Destiny 2 Sunset Weapon System

Destiny 2 Game Director Explains Weapon Sunset.

            This fall, the studio will set a limit on the power of old weapons, which will make it less useful in activities requiring the most powerful equipment. Players will still be able to use these old weapons, but not in activities such as raids, dungeons, Nights, or Tests of Osiris.

With the June 9 release of Bungie announcing Destiny 2: Beyond Light this fall, the studio announced plans for sunset planets and old events, as well as introducing Destiny's content repository, recreating activities like Vault of Glass. Since the weapon spell is still in place, players are worried about what their arsenals will look like this fall. We talked with game director Luke Smith about why sunset spells for weapons are the right move for Destiny 2

“We created the [Infusion] system and, you know, I think it has many really positive properties, but I think it also has many really negative properties,” Smith said. Players needed Infusion, but this was always a temporary solution to a more serious problem. 

Infusion - the art of delivering powerful weapons to a beloved, weaker weapon to make a weaker weapon more powerful - did not exist before the expansion of The Taken King in the original Destiny. Bangui wanted players to be able to use their favorite gear, rather than getting stuck in something they didn't like in order to stay at higher power. 

Less than two years after the appearance of Infusion, Destiny players switched from a ship to Destiny 2 and had to replace their entire arsenal. But this fall, Destiny 2 will begin its fourth year of updates. Players can choose from hundreds of weapons - more than Destiny 1 players have ever had access to. 

And that is where the problems of Infusion begin to emerge. “It's very interesting to dream about new things,” Smith said, but Destiny players used the same weapon - for example, the Leviathan raid’s Midnight Coup handgun - for three years.

According to Smith, this new system of maximum power will create a "permanent supervision of the deck of cards." “This is our way of continuing the pursuit of the world's persecution,” Smith explained that this is an alternative to switching to a new game or deleting a player’s current arsenal. Players can still use the weapons they love, but the new system encourages them to move on if they want to stay competitive. Limiting maximum power is a permanent solution to the Infusion problem introduced five years ago.

With a studio announcing Beyond Light this fall, The Witch Queen next year, and Lightfall a year after that, it’s clear that Bungie has a long-term plan on where Destiny 2 will go. But before he can get there, Bangui must fix her past mistakes.