Destiny 2’s power ramp is getting updated in just two weeks

Destiny 2: Warmind has been out for just over a week, and players are getting close to hitting the max power level. But despite the quick ascension some players are able to achieve through multiple characters, Destiny 2 still has a power problem. Destiny developer Bungie laid out how it plans to address this issue in a blog post yesterday, saying that changes are coming in less than two weeks.

Daniel Auchenpaugh, senior investment designer at Bungie, detailed a few tweaks coming to heroic strikes in Destiny 2 version 1.2.1, which is set for release May 29. First, Escalation Protocol key fragments, several of which are required in order to get loot from the activity’s final boss, will now be a guaranteed drop at the end of every heroic strike, giving players a reliable way to farm them and a reason to run the strike playlist.

The rewards for heroics are also getting better. Every three to five heroic strikes a player does will reward them with a 360-rated piece of loot (before the +5 legendary mod has been equipped). While it’s not exactly what players are asking for, it should help smooth the transition from campaign to raid lair.

Since Warmind was released, players have been complaining about the rewards dropped from harder activities, specifically heroic strikes. They come with a recommended power level of 350, but the gear rewards at the end don’t drop above the soft cap of 340, making the activity useless before players even reach it. With this new system, players who still need 360 loot will be able to get some rewards from heroic strikes.

While that’s all Bungie was able to adjust for the update coming in two weeks, Auchenpaugh also talked a bit about the loot changes the team is looking into for the future.

Bungie/Activision

First, Bungie wants to smooth out the transition from the campaign loot drops into the endgame. Players are given all sorts of great catch-up loot while going through the story, only to get stuck when they move into the open world.

Second, Auchenpaugh doesn’t feel like players have enough to do when they complete their weekly milestones. He specifically calls out weapon randomization and the new records as good rewards to chase, once those systems become available in September.

Third, the team is looking into creating more tiers of loot. Each tier would likely be targeted at a particular activity, giving players a clear path forward depending on the tier. Lots of other MMOs, like World of Warcraft, already use a system like this. Dungeons give a certain tier of loot, and world activities grant another. If you’re looking for something specific, it’s easy to hunt based on the power level of your character.

Finally, the team wants to improve rewards for the hardest activities. Auchenpaugh specifically calls out the new raid lair, which took Destiny’s best players a full seven hours to clear. While that’s nothing compared to lengthy raids in other games, it’s a substantial amount of time for Destiny raids. However, the raid lair doesn’t give players interesting rewards, especially considering the time investment required to beat it.

Many of these features don’t have a defined timeline yet, although it’s likely that most of this won’t make it into the game until Destiny 2’s big expansion this fall. Bungie is expected to reveal the game’s September expansion during Sony’s E3 presentation on June 11. For now, you can check out our Destiny 2: Warmind impressions.