Destiny's first expansion, The Dark Below, launches globally on 9th December, developer Bungie has confirmed.

It costs £19.99, or it's a part of the Destiny Expansion Pass, which costs £34.99. The Expansion Pass includes both Expansion 1, The Dark Below, and Expansion 2, House of Wolves.

The Dark Below adds new armour, weapons and gear to the game, as well as new legendary and exotic quality items.

The light level cap is raised from 30 to 32, and the new gear will facilitate progression beyond 30.

A new set of story content will be run through a new vendor character, called Eris, who takes up residence in the Tower social hub. She sends players on a mission against the Hive alien race in a bid to stop big bad boss Crota from taking over the Solar System.

On the competitive multiplayer side, three new arenas are added. Close quarters map The Pantheon is set in a Vex temple inside the Black Garden. Another smaller map is called The Cauldron, an abandoned Hive ritual site. There's also a new vehicle-based map called Skyshock, an old interplanetary defence array.

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One new strike will be added for all players, called The Will of Crota. As part of Sony's DLC exclusivity deal with Activision, PlayStation players get an extra strike called The Undying Mind, set in the Black Garden, as well as a new exotic item.

The six-player raid is called Crota's End, and is set in the Hellmouth. As the existing raid, Vault of Glass, unlocked some time after the release of Destiny, so will players have to wait for Crota's End to unlock soon after the release of The Dark Below.

The Crota's End raid was leaked as part of a glitch one player encountered back in September. A number of other activities were linked to The Dark Below, but they appear to have undergone a name change.

Elsewhere, Bungie will increase the number of bounty slots available to characters to 10 from the current five.

For more on The Dark Below and Bungie's work to improve Destiny, head over to our interview with Harold Ryan.

A second expansion, House of Wolves, launches at some point in 2015.