Your Destiny character’s Light level will be an average of that character’s attack and defense rating across all of its armor and weapons, developer Bungie revealed in a Twitch stream today.
On Sept. 15, Destiny: The Taken King will be released and what has been referred to as Destiny “Year 2” will begin. It has been known that at that point a character’s actual level and its Light level will be separated into two different stats. Until now, characters have progressed by leveling up to 20 by gaining traditional experience points and then progressing beyond level 20 by equipping armor with a Light rating attached to it.
At the moment, the highest attainable Light level is 34 and when The Taken King is released, Destiny will take an average of all of that character’s equipment and use that information to determine their new, experience-based level. The Light system is not going away, however. Instead, it will still be an average number based on the attack and defense ratings of your character’s weapons and armor, respectively.
The helmet, gloves, chestpiece, boots, and three weapon slots will not be the only pieces of gear with defense or attack rating on them come The Taken King. Characters will also receive defense rating (and other stats) from newly-introduced ghost shells, as well as class-specific items like the Warlock bond or Hunter cape.
Destiny: The Taken King comes out Sept. 15 for Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4.
