Destiny 2 Lightfall release time, and when Destiny 2 servers will be back online (2024)

Update (Feb. 28): And we’re live! As predicted, you’ll likely encounter a queue upon first booting the game for the vast majority of players — so if you encounter one upon logging in today, know you’re not alone — but for us, we only had to wait about 15 to 20 minutes before we could start playing.

When you are logged in, you’ll be presented with the option of attempting the Legendary campaign — our recommendation, at least for new players (or those returning to Destiny 2 after a long absence) is to come to this higher difficulty later, but the aforementioned link can explain the rewards and differences if you fancy a challenge.

Original article follows:

Destiny 2’s next expansion, Lightfall, is less than 24 hours away from launching.

New expansions are huge moments for Bungie’s shared world shooter — introducing a new campaign, the planetary destination Neomuna, a new subclass in Strand, and in future weeks, a new raid to tackle with five other players.

There are also a number of quality of life changes on the way for all players in Year 6, including loadout and mod managers, the new Guardian Ranks progression system, and much more.

Before then, there’s a period of downtime before servers come back online. Here’s when Destiny 2: Lightfall will be playable.

Destiny 2 Lightfall release time: When will Destiny 2 servers be back online?

Destiny 2: Lightfall launches on Feb. 28 at the same time in all regions around the world. Once servers go offline at 12 p.m. ET / 9 a.m. PT on Feb. 27, players will have to wait 24 hours before the game returns — with Lightfall available alongside it.

Here’s when Destiny 2: Lightfall will release in your time zone:

• 9 a.m PT for the west coast of North America
• 12 p.m. ET for the east coast of North America
• 6 p.m. CET for western Europe / Paris
• 5 p.m. GMT for the U.K.
• 2 a.m. JST on March 1st for Japan / Tokyo

While you wait, an update featuring Lightfall and other Year 6 changes will be available to download, meaning you can start playing as soon as the expansion is live. In theory, anyway — usually, the demand for a new Destiny expansion sees players enter a queue on the first day, as well as some server issues, so don’t rule out a slightly bumpy first few hours.

Image: Bungie

Destiny 2 Lightfall update preload sizes for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC

To help you prepare for the update, make sure you have the following hard drive space available in the 24 hours leading up to Lightfall’s launch:

• PS4 - 88.21 GB when installed (184.84 GB total required for pre-load)
• PS5 - 102.5 GB
• Xbox One - 89.21 GB
• Xbox Series X/S - 108.59 GB
• PC (Steam) - 102.60 GB (233.2 GB total required for pre-load)
• PC (Epic) - 101.51 GB (223.3 GB total required for pre-load)
• PC (Microsoft Store) - 102.13 GB

As noted, some platforms require some additional hard drive room for pre-loading. This is temporary, meaning once the update has launched at the above times, you’ll gain the remaining space back.

Though these updates are large, Bungie has said “this new installation will improve load times, and overall disk space usage will be smaller afterwards” — so the initial faff should be worth it in the long run!

What’s new in Destiny 2 Lightfall?

The additions to Lightfall and Year 6 are many and varied — from new expansion staples (including a new planetary destination, campaign, and raid) through to a number of quality of life changes available to all Destiny 2 players regardless of whether they are purchasing the expansion or not.

Here are the major additions at a glance:

Lightfall expansion additions

• New campaign, which features an optional Legendary difficulty
• Planetary destination Neomuna, a hidden city on Neptune, complete with six-player public event and Lost Sectors
• The Strand subclass (more on Bungie.net)
• New enemy type, the Tormentor
• New Exotics to unlock
• A new raid, launching March 10
• As well as Lightfall, Season of Defiance will launch with a battle pass and weekly storyline set on Earth

Quality of life additions and system changes in Year 6

• Loadout and mod managers to help with build crafting
• Guardian Ranks progression system to help guide new and returning players each season
• A power level increase
• Artifact mods becoming passive perks that are always equipped once unlocked (until the season ends)
• An increase in difficulty and challenge across many end game challenges (more on Bungie.net)
• Weapon tuning changes, including machine gun, heavy grenade and kinetic weapon buffs, tweaks to select perks and other changes (more on Bungie.net)
• Weapon crafting adjustments, such as only weapons which can be crafted having Deepsight Resonance objectives
• Umbral Engrams being replaced with Seasonal Engrams
• Vanguard vendor Zavala will be able to focus Vanguard-specific weapons and armor with engrams, including Nightfall weapons (once unlocked)
• Iron Banner will return three times per season, up from twice per season in Year 5 (dates TBC)
• Finally, a number of currencies and items will be removed from player inventories, or require manual deletion once Year 6 is underway (more on Bungie.net)

In summary, a lot to look forward to for both new and returning Destiny 2 players. See you in Neomuna!