The next 'Destiny' expansion sounds excellent, even without its biggest promised feature

The next expansion to "Destiny," one of the hottest games of the past year, will arrive on May 19. When it launches, it will lack one of its promised and most anticipated features: a new, six-player mission that caters to longtime players. Or, more simply, a "raid."

Raids allow players to obtain high-level weapons, armor, and items you can't get anywhere else in the game, which is why they're such a big deal. But "House of Wolves," the name for the second expansion, will not include a raid, Bungie confirmed in a blog post Monday.

House of Wolves will not have a Raid activity. We didn't make this decision lightly. Our team has been humbled by the reception of Raids in Destiny and we are creating a new Raid for a release later this year. House of Wolves will have a new cooperative end game activity focused on variety, replayability, and skill - a new battle Arena called The Prison of Elders.

Many "Destiny" fans aren't happy about the lack of new raids.

Raids are arguably the best part of "Destiny." They require six players (though you can try fewer) to tackle big, challenging puzzles and hordes of enemies - completing each major step of the raid comes with major rewards like endgame gear, weapons, and more.

The first raid, "The Vault of Glass," was introduced shortly after the game launched in September, and the second raid, "Crota's End," arrived with the first "Destiny" expansion in December. You can watch IGN's fireteam run through "Crota's End" in just 30 minutes, embedded here.

The decision to leave out a raid from "House of Wolves" was pretty surprising to fans, since Bungie, the game's developer, delayed the second expansion from March to May.

But even though some may be upset that Bungie didn't cater enough to six-person teams in the next expansion, most players should be very pleased with what's coming in the next month in terms of overall content.

In lieu of the raid, Bungie is introducing a cooperative multiplayer "arena" activity called "The Prison of Elders," promises "glory" and "the greatest treasures."

"House of Wolves" will also come with three new story missions, a three-person strike, a handful of new story quests, two new social spaces for players to "forge new alliances" and collect bounties. A new multiplayer game mode called "Trials of Osiris" also promises "great rewards."

So, Bungie has not stripped bare "House of Wolves," just because it lacks a raid. If anything, it sounds like the next expansion will have much more content than the previous one, including new weapons, gear, ships, and more. And even though the "arena" mode won't be the same as a six-man raid, Bungie promises "variety" and "replayability," which are two things "Destiny" certainly needs to keep fans coming back until the next expansion drops later this year.