Destiny 2's Next Expansion Max Power Grind Details Revealed, Hard Cap vs Soft Cap

When expansions hit MMOs, it usually means an increase in the level cap. This was evident in the first expansion for Destiny 2, and will again be prevalent when Warmind drops this May. That being said, in an effort to make the gameplay experience fresh as promised, the team over at Bungie made some crucial changes to the grind, and reaching that newly raised power level of 385 will only be achievable for the dedicated.

Destiny 2 Senior Designer Daniel Auchenpaugh recently took to the Bungie blog to give players an inside look at the revamped power system in the upcoming expansion, sharing the changes to size and upgrade tweaks. The changes details will also be applicable throughout the entire game, not just the DLC, so if you're looking to re-cap, pay attention.

Daniel opened up with discussing some of the early on changes, "with the release of Destiny 2 Expansion II: Warmind, we're making some changes to the size and frequency of upgrades. These changes will apply to all of Destiny 2—not just the Warmind endgame content."

He added, "Our goals with this change are to bring back meaning and accomplishment to achieving the Power cap, to give players a sense of progression when they come back to play each week, and to reward players who engage in a broader scope of the Destiny 2 endgame content. We've made an effort to de-emphasize grinding public events for Exotics and to reduce the impact of clan engrams on endgame progression."

He also went into the differences between "soft cap" and "hard cap" stating that the soft cap, which is easier to hit, will be 340, while the hard cap will be 380+. He also mentioned that these numbers don't include +5 mods, there's a little calculation involved, for sure:

"Our target is that players who participate in all the weekly activities should take several weeks to reach the hard cap. Raids/Trials grant the largest increases, clan engrams provide very small increases, and the other weekly sources fall between those two. Players who don't participate in any group weekly activities are unlikely to hit the hard cap before the next release; dedicated omnivore players will hit it before players that just play Raids or Trials exclusively. Additionally, the final 10 points from 370 to 380 will be significantly slower than 340 to 370; we expect it to take players roughly equal time to go from 340 to 370 as from 370 to 380. We decided to make this change because climbing to 370 allows you to tackle endgame content without suffering a severe under level penalty, but creates a significant accomplishment in achieving 380."

The Senior Designer also offered a few tips for hitting that soft cap, one that many Destiny members are already familiar with. "Clan engrams offer excellent upgrades while a player is climbing to the soft cap; they should grant awards an average of 15 Power higher than your current best possible while you're on the way there," he offered. "This will help players catch up with their clanmates who are completing weekly activities. Once you've achieved the soft cap, your progress is going to rely a lot more on your own achievements; clan engrams above the soft cap will grant gear only 0–2 points above your best possible.

"In an effort to combat exploits around creating new characters to take advantage of one-time quest rewards, we've decided to limit those rewards to the soft cap for the release they first appeared in. This means Destiny 2 launch quests cap at 260 (before mods), Curse of Osiris caps at 300, and Warmind caps at 340. To compensate for their new caps, they'll give you a large boost (15 Power) when you earn them as long as you're below that cap. Farming Exotics to increase your Power has been removed; if they drop from a non-weekly source, they'll come out of the engram at the same Power as a Legendary would after you've gotten to the soft cap. We believe the changes to quest rewards and Exotic farming will ensure the most effective way to reach the Power cap is to play the most challenges and social weekly activities."