When Bungie announced that Trials of Osiris would return for Destiny 2, many fans were ecstatic. However, it was then revealed that Artifact Power – which is independent of gear and can be earned by simply amassing XP – would be enabled. Trials has Power-level advantages enabled, providing more damage and damage resistance to players of higher Power. This led to concern over the system favoring those who poured more time into grinding XP as opposed to rewarding skill in PvP.
Fortunately, Bungie has acknowledged the outcry and will be reversing this decision. Game director Luke Smith said on Twitter that, “We will be disabling the Artifact for Power-enabled PVP (Iron Banner & Trials) until we can implement a Power Cap feature.” The cap will ensure that the pursuit for Artifact and Gear Power was factored together instead of allowing for over-powered players.
Smith also said that before the cap was implemented, there would be further discussion on the impact of Power in PvP. In the meantime, the playing field should be more or less leveled, though players will still need to grind out higher Power gear and strong rolls on weapons. Trials of Osiris goes live on March 13th and will kickstart Season of the Worthy. Stay tuned for more details on Season Pass content and rewards.