Home Gaming The path to power in Destiny 2: Forsaken sounds like a long grind

The path to power in Destiny 2: Forsaken sounds like a long grind

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POWER! UNLIMITED POWER! Well, kind of. It may have taken a few restarts and some significant retooling, but Destiny’s acquisition of weapons and gear which are used to express the sum total of your power is pretty much a streamlined process by now. Essentially a hunt for higher numbers, the light level of a player determines just how much damage they can dish out and receive in turn, with the quest for better loot forming the crux of the Destiny experience.

In Destiny 2, there’s a ceiling for the acquisition of power. Currently, the only way to surpass it is to dip into the Solstice of Heroes event and assemble the 400-power Resplendent armour, although even this number will be irrelevant once the Forsaken expansion raises the roof on those numbers. It’s the how of this chase that’s getting a significant reset however, as Forsaken will introduce new paths to power.

Previously, players had to complete several weekly milestones if they wanted better gear, albeit it with the most incremental of numbered upgrades. Zavala would reward you for completing a Nightfall strike, serving a tour of duty in the Crucible would earn you some neato rewards and sticking to themed public events would also up the ante on your mathematical massacre prowess.

In Forsaken, the entire game is going to focus on risk having a suitable reward in place, as a suite of activities are dropped and replaced by new diversions. “The base strike playlist for Destiny 2: Forsaken players has been updated to feature difficulty selection and modifiers. Heroic strikes are being retired on August 28 with Destiny Update 2.0,” Bungie said in their weekly update.

The Nightfall activity is also being revisited for Season 4. Prestige difficulty is being retired, but the base difficulty for the Nightfall activity will increase. Additionally, players will have the ability to choose one of three Nightfall strikes each week. If there’s a specific Nightfall Unique Reward that a given player is hunting for, this reduces the time they have to wait for the strike to be featured again.

While having three options, players may only select the strikes for which they own the appropriate expansions. Legacy players will still be able to enable modifiers via their Challenge Card. Scoring will not be available for legacy players in the 270 Power Nightfall. Meditations are being retired and replaced with a Heroic story playlist. New campaign missions will be featured at 500 Power, while old campaign missions will be set to a Power level relative to their release. This ensures legacy players can still enjoy story activities at their leisure.

Ikora Rey’s Vanguard Research reputation tokens will no longer be used as a currency after August 28 and will be removed from player inventories. The Legendary parade gear will also no longer be available, so if you want it, get it before August 28.

Heroic adventures are being added to all destinations. When that destination is the Flashpoint, one adventure will be selected to be Heroic per day, with the exceptions of Mercury and Mars. Those two destinations will function as they currently do, but they will gain an additional adventure per day when they’re the featured Flashpoint. Players will no longer be able to purchase normal adventure tokens from vendors on destinations other than Mercury and Mars.

Activity modifiers will be shared across Heroic adventures, Heroic story missions, and strikes. This ensures that each day you know what to expect from the PvE content that you play as a ritual, and that when we balance and tune modifiers it’s happening across the game. This will include one weekly singe, one daily buff, and one daily debuff.

The Brawler and Grenadier modifiers will have their recharge times adjusted to ensure they’re noticeable. Adjusting your equipment for either also has a rather significant impact. We’ve seen some pretty crazy plays by the new Solar Hunter in our playtest. Some experienced players out there may be reminded of the feelings found when they equipped Nothing Manacles in the past.

Too long, didn’t read? Basically, expect your Strike playlist to look something like this in September:

Forsaken Players

The strike playlist has three difficulties to select from:

  • Power 300
  • Power 400
  • Power 500

Once you’re 40 Power over a given playlist, it will no longer appear as an option for you to select. This ensures a healthy matchmaking pool when players reach endgame Power levels.

  • The Power 500 playlist will always available.
  • Strikes will have modifiers.

Legacy Players

  • The strike playlist matches the legacy playlist that is currently available in Year 1.
  • Recommended Power 200.
  • Strikes will have modifiers.

I think the end goal here, is to have a constant power creep available to Guardians, having a persistent path to power that’ll probably be slower. Considering how dedicated players managed to ding the maximum power level of 385 after Warmind was released in a few short weeks of grinding, this is a system which will make that journey even more challenging in September.

Last Updated: August 13, 2018

9 Comments

  1. I can’t bring myself to get back into Destiny at all…not complaining its just I lost faith in the developer. No consistency, heaps of of lies, minimal content per DLC. Rather honestly dive into The Division and Warframe

    Reply

    • Original Heretic

      August 13, 2018 at 15:15

      Rather enjoying The Division right now, though I hardly get to play at all at the moment.

      Reply

      • Francois Knoetze

        August 13, 2018 at 15:21

        Makes 2 of us. Stuck between work and spending time with my 1 year old daughter at the moment. Plus I am kind of invested in God of War when I do get time.

        Reply

        • Original Heretic

          August 13, 2018 at 15:32

          Can’t fault you there.
          Time with your little ‘un ends up being much more rewarding.
          And as far as gaming goes, nothing tops GoW.

          Reply

        • Gr8_Balls_o_Fire

          August 13, 2018 at 15:32

          You’ve chosen the BEST game to be invested in.

          Reply

    • The D

      August 13, 2018 at 18:04

      Give developer Digital Extremes all the money that you would have spent on Forsaken, get cool loot. I think they’ve earned it 😀

      Reply

      • Francois Knoetze

        August 14, 2018 at 09:54

        Fully agree with you dude

        Reply

      • Francois Knoetze

        August 14, 2018 at 09:54

        Fully agree with you dude

        Reply

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