Destiny 2's Season of the Haunted is ending in around two weeks, and the launch day of Season 18 will also be when Bungie's planned showcase event goes live, likely during the game's downtime for maintenance. The August 23 Destiny 2 showcase is going to be quite big because of the various announcements and reveals regarding the future of the game, starting with what will probably be a teaser trailer for Lightfall, the expansion that's meant to come out in early 2023. Of course, Bungie will also reveal more details about Season 18, possibly including a full commentary about the Arc 3.0 update that is going live alongside it.
Another important piece of information coming from the August showcase for Destiny 2 is what legacy Destiny Raid will be reprised in Season 18, especially considering that Bungie already ruled Crota's End out, leaving only King's Fall and Wrath of the Machine. Each of these two old Raids would make sense to reprise for Destiny 2, and that's because both of them can be used to advance the current storyline to some degree. Still, there are reasons why Wrath of the Machine may be the best pick among the two.
Why Destiny 2's Season 18 Raid Should Be Wrath of the Machine
Wrath of the Machine was the last Raid ever released for Destiny, and it came alongside the Rise of Iron DLC, which explored the story behind the Iron Lords and Lord Saladin, as well as that of Rasputin, SIVA, and the Fallen. Due to Saladin now being part of Caiatl's War Council and only returning to the Tower occasionally for Iron Banner, the character hasn't been a focal part of the story for a long time, except for Season of the Risen. In Season of the Risen, Saladin gave up his freedom to save Crow's life after the two spent time arguing over what's right and what's wrong, with Saladin leaving his legacy to Crow in the end.
This could lead to Bungie using Wrath of the Machine to lay out a Season that picks up an old plot point in the form of Rasputin's demise against the Black Fleet from Season of Arrivals, back when Ana Bray had to put the AI into an Engram to save it from annihilation. Because in Destiny 2 players learn that the events surrounding the Rise of Iron DLC and the Wrath of the Machine Raid were due to Rasputin using SIVA to get rid of the Iron Lords, it's possible that Season 18 will tackle these points.
Apart from story reasons, Wrath of the Machine could be a great Raid to reprise for Destiny 2, and that's because of its relatively quick encounters compared to King's Fall, meaning that it would offer more replayability value in the long run. King's Fall was possibly one of the longest Raids in the franchise, and while it's also one of the best overall, it can be a bad choice for Season 18 for another reason. With Season 18's new Raid, Bungie announced that there will be a slight change to the World's First Challenge where players will have to complete the Raid once before starting the run that counts for the race, meaning that a faster one would be ideal.
Wrath of the Machine also had a defined Raid-exclusive perk for its weapons in the form of Whirlwind's Curse, which allowed players to deal more damage to Fallen enemies with the Raid's loot. In Destiny 2, this could be used as the Origin Trait for Wrath of the Machine weapons, and it could even be a way to tie into the lore of the Raid itself and the Fallen as a race. Lastly, reprising Wrath of the Machine would be a great way for Bungie to come up with an entirely new Raid Exotic, as the original one was Outbreak Perfected, which is already in the game.
Destiny 2 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.