.

As a sidenote, you’ll want to make sure to do Iron Banner when its available, because at Rank 3 and Rank 5 you can earn an Etheric Light to Ascend your gear.

The Dark Below Crucible maps will become free for everyone once House of Wolves releases on May 19. A Bungie representative at the preview event said, "All the Dark Below maps are going into the regular playlist for everybody. If you just have Destiny with no expansion packs, you'll be able to play."

The four new Crucible maps coming to the expansion are all small- to medium-sized maps with no vehicles. However, only three of the maps will come to both Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

• Thieves Den -- Fallen hideout located on Venus. It has a broken down walker, a docked ship, and multiple caves to run through.
• Widow's Court -- An asymmetrical map with both long lines of sight and tight interiors. Set in a European Dead Zone on Earth.
• Black Shield -- A decommissioned Firebase believed to be used by the Cabal on Mars as a war base.

The only PlayStation exclusive for House of Wolves will be a Crucible map called Time Keeper. Focused around a mysterious, clockwork-like structure on Mars built by the Vex, this map has the most verticality and the most open space to run around in.

To encourage all players to spend more time in the Crucible on Xbox One and PS4, Bungie is going to increase the rewards you get for participating in the mode:

• Earn double Marks
• Earn double reputation
• Increased number of Engrams rewarded after each match
• Completing the daily Crucible missions will net you a reward pack containing Motes of Light, Passage Coins, or other items

On May 6 we'll have more information about the upcoming PvE additions for House of Wolves when Bungie hosts its final livestream prior to the expansion's release. House of Wolves will cost $20 as standalone content, but it's also included with Destiny's $35 Expansion Pass.