Destiny 2's new $20 Power boost is a bad deal

Destiny 2: Shadowkeep increased the game's Power cap by over 200 levels - with a soft cap at 900, a firmer soft cap at 950, and a hard cap at 960 - but the leveling process is pretty fast and painless, all things considered. Which is why it's so odd to see Bungie add the option to pay $20 to boost a character from 750 Power to 900 Power.

This option was added in the update released on Tuesday, October 15, the same day the Power-enabled Iron Banner PvP event began. When logging into the game, you now have the option of purchasing a seasonal Power Surge for 2,000 Silver, which is about $20 worth of Destiny 2's premium currency. The strange thing is that you can only purchase this boost for secondary characters, and only after you've reached 900 Power on another character the old-fashioned way.

To put this in perspective, I was able to reach 900 Power the day after Shadowkeep's release with moderate grinding. Proper hardcore players were well over 900 Power on day one. Remember, 900 Power is the soft cap for Shadowkeep, which means every drop until that point will increase your Power in some way. I can't imagine it would take more than 10 to 15 hours to reach 900 Power as long as you follow the story and activity prompts, which makes this $20 purchase look like a weak deal.

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More bafflingly, this boost is only available for players who've already reached 900 Power at least once. The thing is, if you have a character at 900 Power or higher already, that character is going to have high-Power guns which you can easily transfer to a second character to instantly give them a huge boost. After moving my 900+ guns from my first character to my second, I was able to hit 920 Power in under an hour by spamming faction turn-ins at the Tower. Even if I hadn't, I could've cracked 900 Power well before I finished Shadowkeep's campaign, or just by completing a handful of normal activities.

It's difficult to imagine a situation where this Power Surge is worthwhile. Leveling is part of the fun of a new expansion, and leveling in Shadowkeep is especially enjoyable. That aside, $20 is way too much to spend to save a few hours.