This week Destiny 2 announced: “Everything hurts now.” Instead of overpowered guardians, there will soon be not only a variable difficulty system but also more engaging content thanks to power level disadvantages. MeinMMO tells you how much harder it will get and, above all, why you should think twice about entering an activity without a good build.
Why does Destiny 2 need to become harder? Many guardians ended a season just jumping bored through the content of Destiny 2. Their power level had already significantly increased, thanks to the artifact.
When adding the 3.0 revamp for the subclasses, the new build crafting options, and the really powerful weapon perks, players were stronger than ever before. No enemy could impress them as a result. Destiny 2 could no longer keep up with the gradual increase in strength.
However, that is supposed to change now, as Bungie wants it to be challenging again in the future and, above all, to remain so. They aim to achieve this by shifting the difficulty levels in Destiny 2 more towards the Legendary campaigns, Grandmasters, or Day-One raids.
- The easiest difficulty “Master” will be removed
- There will be variable level adjustments per difficulty level
- Grandmaster raids and dungeons will also receive difficulty updates
The Destiny editorial team at MeinMMO has summarized the most important difficulty adjustments for you in an understandable way.
There is no substitute for a good challenge
Destiny 2 players will soon have to actively engage with build crafting and strategic gameplay. Once guardians reach a certain point in the future, they will need to carefully consider whether to dive into an activity without having a proper build. However, there will also be more flexibility.
What has Bungie announced? In an article on the Bungie website, they informed players about the specific changes that are meant to make the game challenging again in Lightfall.
One change simply stated is that power in Destiny 2 will matter less. The power level will not go away; you will still need top loot, but a guardian’s power merely serves as a guideline for balanced activities.
Additionally, enemies in Destiny 2 will also become tougher, thanks to the introduction of power level disadvantages. These are different levels that will be applied when starting specific activities and are intended to lead to a “better challenge curve”.
- Hero: -5 power level
- Legendary: -15 power level
- Grandmaster: -20 power level
- Nightfall: -25 power level
With this, the developer fundamentally follows the desire of many players who yearn for good and above all long-term challenges.
In the Vanguard Ops playlist, guardian power will be disabled, as it is in Gambit and Crucible. This means that the power level disadvantage there is 0. Therefore, you will have no damage advantage over your enemies or they over you, regardless of your power level.
Most notably, the transformation of “Burning” into two different modifiers: “Surges” and “Threats”. These will be used in high-level activities, like Nightfalls.
25% boost to subclass or weapon – You have the choice
What are Surges and Threats in Destiny 2? “Surges” are a empowering modifier that increases a guardian’s elemental damage by 25% when it matches the current surge. The current surge in the Season of Resistance will be Strand plus two weekly rotating optional damage types (in Season 20, Void and Solar).
Threats, on the other hand, are the exact opposite of Surges. They increase the elemental damage caused by enemies by 25%.
Furthermore, Bungie is introducing a new mechanic in high-level activities called “Overcharged Weapons”.
What are Overcharged Weapons? Basically, any weapon in Destiny 2 can be an “Overcharged Weapon”. The category of weapon that it is depends on two factors:
- Weapons listed as anti-champion weapons in the seasonal artifact
- Weapons recommended per activity to encourage their usage
The system of recommended weapons per activity is not new. Bungie already utilized so-called “Curated Weapon Loadouts” based on weapon archetypes back in the summer of 2018. They provided guardians with weapon combos, for instance, in the raid “Leviathan” at the prestige difficulty level. The difference from 2018 is that you can now play these weapons, but you don’t have to, and you’ll also be rewarded for using them.
This advantage is given to you by Overcharged Weapons: For using Overcharged Weapons, Destiny 2 will reward you in the future with a damage bonus of 25%. Guardians will thus have a new method for dramatically improving damage output. Kinetic damage will also be increased by 25% if the equipped focus matches the active Surge.
Various damage types remain important: The good news for many guardians was also the announcement that Bungie will remove the widely disliked negative modifier “Match Game”. However, you shouldn’t get too excited about this change, as it also has a downside.
Yes, there is no more “Match Game”. But in return, guardians will in the future deal 50% less damage against mismatched shields throughout the game. This means that a negative modifier that previously only occurred in selected activities will now become the standard for the entire game. Enemies in Destiny 2 will thus be hardened across the board – regardless of location.
More flexibility for every ultimate you want to play: What Bungie also mentioned was that Surges and Overcharged Weapons are not stackable. But that also makes it flexible, as guardians have a choice. They can either use an Overcharged Weapon or utilize the active Surge subclass for the damage bonus of 25%. This way, you can still have a damage bonus with Arc or Stasis ultimate without having to make compromises.
The rest of PvE also gets more flair
Surely, the Nightfalls are one of the most popular activities in Destiny 2. But the rest of the PvE also receives some solid difficulty upgrades and will be refreshed by Bungie.
- Raids and dungeons will also receive the power difference treatment. But don’t worry: normal raid and dungeon runs will continue to function as they do now and will not receive the announced power delta of -15
- The -5 power level disadvantage tested in Season 19 will also remain in Season 20
- Lost sectors, Empire hunts, Eternity challenges, and the Crucible will also receive updates with Overcharged Weapons, Surges, and Threats
- The strikes “The Lake of Shadows” and “The Arms Dealer” will receive new enemies, new encounters, new mechanics, and new objectives
- In addition to Lost Sectors, there will be additional ways to obtain exotic armor from Lightfall
- The Vanguard Ops playlist will also, like Nightfalls, receive a point system and reward many points with an increasing reputation rank modifier
- The weekly Vanguard challenges will also be updated to fit the new Surges and Threats
What the new Vanguard scoring and challenges will look like can be read on Bungie’s website. There they also announced that they would review the drop rates in Lost Sectors again. Additionally, there will be extra ways to obtain exotic armor from Lightfall that you can discover on February 28.
Will the activities also be more rewarding? That is still open. Bungie does talk about making activities more rewarding through challenges, but actual rewards are not mentioned anywhere.
There are still a few questions unanswered. But luckily, we only have to wait just under a week to find out how everything will work.
What do you think of this increase in the overall PvE difficulty? Is it to your liking, or did you enjoy the feeling of power in every activity without having to exert yourself? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
Did you also know that colorful beans might soon appear in Lightfall?
