Following today's hotfix, Artifact Power levels will no longer be a factor in the Destiny 2 Trials of Osiris PvP mode or the Iron Banner playlist.
Shortly after Trials of Osiris was revealed alongside the Season of the Worthy, Bungie confirmed that Artifact Power would count in the new mode. The Destiny community promptly exploded, arguing that Artifact Power, which is largely gained by grinding bounties, shouldn't affect your performance in a pinnacle PvP activity. In record time, Bungie changed its tune and promised to disable Artifact Power for both Trials and Iron Banner.
However, it wasn't able to push the update to disable Artifact Power for Trials' opening weekend, which ran from March 13 to March 17. The good news is that, it being a new season and everything, most players weren't able to rack up that many Artifact Power levels in time for the first round of Trials, so the influence of the Artifact wasn't very noticeable. That said, hardcore grinders have raised their level considerably at this point, so it's a good thing Artifact Power was handled now before Trials returns this Friday at reset time.
This Artifact change isn't the end of Bungie's plans for pinnacle PvP Power balance. Destiny 2 director Luke Smith previously said that Bungie will add a Power cap in the future. "This cap will allow us to weave Artifact and Power pursuit together while preventing unbound Power growth in PvP," he explained. It's unclear when this Power cap will be implemented or how exactly it will work, but for now, players can rest easy knowing that only their base Power and their skill will determine their Trials standing.
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