Ever since the introduction of the Grandmaster difficulty for Nightfall strikes in Destiny 2, players have criticized the tall barrier to entry that the endgame experience has required in regards to a Guardian’s power level. Luckily for players looking to tackle Grandmasters this season, Bungie has finally heard the feedback and is making some major adjustments to the mode’s requirements.
In today’s This Week At Bungie blog, the developer confirmed that when Grandmaster Nightfalls return on Jan. 17, the Power level needed to access them and the Power level of the activity itself will be brought down to allow more players to try it out.
The core challenge of the Grandmaster difficulty comes from the fact that the enemies you face in these strikes sit at a Power level 25 points above the player. As this difficulty can be easily locked in with a modifier, Bungie has chosen to lower the overall Power level of those enemies by 10 to 1620, meaning that players will only need to reach Power level 1595 to be at maximum effectiveness.
This is an essential change toward allowing players with less time to grind out Pinnacle rewards to access this content, which nets you some of the most lucrative Exotic drops in Destiny 2 as well as leading toward the acquisition of the Conqueror title. The 25 Power level difference remaining also means that Grandmasters will maintain their integrity as the game’s most challenging content.
In addition to the reduction made to both the mode’s Power level and the maximum effectiveness Power level, players can now enter Grandmaster Nightfalls at Power level 1580—a reduction of 25 points down to the current season’s Power cap. Players who choose to do this will be 40 Power levels below the enemies within, but the mode is at least now accessible to a much wider audience.
These are significant changes in and of themselves, but Bungie also teased in the TWAB that the Lightfall expansion next month would be bringing even more changes to Grandmasters, calling the update going into effect next week as a “little preview of some of the changes.”
“We’ll have more information on further changes to Grandmaster Nightfalls and other high-difficulty modes coming soon,” they teased, suggesting the move toward greater accessibility will potentially impact the likes of dungeons and raids as well.
