Destiny 2 Artifact Power to be Disabled by Trials of Osiris Due to Backlash

When players got their first confirmation that Trials of Osiris was returning to Destiny 2, there was a lot of excitement, though that excitement waned drastically when it was also confirmed that power levels would be enabled during Trials, giving an advantage in PVP to those of higher levels. More damage, less damage, it definitely changed the battlefield and Destiny 2 players were not happy. 

For those that remember Trials in the first game, the idea of power being enabled is nothing new but what is new is how that power affects the game, especially in PvP. In the first game, Bungie controlled matching power levels for opposing players taking each other on, that cap making sure that the gap wasn’t ever too wide. That being said, Destiny 2 definitely doesn’t work in the same way and so without capping that power difference, players were quickly infuriated by how that change will affect Trials of Osiris. 

We will be disabling the Artifact for Power-enabled PVP (Iron Banner & Trials) until we can implement a Power Cap feature.

This cap will allow us to weave Artifact and Power Pursuit together while preventing unbound Power growth in PVP.

— Luke Smith (@thislukesmith) February 28, 2020

The thing about the Artifact, for those that may not be familiar, is that it essentially removes the normal cap in-game, meaning there’s no real stopping point for those that have time for the endless grind. But not everyone has that long to play, and not everyone has been playing since launch, which made the Destiny 2 forums and social media alight with frustration over what this means for the future of PvP.

Luckily, Bungie listened to those complaints closely and has confirmed that they will be removing Artifact Power in time for Trials.  “We will be disabling the Artifact for Power-enabled PVP (Iron Banner & Trials) until we can implement a Power Cap feature,” confirmed game director Luke Smith. “This cap will allow us to weave Artifact and Power Pursuit together while preventing unbound Power growth in PvP.”