Ritual Sites
Tier 5 Ritual Sites award 20 Hero Dawncrests per run, averaging less than one minute spent per crest.
Since their addition in Patch 12.0.5, Ritual Sites have proven to be quite lucrative, becoming one of the most efficient sources of Voidlight Marl and awarding Field Accolades used to purchase Heroic-tier equipment. They even award the new highest level of Great Vault gear for players who aren't interested in raiding or engaging in Mythic+ content. On top of all that, they're also a very fast and effective way of farming the Hero Dawncrests needed to upgrade that gear.
Tier 5 Ritual Sites also award 4/6 Hero from the Vault, three upgrades higher than Nightmare Prey hunts or Delves.
Ritual Sites > Delves
So why have Ritual Sites dethroned Delves this way?
They're much shorter than Delves and have only one simple objective, without collecting anything or completing minigames.
They're less linear than most Delves, allowing stronger groups to run even faster by splitting up.
The areas are very open and outdoors, allowing the use of mounts to go fast.
Most importantly, they have no lockout or limit to rewards.
Even though both activities are generally easier in a group, Ritual Sites can be completed significantly faster and run over and over again, while Delvers are limited by their Restored Coffer Keys and the number of Bountiful Delves available each day. This only gets better in Patch 12.0.7, as the new Tier 6 Ritual Sites will award Myth Crests, again with no lockout. This is the same bonus that T11 Delves award at Rank 4, but while players are limited to just four Gilded Stashes per week for a total of 20 Myth Dawncrests, T6 Delves award 5 Myth Crests per run every time.
Tier 6 Ritual Sites in Patch 12.0.7 will also award Myth Crests, though at the cost of fewer Heroic ones.
This efficiency does come at a cost, though. While Ritual Sites are fast, they're also pretty repetitive. One of the biggest strengths of Delves as a piece of content is that they cycle through multiple stories, each with its own objectives, bonuses, special abilities, and even rotating the enemies within. By contrast, every Ritual Site runs the exact same way every time: while there is a customizable challenge system, there isn't much incentive to actually change those challenges from run to run, as opposed to simply finding the best combination and sticking with it.
There are a lot of challenges, but not a lot of reason to engage with all of them beyond what's required.
What Comes Next?
While Ritual Sites become even better in Patch 12.0.7, they may not stick around beyond that. It's not yet clear whether the activity is intended to stay relevant in Patch 12.1, but with the narrative seeming to move beyond the initial threat of the Void, it stands to reason that some new activity will take its place. Delves are a more evergreen system, and we already know that the developers plan to introduce much larger Labyrinths in Patch 12.1.5, presumably with a whole new set of rewards.
All we know so far is that Labyrinths are supposed to be quite large, and can be tackled in multiple trips over time.
