With a large portion of its base game being completely free to play in October, but how does Bungie plan to keep Guardians invested for the long run for Destiny 2? By dipping into the hottest item to hit the gaming industry since EA tried to curb secondhand sales of games with online access codes, the humble Battle Pass.

It’s Gamescom week, October is almost here and I’ve got a hunk of desire to see more details on Destiny 2: Shadowkeep that pertains to Artifact mods and how they’ll impact on the main game. Fortunately, Bungie delivered on this front last night during the Inside Xbox livestream as they took to the stage and showed off the fancy new gadgets that’ll be making armour that much more special in the months to come.

More than fancy Exotics, more than the most satisfying of pop guns above all else, the primary drive in Destiny 2 has always been about accumulating power. What began with a Light Level in the original Destiny would evolve into the Power Level of Destiny 2, as Guardians would jet around the cosmos looking for all manner of rewards and engrams which would push their overall power ranking up higher and higher. In Destiny 2: Shadowkeep, that search for power is going to change.

In a livestream yesterday, Bungie detailed just how Armour 2.0 will impact on Destiny 2 and introduce a new activity to plan builds around. Here’s a brief recap of what was revealed last night.

Having a ton of missions is great in Destiny 2, whether it be a quest to fire up one of the forges to create Exotic new death-dealers or dropping onto Nessus to complete Solstice of Heroes objectives. Keeping track of all of those dozens and dozens of pursuits though? That’s messier than Jackson Pollock’s last paint enema explosion. Fortunately, a facelift is on the way!

That habit of grabbing September for the launch of a new Destiny chapter is going to be slightly delayed, as the Shadowkeep expansion and the free-to-play Destiny 2: New Light will be shifting from the original release date of September 17 to October 1.

In Rise of Iron, players could get their hands on Artifacts, valuable antiques which would give them slight boosts that made a world of difference during more hectic encounters across the solar system. In Destiny 2: Shadowkeep, they’re finally making a return.

Bungie’s plan for the next year may be a revisit to the classic location from the original Destiny game, but at the same time they’re aiming to make this area feel anything but familiar.