If you’ve been hanging around the Tower since the early days of Forsaken, you probably remember the absolute chaos that was the Invitation of the Nine. Every Friday, we’d scramble to find Xur—not just for a better roll on Celestial Nighthawk, but to grab that specific bounty. One of those quests, arguably the one that caused the most headaches, was the vessel of the nine destiny 2 step. It sounds simple on paper. Go to a planet, kill some stuff, collect some samples. But honestly? It was a buggy, confusing mess that highlighted exactly how Bungie used to handle cryptic storytelling before they moved to the current seasonal model.
The Vessel of the Nine wasn't just a random item. It was a bridge. It linked our Guardian to the Emissary and those giant, floating dust-heads we call the Nine.
People still search for this today because the rewards were unique, the lore was top-tier, and the mechanics were... well, they were classic Year 2 Destiny. You had to go to the Tangled Shore. You had to kill Hive, Scorn, and Vex. Sounds easy, right? It wasn't. The Vex part specifically drove the community into a literal frenzy because, back then, Vex were about as common on the Tangled Shore as a balanced Crucible match.
Why Everyone Struggled with the Tangled Shore Samples
Here is the thing about the vessel of the nine destiny 2 quest: it required "samples" from specific enemy races. When Xur handed you the "The High Priestess" invitation, you were sent to the Tangled Shore. You needed 9 Hive samples, 9 Scorn samples, and 9 Vex samples.
The Hive and Scorn were everywhere. You couldn't throw a grenade without hitting a Dreg or an Acolyte. But the Vex? They basically didn't exist there.
Players spent hours—legitimately hours—circling the map. The only place Vex spawned was in a very specific corner of the Warden of Nothing strike, which technically counts as being "on" the Tangled Shore for quest purposes. If you didn't know that, you were stuck. You’d be patrolling Thieves' Landing like a lost blueberry, hoping a Vex would somehow teleport in from Nessus. It wouldn't. This was Bungie at its most cryptic, forcing players to realize that "locations" in Destiny aren't just patrol zones; they are the entire director node for that destination.
The Strike Grind
Most veterans will tell you the only sane way to finish that quest was to boot up the Warden of Nothing strike from the map. You’d get to the part with the Cabal and Vex fighting in the prison blocks, farm a few kills, then wipe or restart. It was tedious. It was annoying. It was exactly the kind of "busy work" that defined the Season of the Drifter.
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The Lore Behind the Dust
Why did we care? Why did we spend three hours killing Vex in a prison for a three-minute cutscene?
Because the Nine are fascinating.
The vessel of the nine destiny 2 questline was our first real look into the origins of the Drifter and his relationship with Orin—the woman who became the Emissary. Before this, the Nine were just these spooky voices in the dark. These invitations showed us the "The Horse." They showed us the Drifter’s haul. They hinted at the fact that the Nine are actually Gaia-forms—sentient loops of dark matter tied to the gravity of the planets in our solar system.
If the planets die, the Nine die. That’s why they’re so obsessed with us. We are their insurance policy.
The Vessel itself acted as a physical catalyst. By collecting "samples" (which is just a fancy way of saying we harvested the biological and mechanical data of our enemies), we were feeding information to the Nine. They wanted to understand the paracausal nature of the Light through the lens of the different races inhabiting the system. Honestly, it’s kinda messed up when you think about it. We were basically cosmic lab rats.
Is the Vessel of the Nine Still in the Game?
Short answer: No.
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Long answer: Sorta, but not really.
When Bungie introduced the Destiny Content Vault (DCV) around the launch of Beyond Light, a massive chunk of the Year 2 content was shelved. The Tangled Shore is gone. The Invitations of the Nine, including the vessel of the nine destiny 2 quest steps, were deprecated. You can't go to Xur today and pick up these invitations anymore.
However, the impact of that quest remains. The lore entries you unlocked—specifically the "Ecdysis" book—are still readable in your collections if you earned them. If you didn't, you’re looking at a trip to the Ishtar Collective website to catch up.
- The Emissary's Fate: We learned Orin was a Sunbreaker Titan.
- The Drifter’s Fear: We saw him realize that the Nine aren't necessarily "good" or "evil." They are desperate.
- The Prophecy Dungeon: Much of the aesthetic and narrative groundwork for the Prophecy dungeon was laid during these Vessel quests.
It’s a shame, really. Newer players see the Drifter’s "trash can" (the Recaster) or the Prophecy dungeon and don't realize the sheer amount of legwork we did in 2019 to understand who these entities were. The Vessel quest was the grunt work that paved the way for the cosmic horror elements we see in the game now.
Common Misconceptions About the Quest
A lot of people think the Vessel of the Nine was a physical ship you could fly. It wasn't. Given the name "vessel," it's an easy mistake. In the context of the Nine, a "vessel" is usually a person or an object holding a soul or a massive amount of data.
Another big one: people thought the quest was bugged for everyone. It actually wasn't "bugged" in the traditional sense; the Vex just had a 0% spawn rate in the open patrol zones of the Tangled Shore. It was a design oversight. Bungie eventually had to go back and tweak things because the community was so loud about it.
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How the Narrative Shifted
After the vessel of the nine destiny 2 arc ended, Bungie shifted away from these "collect-a-thon" lore drops. They realized that while hardcore players loved the secrets, the average person hated farming samples. Now, we get our lore through radio transmissions and seasonal activities. It’s more streamlined, sure, but it lacks that weird, occult feeling of meeting Xur in a dark corner of the Tower to buy a mysterious slip of paper.
What You Should Do Now
If you are a lore buff or a completionist, you can't play the quest, but you can experience the story.
First, go to your Triumphs tab. Look under "Loot" and "Lore" to see if you have any of the Invitations of the Nine entries unlocked. If you're missing them, watch a "Destiny 2 Invitations of the Nine all cutscenes" video on YouTube. It sounds lazy, but since the content is vaulted, it's the only way to see the Drifter's backstory play out.
Secondly, play the Prophecy dungeon. It is the spiritual successor to the vessel of the nine destiny 2 missions. Pay attention to the dialogue between the Drifter and Eris Morn. They reference the "lessons" learned during the Invitation era constantly.
Lastly, keep an eye on Xur. While he doesn't sell the Invitations anymore, his "Strange Coins" economy and his new inventory system in the Tower (introduced in the Final Shape era) are the modern version of these old systems. The "Strange Favor" buffs he offers now are essentially a simplified, less annoying version of the old Nine boons.
The legacy of the Vessel isn't in the items we collected, but in the shift of Destiny's tone. It was the moment the game stopped being a simple "aliens vs. humans" story and started becoming a weird, metaphysical epic about the nature of existence itself.
Actionable Next Steps:
- Check your Legacy Triumphs to see which Invitations you completed before the Vaulting.
- Visit the Ishtar Collective and search for "Ecdysis" to read the full story of Orin and the Nine.
- Run the Warden of Nothing strike—it’s the only place left where you can experience the exact environment where that infamous Vex grind took place.
- Use your Strange Coins at Xur in the Tower to rank up his reputation; this is the current way to interact with the "Nine" faction rewards.
The quest might be gone, but the mystery of the Nine is far from over. With the Witness gone and the universe changing, those giant dust-loops are likely more terrified—and more active—than ever.