Destiny 2 is no stranger to leaks of all sorts, though almost all of them end up being untrue, effectively falsified to earn their creator some amount of Internet fame for a short while. In some instances, however, said leaks do end up being true, which means the community often ends up assessing them based on how likely something is or isn't to happen.
The latest in this long line of Destiny 2 leaks comes from one of the more prominent Twitter accounts dedicated to this particular topic. The relevant claim is that Bungie may be looking to do away with Destiny's tradition Power Level system, which would be a substantial revamp of how the game's core progression loop works, and how players interact with the game when a new content drop is released.
The aptly-named Twitter account Destiny Leaks has had a fair few of its previous claims verified in the past. One of the more recent such examples was that of three new Battlegrounds coming to Destiny 2 with the Witch Queen DLC, revealing the Season's main activity missions. According to Destiny Leaks' sources, Bungie may have been looking at ways to do away with Power Level progression for some time now, since Season of the Splicer, and the new system would, instead, rely on the players' temporary Artifact Level to provide them with temporary, resettable power-ups.
While Destiny 2 sets a high bar in its niche, the game's Power Level progression is relatively stale after all these years. The Power Level treadmill has already been partially invalidated with the introduction of Legend, Master, and Grandmaster difficulty tiers in most endgame content, which are bumped up every subsequent season. On top of that, all players are normalized to the new Power Level floor with each new yearly DLC, meaning that nobody ever gets left behind for too long.
All of the above makes for a gameplay situation that could feasibly function with a permanent Power Level statistic. Yet, removing the number and focusing on a simple seasonal Power Level progression (with seasonal resets) would certainly simplify and streamline the game for the players. Of course, even if this is indeed what's in store for Destiny, Bungie's recent community harassment issues make it unlikely for them to communicate this via non-official channels.
Players expecting Destiny 2's August showcase may anticipate the Power Level changes to get revealed there. Naturally, it's entirely possible that such a bombastic, game-changing reveal could happen. Since this is just an unverified leak that's been floating around for over a year, however, it may be worth keeping a pinch of salt at hand. It is curious, of course, that it would be getting highlighted anew just ahead of the August showcase.
Destiny 2 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
