Part of the mission statement behind Destiny 2’s impending soft relaunch is that players shouldn’t have barriers to enjoying the same content their friends are playing. To that end, Bungie plans to seriously level the playing field when it comes to power progression. When the Shadowkeep release date hits, a power floor is going into place.
Instead of starting from zero, new players will begin with a power level of 750, and existing characters will automatically be boosted to that level. 750 will be the new floor for items as well, and all your inventory and vault items will similarly rocket up to that level. That means you should probably stop infusing any items you’re not actively using until Shadowkeep hits.
Recent seasons have offered quick paths to bigger power levels, but implementing a full floor on power is a new step. “Raising the power of all players globally is indicative of a greater problem,” game director Luke Smith says. “It’s real weird that someone will boot up New Light for the first time and immediately be 750.”
Smith offers up a big breakdown of what Bungie’s thinking in terms of power, but in short: it’s been complicated. With Shadowkeep, seasonal artifacts will offer one change to the power system. Those items will offer a power bonus to your characters – not your gear – that increases as you level it and resets at the start of every season.
Shadowkeep’s soft power cap will be set at 950. Smith says that “Shadowkeep will also introduce pinnacle powerful sources. These sources are the only way to earn gear drops above power 950 in season 8.”
But we might be in store for a broader rework of the power system. Smith says that “when we look to the future, we feel like the power system may benefit from a rework further down the road. There’s real potential in creating more agency for players, figuring out if power should be prestigious or not, and taking on the challenge of how to keep players relatively close together Season after Season, while still allowing them to make progress.”