Destiny 2 will get a retooling of its Power system this fall according to game director Luke Smith. In the third part of his lengthy Director’s Cut post, Smith detailed the changes the team will make and how they will prevent the damage and Power curves from outgrowing themselves.
Currently, in Destiny 2, players at the high-end of the Power curve will frequently see damage values that cap out at 999,999 when they attack an enemy. Smith attributes this to the fact that the team did not build the game’s Power vs damage system to support the level of growth and longevity that Destiny 2 has enjoyed. Smith said that with the upgrades in Shadowkeep, the curve sharpens so dramatically it goes vertical. This might relate to Shadowkeep's Pinnacle Power sources.
The team at Bungie will address this by re-engineering the way the numbers and systems work. This means that players will begin to see lower overall damage values in the game once the update goes live. Smith makes it clear that these lower values do not represent a nerf. Players will still do the same damage they would have before. It just tunes all of the game's underlying numbers enough to make sure the game can continue to grow uninhibited while players beef up their characters with Destiny 2's new armor system.
Smith goes on to discuss what Bungie calls "The Immunity Wall." This term, apparently coined by the designers on the Destiny 2 team, refers to Power difference that dictates whether or not a player can damage an AI. According to Smith, the current Immunity Wall sits at 50 Power, which means that if the player’s Power is 50 or more lower than the enemy, then the player’s damage output against that enemy basically amounts to nothing.
Smith said that they have decided to change the Immunity Wall. Starting this fall, players that have Power up to 100 below an enemy can now do damage to that enemy and potentially take them down. This will not change anything for players whose Power matches that of their AI enemy.
Smith says this change will give players the opportunity to create more challenge for themselves. If someone wants to take on an enemy encounter that way overpowers them, but they have the skill and endurance to survive the encounter and triumph, they should get to play that way. In the fall, they can.
These changes speak to Bungie’s ongoing commitment to providing a Destiny 2 experience that will last and continue to grow into further growth and expansion.
Destiny 2: Shadowkeep will release on October 1st on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, with a Stadia version also in development.
Source: Bungie