The Questions I Have About ‘Destiny 2’ In 2026

2026 has arrived, and with it, another year of Destiny 2. We are still in the first half of the six-month stretch that makes up the Renegades era, Destiny 2’s second post-Final Shape expansion in its new, slimmed-down format. Slimming down includes its playerbase, which has reached new lows, raising questions about its future. But there are other questions about the game’s 2026 plans, and I have many:

Are We Staying In The System Indefinitely? – There was once a promise, or at least very strong hints, that Destiny 2’s new era would involve heading beyond our solar system. I would argue that no, Kepler does not count, and Renegades takes place on three existing locations. It seems very clear we are staying on Earth and going to Old Chicago in the next expansion, but is this just going to continue, with the idea that the Nine are each linked to solar system planets, binding us here?

What Will Happen To The Portal? – The Portal was easily the most widely-disliked addition to Destiny 2 after The Final Shape, though many of its biggest problems, like an awful power grind and stingy loot, have been addressed. That says, it still has loads of issues (namely that for many reasons, it is deeply unfun at higher levels), and Renegades has brought in A) an expansion farming activity and B) Vanguard Alerts playlists that make playing The Portal at all not terribly necessary. Is it gone? Reduced? Overhauled?

What Will Happen To Tier 5 Loot? – Bungie has opened Pandora’s Box here with Tier 5 loot. It once seemed like it would be a rare, pinnacle chase, but instead, the game now dumps Tier 5 loot on any moderately leveled player, and if the game dares to give out lower Tier loot anywhere now, it’s lambasted. There has been one more level of power creep added with “shiny” Tier 5 weapons with a better origin trait, but what else is changing here? Are they stuck?

How Will Powers Change? – Bungie is in a weird place where we have racked up six different subclasses now to the point where dumping another one out seems almost unnecessary. But we don’t have any real idea what will happen from here, though something has to happen to keep things fresh. That could be something as small as more aspects and fragments, to new supers for classes that need them like Stasis and Strand, so some sort of new system that could channel a different mechanic like Transcendence, or something along those lines, layered on top of classes. But we just don’t know, and sandbox changes now are mainly just buffing and nerfing existing abilities.

What Will Mid-Season Updates Become? – I’d argue that the launch of Ash and Iron was probably the worst period of time since the Edge of Fate launched, the reveal that mid-season updates were not like Into the Light, as referenced previously, but instead some underwhelming activities and disjointed story moments. I think Bungie has learned at least something from that disaster, which is why I am very curious to see if Shadow and Order in a month or so will make significant changes and be a time to return, not to leave.

What Else Returns? – The substance of The Portal and the Vanguard Alerts playlists is 95% old content. As such, it stands to reason that other old content is going to come back, which makes me wonder if that could go so far as completely vaulted planets. Though maybe just carved out strikes or missions within those planets. This category could also include what is updated, which I think is the most likely thing to happen, making the huge swath of old “irrelevant” content worth playing again through updated loot made into Tiers with new perks and set bonuses and such. Though I am not holding my breath for some sort of avalanche here, and fundamentally, this will just be reissuing the same stuff for the third or fourth time, like everything else.

What Is The New Playercount Baseline? – Destiny 2 has to settle into some sort of baseline without continuing to hit series low after series low. Renegades, despite being a better expansion, launched with a far lower peak playercount than The Edge of Fate. Will the next expansion fall even further? A key question here is when or how the bleeding stops, or if it’s even remotely possible to reverse. And on top of that, what even counts as “sustainable” now between Bungie’s reduced workforce, way more Eververse offerings, and way less overall content? How long does Destiny 2 have left? Can it really keep this up?

Lots of questions. I don’t expect satisfying answers for all of them, but we should start ticking off some of these boxes soon as the year progresses.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.