Destiny 2 Removes Sunsetting Starting Season 14

Season of the Chosen is well underway, and players are finding lots to dig into with Destiny 2 right now. The highlight so far has been the ambitious new mission called Presage, which awards a fittingly impressive gun. However, 2021 is far from over and Bungie has tons of news to share regarding the near future and long-term goals of the franchise. A big surprise was the team's decision to walk back sunsetting.

Sunsetting started to get implemented in Destiny 2 with Season of Arrivals in 2020, but its effects weren't felt until Beyond Light launched a few months later. Bungie hoped to cycle through weapon metas by making older guns and armor fall behind in power level, forcing players to utilize the new loot. While the intentions were good, the vast majority of the community felt the execution of this system left a lot to be desired.

Bungie managed to shift the metagame significantly with sunsetting in Beyond Light, but the cost was high. On the positive side, players could appreciate the guns they earned more since only select weapons can fill certain niches, but even a full season later the lack of loot and the bitter taste of leaving hard-earned gear behind persists.

The shrunken down loot pool made tuning more manageable for Bungie, but this undermined player incentive since Guardians now knew that they could only use their favorite new toys for so long. Thus, moving into The Witch Queen, Bungie wants players to be proud of their whole arsenal and use all their prized weaponry in the expansions ahead.

Staring with Season 14, weapons or armor will not be power-level capped. Plus, any gear that was going to hit its max potential power level at the end of this season will be able reach max power forever. In other words, any piece of gear that has been released in Season 10 and beyond will always be able to reach max power level.

As such, Bungie will be spending the better part of 2021 researching and testing methods of refreshing the metagame and creating a healthy gear ecosystem without putting an expiration date on loot. The team will unveil its plans regarding this topic after The Witch Queen launches.

Since the studio will no longer resort to cycling loot out of the metagame, troublemakers in PvE and PvP activities will be looked at more thoroughly to be brought in line with the rest of the gear in Destiny 2. Some examples include Felwinter’s Lie and Warmind Cell mods.

A large part of the Destiny series sees players customizing their Guardians and creating unique playstyles. By mixing weapons, abilities, and stat boosts, fans can create some crazy combinations. However, putting these loadouts to the test requires going head to head with other players in competitive modes like Trials of Osiris or Iron Banner. While Trials of Osiris was brought back to Destiny 2 recently, Bungie will soon be switching up how the mode functions.

Looks like Bungie is going to be making some big changes to Trials of Osiris and Iron Banner in Destiny 2. Fans of these competitive modes can look forward to complete overhauls coming in the future for Destiny 2.