Posted in: Games, Video Games | Tagged: activision, Bungie, Destiny, destiny 2, HRL

Bungie Has Doubled Destiny 2's End-Game Leveling Requirement

Published Mon, 27 Nov 2017 18:20:21 -0600

After fans noticed an problem with XP scaling in Destiny 2 last week, Bungie promised and quickly removed the scaling system saying the system hadn't performed like they wanted it to. The game director for Destiny 2 has since commented that Bungie has some big changes to Destiny 2 coming our way, which will be further explained in a live stream later this week.

And now the studio is once again deluged with player complaints after Reddit user Aercus gathered data and noticed something else had changed with end-game leveling. Bungie has since confirmed those findings via Twitter.

The Destiny 2 API has yet to be adjusted to reflect the recent in game change to earned XP. We are working on an API update to address the discrepancy. The correct value to earn an additional level is 160,000 XP.

— Bungie Help (@BungieHelp) November 27, 2017

The gist of this all indicates that players must earn much more XP to earn additional levels after reaching the level cap than previously needed. Right now, players must earn 160,000 additional XP, which is twice as high as displayed in-game.

The ongoing XP issues are a tricky one for Bungie, as each level earned in Destiny 2 after a player hits level cap results in a bright engram — the game's version of loot boxes. The engrams are also available by spending real money, because micro-transactions are just the thing to do this year. Because the system slows down XP gained, many players have interpreted this as Bungie pushing players toward purchasing bright engrams with real money, as opposed to earning them. And, well, we can't quite blame them. While having purchasable loot boxes that grant high-level weapons and armor will inevitably cause accusations of the game being "pay to win," those can be offset if the boxes are also able to be earned reasonably enough. Because Bungie's current system makes it harder for players to earn bright engrams, it does seem a bit more like the developers are favoring those who pay over those who play.

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