Last week, we had the opportunity to play the Destiny beta test and check out some of the content that will be available in the game. Story missions, a Strike mission, and competitive multiplayer were all playable. But what we didn’t get a glimpse of is what the game has in store for high-level players after they complete the story. What will developer Bungie do to keep these players coming back to its game?

Bungie has big plans for its endgame, and these include raids. Similar to MMO raids, these events in Destiny will be challenging and demand you to strategize and cooperate to complete them. They are for high-level players, and there will be very large rewards if you manage to complete them.

They are so difficult and complex, in fact, that Bungie isn’t building matchmaking into raids. Talking to IGN, Bungie’s Luke Smith explained that the developer wants players to form teams that have a desire to work together. It’s hoping to accomplish this by taking the dangerous step of forcing players to team up with their friends, without matchmaking. “It’s a bit of a risk,” Smith said, “because the activity requires you to have a group of five other friends to play with. [But] if the worst thing that happens is you get your group together and you all have a great time? Wow, that’s going to be awesome. I bet you’ll want to come back. Hopefully the gear makes you want to come back.”

“We don’t adhere to any of the standard rules for the rest of the game.”

But what exactly are these raids? Bungie’s keeping the exact details a mystery, but the developer promises that they’ll be unique. “We don’t adhere to any of the standard rules for the rest of the game,” Smith described. “Like, raids don’t have waypoints, they don’t tell you where to go, they don’t tell you what to do.”

The enemies will be different from other games, as well. He explains, “They’re still big monsters, much like what you’re going to see, they’re still scary, but they have a bunch of abilities that are unlike anything you’ve really experienced in a shooter before.”

Recently, Bungie revealed that 4.6 million people had played the Destiny beta, making it the biggest beta for a new IP on consoles in history. Destiny launches on September 9 for Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 3.

What do you think about Destiny’s raids? Let us know in the comments.

Alex Newhouse is an editorial intern at GameSpot, and you can follow him on Twitter @alexbnewhouse
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