Other significant gameplay changes include:
- The Power level system received some major changes in The Final Shape. Activities now show if a player is Power enabled or Power disabled; for example,
if an activity is Power enabled, there will be an indicator showing the activity Power cap and whether or not a player has reached that Power level cap
for that activity. The Fireteam Power feature adjusts players' Power levels to five levels below the fireteam leader who has the highest Power level,
allowing more players to play Power enabled activities regardless of their current Power level. Account-wide Power allows for gear to drop on any player's
character with a Power level relative to the character with the highest Power level. As well, Power enabled difficulty modes were renamed (from lowest to
highest difficulty) to Standard, Advanced, Expert, Master, Grandmaster, and Contest Mode. Upon release of the expansion, new and existing players' Power
level was increased to the new minimum Power level of 1900, a soft cap of 1940, with the hard Power level cap set to 1990, and the Pinnacle reward cap at
2000.
- Bungie reversed weapon sunsetting that was first introduced in Beyond Light (2020) as a result of the new Power level system, allowing these weapons to
be used in new content without penalties. Any legacy weapons players that dismantled were unable to be recovered, but Bungie plans to reintroduce sources
for most or all legacy weapons and updating them to the latest sandbox with origin perks introduced in The Witch Queen (2022) as well as buildcrafting perks.
- A three-tier weapon enhancement system for non-craftable weapons was introduced as part of the weapon crafting system first introduced in The Witch Queen.
Weapons obtained post-Season 17 from Vanguard Ops, Crucible, Gambit, Iron Banner, Trials of Osiris, the Prophecy dungeon, the 2024 Guardian Games event,
the BRAVE weapons from Onslaught, and Adept weapons from the "Vow of the Disciple" and "King's Fall" raids, can now be upgraded with enhanced perks, and
do not require visiting the Mars Relic for the enhancement process.
- Bounties, patrols, and weekly vendor challenges were consolidated into a new "Pathfinder" system. The Pathfinder system gives players 20 objectives
divided into five tiers to complete and progress through to earn rewards. At launch, two Pathfinder systems are available, one for ritual activities
(Vanguard Ops, Crucible, Gambit, and Onslaught) and one for the Pale Heart destination.
- The player's HUD (heads-up display) and user interface were updated to better display critical information. Important activity information, such as wipe
mechanics and modifiers, appear on top of the HUD beneath the player's health bar. Weapons-related information, such as active weapon perks, appear above
the subclass Super meter. Buffs and de-buffs continue to appear on the left hand side of the HUD.
- Legendary shards, which were first introduced during Year 1, were depreciated at the launch of The Final Shape, to make it easier and more fair for
all players to purchase in-game items. As well, fully masterworked exotic armor pieces can now be further upgrade to include an artifice armor slot,
which costs an exotic cipher and 10,000 Glimmer. Bungie also increased the amount of vault space by 100, bringing the total vault space to date to 700 spaces.
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