Bungie Will Not Raise Destiny 2’s Power Level Cap in Season 22

During the State of the Game post for August 2023, Bungie announced that Destiny 2’s Power Level hard cap will not increase when Season 22 goes live. This makes the hard cap remain 1810, making it less of a grind if you’ve already reached this point with your gear in previous seasons.

The hard cap was raised when the Lightfall expansion went live back in February. In Season of the Deep, the current season, Bungie didn’t raise the pinnacle cap. Due to popular demand, they plan to not raise it again for the next season, Season 22.

“Although we were a bit uneven on this one at the start of the year, we feel we achieved this goal after making additional tweaks based on general feedback at Lightfall’s launch. While enemies in Neomuna still pack a punch regardless of your level, players have been able to steadily climb in Power to take on the more difficult challenges they may have had a tough time with earlier in the year, due to the absence of a Power level cap increase in Season of the Deep.“

“Following the success of these changes, we’re confirming today that we also won’t be raising the Power level cap in Season 22. We’ve seen a ton of positive feedback on this decision from players who appreciate being able to play at their own pace, rather than feeling compelled to chase Pinnacles each week. Of course, we’ll still have plenty of activities where Power is crucial, including Master raid and dungeon content, Legend and Master Nightfalls, Grandmasters, Legend and Master Solo Lost Sectors, and Trials of Osiris. This will still be the case throughout Season 22, and your Artifact Power will still be as important as ever.

A healthy change

I for one am grateful for this change as I’ve always thought that the pinnacle grind to bring up your power level felt like fake growth. A repetitive grind to be able to do the most difficult activities in the game. It felt mindless, and if people like chasing the hard cap, and that’s mostly the reason why you log in to play the game on a regular basis, then this change might just be healthy for you too in the long run.

This isn’t the only change that was announced in the State of the Game post as Bungie announced a new PvP map, new Strand Aspects coming in Season 22, more Exotic Armor reworks, Quality-of-life improvements, Gambit changes, Vanguard Playlist changes, and more.

The whole State of the Game post feels more like a tease of what is to come as we still have Destiny 2’s Showcase Live stream happening on August 23 at 9 AM PDT, which is where we will have a good look at the game’s next expansion The Final Shape and most likely the reveal of Season 22.