‘We’re not making things you keep forever’: Luke Smith talks Destiny 2 sunsetting

With the release of Beyond Light Bungie implemented a new system into Destiny 2 known as ‘Infusion Caps’, colloquially referred to as ‘sunsetting’.

This system gives a hard cap to how high a weapon can be infused to, effectively putting an expiration date on the weapon in end game activities like Raids and Nightfalls where Power matters.

For most Legendary weapons this Infusion Cap is set to the Power cap three Seasons into the future from when the weapon was released, so about a year's time worth of use.

This system of sunsetting weapons after a year was met with heavy resistance from the playerbase from the moment it was first revealed and continues to be a constant topic of discussion to this day.

In a recent interview with Polygon, Destiny 2 Game Director Luke Smith talks about the philosophy behind sunsetting and how the team at Bungie are aware of the problems it has created.

Smith started off on the topic of sunsetting by making it abundantly clear that Bungie will not be reverting their decision to introduce Infusion Caps into Destiny 2 but will instead be simply adjusting the system to both achieve their goal and keep the player base content. “In the Legendary tier, for now, we’re not making things that you can keep forever,” said Smith. “That is ultimately a path to not having anything to pursue.”

Smith continued by talking about how the team at Bungie want to design a system that continually promotes the player to chase new weapons and not simply stash them away to use the same loadout they’ve been using for months. “Like, how many times have you, in Destiny, went out, worked really hard to get a gun. Got it? Been like ‘Cool, I have it.’ Then stashed it and never fired a shot. I want to want a better thing.” said Smith.”

As for the problems sunsetting is creating Smith had a certain analogy to offer. When buying a bottle of milk it's common to look for the bottle that has an expiry date that is the furthest away. It doesn't matter if you are likely to finish the bottle within the week, you will most likely pick the bottle that gives you the most time.

Smith and the developers at Bungie have noticed a problem creeping into the game due to sunsetting that is similar to the above milk scenario. Players are choosing to move on from weapons before they have reached their expiry date in favor of newer weapons with a further away expiry date. Why use a weapon that expires in three months when there is a similar weapon that expires in a years’ time?

This is a complicated problem to solve and Smith says himself and the team at Bungie are still hard at work on potential solutions. “I’m confident we’re gonna continue to make improvements and changes,” finishes Smith.