Bungie announced plans to revamp the difficulty curve in Destiny 2 ahead of Lightfall, a decision that came under some scrutiny from players who were afraid that casual playlist activities might become too challenging. I was 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a defender of the changes Bungie described, which seemed like a considerable effort to bring meaningfu𝓡l challenge to Destiny’s ritualistic low-end content. Now that the changes are here, it’s clear that most of the concerns were overblown. Strikes aren’t any more taxing than they were before, provided you’▨re willing to put some effort into tailoring your build - which is exactly the point of these changes.
While we don’t yet have access to the most high-end content available, it’s easy to see how mꦇuch versatility the new activity modifiers have added to buildcrafting, and in turn how much more engaging PvE activities have become. Bungie’s effort to bring challenge back to Destiny is one of Lightfall’s biggest successes - but it isn’t perfect. Where once there was a sizable gap between Master and Grandmaster difficulties, there now exists a gulf on the low end, between Hero and Legend. While attempting to add replayability to the introductory difficulty, Bungie has created an uncomfortable gap in the power grind that may take weeks to sort itself out.
In the new difficulty curve, there’s a standardized level scale across activities. Whether you’re in Nightfalls, Empire Hunts, or Campaign Missions, you’ll find the same difficulty settings in each. The recommended power levels for Hero, Legend, and Master are 1770, 1830, and 1840 respectively, but those aren’t the numbers that actually matter. Starting in Lightfall, ea🐠ch of the tiers has had its maximum effective level adjusted, which is the level at which you are the strongest you can be for that activity. For Hero, that’s 1765, Legend is 1815, and Master is 1820. Grandmaster Nightfalls, which open later in the season, will have a maximum effective level of 1815 against a recommended 1840. In other words, a lower max than Master, but a much higher difficulty.
The curve from Legend to Master to Grandmaster feels correct, at least hypothetically. The power cap for this season is 1800, so with another 10-15 Artifact Power, you should be able to comfortably run Legend just a few weeks into the season. For Master, you’ll need to get closer to the pinnacle cap and finish most of the battle pass, which feels appropriate for the second highest difficulty. Grandmaster isn’t even available until April 11, and by that time those who are pursuing the end-game activity will have had plenty of time to get up to the maximum 1815 power level. I also have no qualms with Hero, which caps out 1765, just a few levels shy of the soft cap. Once you fi💮nish the campaign, Hero should be the ꦍdefault.
The problem arises in the gap between Hero and Legend, which makes early season grinding somewhat frustr🧜ating. You reach maximum effectiveness for Hero almost immediately, but you won’t be able to complete Legend activities for weeks, even if you’re earning every Powerful and Pinnacle Engram you can. This means you’ll be making minimum progress on Nightfall rewards and making more runs to get them, while other rewaꦓrds are completely out of grasp.
Nightfall’s Pinnacle changed this season, which helps. You no longer need to earn 100k points in one run to earn the reward, but rather earn 200k over multiple. But in other places that isn’t the case. The repeatable campaign mission requires a single 100k run to earn the Engram, which this week can only barely be acc♕omplished on Legend difficulty. That means players still pushing for hard cap and earning Artifact levels - those who need the Pinnacle Engrams the most - are unable to earn this one until they barely need it anymore.
It feels like there’s a difficulty setting missing that should specifically apply those on or close to t🅺he power cap. We have one for soft 💜cap, one for pinnacle cap, and two for pinnacle cap+, but those pushing for the power cap are left in no man’s land until they break through to the other side.
If you play a lot, you won’t be stuck in that space for long. Those with multiple characters are already comfortably running Legend and making pushes for Master if they're especially skilled. Even if you only have one character you can get Legend ready in just a few weeks if you do all the Pinnacles you can. But for the most casual players that don’t have time to grind Destiny night after night, getting from Hero to Legend may take quite some time. And considering there’s only a five level difference between the maximum effective level of Legend and Master, the 50 level gap between Hero and Legend feels far too wide.