Today marked the beginning of a month-long promotional period for Destiny developer Bungie. Whereas in the past, Bungie preferred to keep players informed about upcoming content via Weekly Updates, they have changed things up in preparation for House of Wolves. Instead of those long written posts, Bungie is giving players guided tours of the new content, with today’s event focused on The Reef and weapon and armor upgrades.

As far as upgrades are concerned, Destiny players will be happy to learn that all of their prized gear will still be relevant with House of Wolves. In fact, some of the pieces that were rendered obsolete when The Dark Below raised the level cap will also come back into play thanks to a new option on the upgrade path.

This new upgrade option will carry its own unique currency, called Etheric Light, and it will raise any previously owned weapon or armor pieces to the current cap for attack or defense power. So, that Fatebringer that players have had stuck at attack power 300 will finally be more relevant once it jumps to attack power 365. Oh, and the weapon’s progression won’t be reset – thank goodness.

Etheric Light won’t be as easy to acquire as Exotic Shards, however, but will only be available as a reward for high-level content. That includes the new Prison of Elders cooperative mode, the Trials of Osiris Crucible event, Nightfall Strikes, and the Iron Banner. In other words, players will need to work for those weapon upgrades, and the materials may not be as easily attainable as exotic shards. The good news, though, is that even players who don’t own the House of Wolves DLC will have the chance at earning Etheric Light.

Those exotic shards won’t be completely useless, though, as they will be part of the exotic weapon upgrade path moving forward. Whereas before Destiny players needed to visit Xur to purchase exotic weapon and armor upgrades, now they can make the upgrade to 365 – using a new exotic shard – right from their inventory.

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However, while players can bring their current gear up to max level, rest assured there will be plenty of new weapons and armor to purchase and earn in House of Wolves. This new gear will carry new perks and new design models, but more importantly it will carry a Reforge option built into the upgrade path. Reforging, like in Iron Banner, will let players re-roll the perks on any of their purchased House of Wolves weapons in order to get the set-up they like. Simply visit the Gunsmith in the Tower, spend a little Glimmer and weapon parts, and you will have a completely different set of perks.

Overall, it sounds as if Bungie has heard Destiny players loud and clear regarding weapon obsolescence. Being able to upgrade old gear to max level is huge for some players, especially those disappointed when the max attack power was raised with The Dark Below. Now is the time to bring those older weapons back up to top tier status.

What do you think of the new gear upgrade options for Destiny? Will this make you break out some of your old favorites?

Destiny – House of Wolves releases May 19, 2015 for PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.

Video via Polygon