Destiny 2’s seasonal gameplay model is finally changing this year after player complaints of monotony

Some long-awaited changes to Destiny 2’s seasons are coming alongside the Lightfall expansion later this month, Bungie announced today.

In a lengthy new blog titled “Lightfall and the Year Ahead,” Bungie revealed a lot of information about changes coming to Destiny 2 and exactly what players can expect to get out of them in this very important year of the game.

The next season of Destiny 2, Season of Defiance, will launch on Feb. 28 with Lightfall. The next season after that, Season of the Deep, will introduce some differentiation in how seasons are experienced, including no longer including an upgrade-centric seasonal vendor.

“With some time under our belt to react to recent player feedback, Season of the Deep will not feature a vendor upgrade paradigm,” Bungie said. “The same will be true for the following season. This doesn’t mean players will never see a vendor upgrade system again, but instead means we want to create more varied experimental frameworks and slowly create a wide array of different systems for players to show their investment into seasonal content.”

The upgrade model isn’t all that’s different, however. Bungie said it’s looking to add variety “into the types of content players experience in the moment-to-moment gameplay of our later seasons.” The team said it’s looking to add “fresh activity experiences like when we first unveiled the Shattered Realm in Season of the Lost or debuted Battlegrounds in Season of the Chosen.”

Over the past couple of years, Destiny 2’s seasonal mode has become a bit formulaic, always revolving around weekly story missions, a new seasonal activity, and a vendor centered around upgrades. With changes promised, it looks like Guardians will have some surprises coming their way in 2023.

“These stories, progressions, and themes aren’t the only way we think we can stretch the player imagination space,” Bungie said. “Some of this is going to come from putting new systems into Destiny 2 or revisiting systems that aren’t quite hitting the mark.”