Destiny 2's Lightfall expansion saw many highs and lows since its release, and it's hard to pinpoint whether the changes it brought to the many facets of the gameplay loop made it better than it was before or more complex. With Lightfall's changes to Destiny 2's difficulty, which resulted in several mixed opinions on where the game stands, Bungie made it clear that buildcrafting and accessibility are primary goals - even if it doesn't seem like it right now. Guardians are finding it more difficult than ever to consistently farm Exotic armor pieces to make said builds, for example, and Neomuna's patrol space isn't friendly to casual or solo players.
As of now, Destiny 2 makes use of its Power Level system in order to determine each individual player's progression and how easy or difficult some activities can be. The problem with the current iteration of Power Level is that it's still dependent on farming the same playlists and activities over and over in order to increase it, which can feel repetitive and hinders one's ability to jump into the game at any given point. However, recent Destiny 2 leaks allegedly point to another big change coming with Season of the Deep, and if it proves right, it could dramatically improve the quality of the gameplay loop, its difficulty, and how much control players have over it.
How Destiny 2's Season of the Deep Leaks Could Change Power Levels
According to the alleged leaks, which seem to come from a presentation held by Bungie for its developers, Destiny 2's Season of the Deep will do away with Power Level entirely, and instead, use a generic power system. Based on the leaks, this would mean that players will have a slew of challenges to complete on a weekly or daily basis, much like the current system, and each would reward Guardians with extra power based on how difficult that task was to complete.
This new Destiny 2 Power Level system would be account-wide instead of based on each individual character players have, which would be an amazing change in and of itself because it wouldn't force Guardians to grind ever more powerful gear for each class. Not only that, but it would do away with the current infusion system, meaning that players could use whichever guns they want without fearing they deal less damage because their gear level is lower than their best items. These two changes would truly make the game the most accessible it's ever been, and even though there would be a hefty grind to commit to with every Season, Destiny 2 players could jump into the game whenever they want and still achieve something.
The alleged leaks also suggest that this new Power Level system would bring changes to how group activities' difficulty is determined. In fact, it would seem that with multiple Power Levels available in a given fireteam, Destiny 2 would use the highest to determine any activities' required power floor. On one hand, this would make a streamlined leveling system the best for this kind of approach and thus healthier for groups, too, but on the other, it would also make helping Guardians with a lower Power Level much more daunting.
Destiny 2's recent difficulty nerfs not helping solo players a lot would make the case for the Power Level system to be more focused on fireteams, but the implications of these leaks might suggest otherwise. Still, it's been a long time since players first started lamenting issues with Power Level and how it works in the game, so it would make sense for Bungie to overhaul it entirely in Season of the Deep. This is particularly true considering all the changes to difficulty that Lightfall brought, but it remains to be seen whether the alleged leaks turn out to be accurate and what the exact details would then be.
Destiny 2 is currently available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
