Bungie’s ramping things up for Destiny 2: The Final Shape ahead of its June 4 release date with a new trailer that shows off more of the upcoming expansion.
26.04.2024 - 13:45 / gamesradar.com / Austin Wood
We all knew this was coming. Destiny 2: The Final Shape will make sweeping changes to the MMO's overly complicated Power system, streamlining the grind and making it easier to play with friends. The kicker is that all "legacy" items – you know, the ones that were sunset years ago – are coming back. Except they're also not, because most players already deleted them after they were sunset, and developer Bungie admits "we have no recovery mechanism."
Bungie's latest blog post is a spicy one. Power changes are the focus, and it's saying something that official un-sunsetting isn't the only bombshell. It is, however, probably the biggest one.
"After thoroughly considering the problem space, we came to the decision to remove Power limits from all items starting in The Final Shape," Bungie says. This means that every piece of gear will once again have an equal Power cap. Old gear currently marked with a grayed-out symbol widely interpreted by Destiny 2 players as "please destroy immediately" can be infused up to current Power.
"As we close out the Light and Darkness saga, we want to rally all Guardians (active, returning, and new) to help fight the Witness, and there is no better way to play Destiny than with your fireteam," Bungie continues. "As we pursued this goal, it became apparent that Power limits were fundamentally incompatible with Fireteam Power."
This is when the other shoe drops: "We understand that many old Power limited items have been dismantled by this point, and we regret that we have no recovery mechanism for these." So if you understandably deleted years-old guns because they were useless in most content, well, you're going to have to get them again – the Destiny special. "Going forward, we intend to reintroduce sources for most or all of these, updated to modern Destiny sandbox standards with added properties such as Origin Traits and buildcrafting perks," Bungie adds.
This is good news, of course; sunsetting was enormously unpopular and ended up severely hurting the game after the design space it was meant to free up ended up becoming a black hole instead. But this is also a slightly bitter pill to swallow after all this time.
"Look, I get that some people will be upset about this change, we said you could delete sunset weapons and changed course," said senior game designer Josh Kulinski. "These aren’t things we foresaw, but we believe this is the right move for the success of Destiny in 2024 and beyond."
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more
The unambiguously good news is that increasing your Power is going to be a lot simpler going forward. Here's a quick summary of everything Bungie's announced for The Final Shape.
Destiny 2 dev thought it would be
Bungie’s ramping things up for Destiny 2: The Final Shape ahead of its June 4 release date with a new trailer that shows off more of the upcoming expansion.
In a year overflowing with great-looking Metroidvanias, Minishoot' Adventures popped out to me for the sheer oddity and novelty of its premise. It's a top-down twin-stick shooter where you play as a small spaceship in a bright, colorful world under attack from a shadowy villain called the Unchosen. And I do mean you play as a spaceship, not someone piloting a spaceship, which really adds to the charm of the world. I've only played the opening act, but it's officially my next weekend game, because it's immediately clear why it's been so well-received on Steam, with over 1,500 97% positive user reviews at the time of writing.
Power has inspired much discussion in the Destiny 2 community, and with Bungie experimenting more with not raising the Power limit, many believed The Final Shape would remove it. Instead, the development team is taking several steps to allow more easily playing with friends, regardless of their Power.
Among its most unpopular decisions with Destiny 2, Bungie made two exceptionally annoying ones – vaulting previously released content, like The Red War, Curse of Osiris and Warmind campaigns, and capping Power on Legendary gear. It would slightly alter course on the latter, ensuring that Legendaries released after a point didn’t suffer the same issue. However, in The Final Shape, it’s completely reversing the decision.
If The Witness wasn’t enough for Guardians in Destiny 2: The Final Shape, they must contend with the new Dread faction. Wielding the powers of Darkness, they create havoc and keep the player off-balance, as seen with the Harbinger, Weaver, Husk and Geist. Two new teasers highlight the remaining members – the Omen, Attendant and Grim.
A lot of changes are coming to the Power system of Destiny 2 when The Final Shape expansion makes it debut on June 4. While Destiny 2's Fireteam Power feature was initially announced back in August during the Destiny 2 Showcase 2023, the developers are now announcing updated changes as to how the feature will allow its players more interaction with their friends in the upcoming expansion.
Destiny 2: The Final Shape is fast approaching, and we’ve reached the point where every weekly blog post has some bombshell to shake up the community. But on Thursday, Bungie dropped some of the biggest news that veteran players have ever seen: Destiny 2’s weapons are getting un-sunset.
After showcasing what the Harbinger and Weaver are capable of inDestiny 2’s The Final Shape, Bungie has a new teaser dedicated to the Husk. As a melee combatant of The Witness’s Dread faction, it rushes players with bladed tonfa. Check it out below.
With Destiny 2: The Final Shape, players will tackle familiar foes inside the Pale Heart of the Traveler en route to fighting The Witness. However, they also have to tackle the Dread, a race of Rhulk-like beings loyal to the latter. Check out the brief trailer below, which highlights two types of Dread: the Harbinger and the Weaver.
A new trailer is available for Bungie’s Destiny 2: The Final Shape, with the returning Cayde-6 (voiced by Nathan Fillion), outlining his experience waking up inside the Traveler. Far from the afterlife, the former Hunter Vanguard recognizes that The Witness is infecting it and consuming it from within.
Helldivers 2 is an extremely popular game, far more than probably either Arrowhead or Sony hoped for. That said, it isn't perfect, and the developers are well aware of that.
Bungie’s next expansion for Destiny 2, The Final Shape, launches on June 4th. As the conclusion to the Light and Darkness saga, it sees players venturing into the Pale Heart of the Traveller to defeat The Witness. Alongside a single-player campaign, players can partake in a new raid as the final battle against The Witness.