Destiny 2 is doing something new with its power progression in Shadowkeep. Actually, there is quite a bit changing in how players pursue Power, from Prime Engrams to new pinnacle power sources, but in particular, there will be a seasonal-based power progression based around the new Seasonal Artifact item starting in season 8.
During the Armor 2.0 reveal stream that developer Bungie held earlier this week, some keen-eyed fans caught sight of an extra Power bonus listed on one of the tool-tips in the character screen of the game showing an additional "+1 bonus" to the player's Power level. While this mechanic was not explained on stream, Destiny 2 franchise director Luke Smith went into detail about exactly how it all works.
In Part 2 of his Director's Cut commentary post, Smith calls this mechanic the Power bonus, which is tied to the progression of the Seasonal Artifact. As he explains, this Power bonus will last only until the end of the current season. But for each particular season, players can level their Artifact to raise their Power level. This does not raise the Power level of the gear itself nor does it increase the Power of future gear drops. The Power bonus is almost like extra points of Power on top of everything else that normally contributes to a character's Power level.
In addition, this Power bonus is not character-specific but account-wide. So any progress made to increasing that Power bonus will be experienced by every character on a player's account. Smith says that this Power bonus will be another way that players can progress during the season, especially those players who do not get very involved in the endgame:
"This is meant to give players who can’t or don’t want to play pinnacle activities a seasonal path to Power. This way, even if a player doesn’t play the raid, Iron Banner, or the [REDACTED], they can still have a high Power value for the Season."
The Power bonus is another interesting mechanic tied to the Artifact. Bungie has previously talked about the Artifact saying that players will be able to unlock perks on the Artifact itself, some of which can actually be "Exotic-like" by the time the Artifact is fully leveled up. But like the Power bonus, the perks on the Artifact will only work within that season.
Players will have to wait to get their hands on the new leveling system once Shadowkeep launches, but from the information Bungie has provided so far, it sounds like the expansion will introduce a much more robust leveling system than the game has previously had.
Destiny 2: Shadowkeep releases October 1, 2019 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One, with a Stadia version also in development.
Source: Bungie