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2024 Golden Lance Award for Best Expansion Content

4 minutes read

We live in a post-launch world. Games are rarely, if ever finished when they arrive in our download queue unless they are from Nintendo. The content in this category is a celebration of the games that gave us more of what we love. These expansions provided new and novel takes on base games that in many ways improved on what came before them. Maybe that is due to developers finally having some breathing room out from under the pressure of meeting a launch deadline. Or maybe it is because of the freedom that comes with having a base game that is successful. Regardless, these meaty chunks of downloadable content were perfect to sink our teeth into and return us to worlds we had left but not forgotten. With that said, here are the winners of Lords of Gaming’s 2024 Golden Lance Award for Best Expansion Content.

Winner – Destiny 2: The Final Shape

The Final Shape Showcase

After ten years, Destiny’s Light and Darkness Saga reached its epic conclusion with The Final Shape, a content-rich expansion packed with a new campaign, a new location to explore, exciting new activities, a challenging raid, a fresh subclass, and plenty of loot to chase. For those of us who have been with Destiny since the beginning, this was an emotional and frankly nostalgic journey. Coming off the heels of 2023’s underwhelming Lightfall, the stakes couldn’t have been higher. Following a delay from February to June 2024, expectations for The Final Shape ranged wildly. But that delay proved to be exactly what Bungie needed to deliver one of the most memorable expansions the franchise has ever seen.

At its core, The Final Shape brought us the long-awaited showdown with The Witness, Destiny’s elusive antagonist introduced at the end of The Witch Queen. The expansion unveiled The Pale Heart, a surreal and haunting area inside The Traveler, where past, present, and future converged in twisted and hostile forms. Bungie also introduced the Dread, Destiny’s first new enemy faction in years, a refreshing addition to the game’s ecosystem. The real game-changer, however, was the Prismatic subclass, which allowed Guardians to combine abilities from both Light and Dark subclasses, enabling dynamic new builds for virtually any challenge. Adding to the emotional weight of the story was the return of Cayde-6, the beloved former Hunter Vanguard, who joined us on our mission to defeat The Witness.

While uncertainty looms over Destiny 2’s future amid internal challenges at Bungie, The Final Shape stands as a fitting and heartfelt finale to a decade-long saga—a true love letter to the community that’s been there every step of the way.

Runner Up – Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred

Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred Spiritborn class in Nehatu

Diablo has a history of correcting itself when it releases its first expansion of a new Diablo entry. That tradition is alive and strong with the Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred expansion. Adding a new Act VI, location via Nahantu, Spiritborn class, new end-game content, new weapons, and paragon and itemization systems are all solid additions. 

Nahantu in particular is an exquisite jungle setting, one that we haven’t seen in the Diablo franchise, which is much appreciated. While the Spiritborn class is a breath of fresh air and is the first class of its kind in the unique, which combines a monk and rogue-like class, providing a unique experience.  Vessel of Hatred provides a new bedrock for building D4 for the next few years. In fact, it might be the start of a new tradition as Diablo 4 is slated to have a new expansion every year. So, Vessel of Hatred is more likely the tip of the spear should the strategy come to fruition. 

Mahmood Ghaffar

LOGNET Editor-in-Chief. Husband, father, and gamer. Videogames run deep within my blood. I've been gaming since the humble days of the NES and never looked back.