Destiny 2: Shadowkeep is shaking up the game’s leveling curve in a major way. A Destiny 2: Shadowkeep leak revealed the expansion back in June, and the recent Shadowkeep delay pushed its release date to October 1.
As Destiny 2’s newest expansion, Shadowkeep is bringing new additions to the game while also bringing players to a reworked version of Destiny 1’s Moon destination. The expansion also introduces Destiny 2 finishing moves and seeks to make the game more accessible than ever with the free-to-play Destiny 2: New Light, a Destiny 2 Google Stadia release, and Destiny 2 cross saves. It’s not just new editions of the game that will help players overcome the barriers to entry, though, as Shadowkeep’s leveling systems are also being re-tooled to change the way players progress through the game.
In part two of his Destiny 2 “Director’s Cut” blog, Destiny 2 game director Luke Smith described several changes coming to Destiny 2’s power grind this October. The most significant change is that, for both new and returning players, all armor and weapons in the game - including every single item with a power level in players’ inventories and vaults - is being set to a Power level of 750. This essentially makes 750 the new base Power level, allowing players who join the game in New Light to play with their friends, even if those friends have played through previous end-game content. This also means current players should stop infusing current gear sets, since they will all be automatically bumped to 750 in a month and a half, anyway.
The new soft cap for players’ Power levels will be 950, meaning that’s the maximum amount of Power players will be able to earn through normal activities. In order to get above that level, players will have to participate in pinnacle power sources, like the Raid and Nightfall. Additionally, a new Seasonal Artifact item will allow players to obtain a season-long Power bonus. This won’t increase their gear’s Power level, instead increasing their characters’ overall Power level. This ensures players will be able to tell which people have completed the game’s more prestigious activities, but others will still be able to have relatively high power levels in order to participate in end-game content.
Finally, Smith announced that the number of Power sources is being reduced, and Prime Engrams will only drop for players once they hit Power level 900. World drops, however, will now have a chance to yield items at players’ current power level. For example, Smith said, of a player has an overall Power level of 912 but their gloves are at a 906 Power level, they could find 912-level gloves in a Legendary engram.
Obviously, these changes are a lot to take in, and it’s hard to tell exactly how they’ll play out until Destiny 2: Shadowkeep releases. Most of these seem like positive changes, although it’d be easy to see how they could upset some players, especially those who have just spent tons of resources infusing gear, only to have everyone’s automatically raised to 750 Power.
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Source: Luke Smith
