Bungie Making Destiny 2 More Approachable To New Players With Replayable Story Missions, Fireteam Matching

Bungie's latest showcase introduced a whole lot of changes, updates, and new content on the horizon for Destiny 2 as it kicks off its Season of the Witch. Included in this is a suite of quality-of-life improvements aimed at enhancing Destiny 2's community, whether that's playing with friends, making new ones, or getting new players up to speed on the expansive game.

The changes are aimed at making sure every player can experience the Light and Darkness Saga to its fullest, as the narrative nears its conclusion. The first change Bungie is implementing is to make some activities--including campaigns and free-roaming destinations--Power-fixed, so players don't have to grind levels to experience them as intended. Activities like Nightfall, raids, and contest modes will continue to scale with player Power.

Activities that still use Power will have a new feature called Fireteam Power, where higher-level players can boost a team's overall power, allowing friends at different levels to experience more demanding activities together without facing a difficult challenge. Under this system, all players will be boosted close to the level of the team member with the highest Power Level.

Arriving now with the start of the new season is another feature designed to help newer players get a better Destiny 2 feature, called Timeline Reflections. Open to all players, Timeline Reflections adds a bunch of short narrative missions that will allow players to experience old story beats, whether they're veterans reliving a favorite narrative, or a new player experiencing it for the first time. Timeline Reflections will include missions for Witch Queen, Forsaken, and Beyond Light, providing important backstory for upcoming narrative moments in Final Shape--such as Cayde's last stand in Forsaken.

Finally, Destiny 2 will also be adding a brand-new Fireteam Finder, which is coming with Season 23 in November. The tool will allow players to pick the activity they want to play, and use a selection of tags to put together the ideal fireteam to complete it. Tags will let other players know if you're a new player or a veteran, or if you're looking for a long session or a brief one. There'll also be accessibility-based tags, such as for colorblind players.

Players will get put in a listing lobby while searching for players, meaning new teammates can chat and connect while waiting. Overall, Bungie hopes to reduce anxiety for players making new connections in game.