He also emphasized that Bungie will not boost XP requirements

That track includes access to the new Vex Offensive seasonal activity with four Legendary weapon drops, additional daily and weekly bounties, and new weekly challenges with powerful rewards  POE currency trade , as well as new Exotic weapons, three seasonal Legendary armor sets, and other rewards.

(Image credit: Bungie)

Interestingly, undertaking specific tasks will not be required to advance either reward track. "Unlike those other games, you’ll make progress by earning XP doing the things you’re already doing in Destiny—defeating monsters and completing bounties and activities," Smith said. "This is about a new additive layer of predictable rewards for just playing the game."

To ensure that everyone has a shot at all 100 levels of the season pass, even if they don't have time to grind them out, Bungie plans to make Season Ranks purchasable—but to enable hardcore grinders to properly enjoy the fruits of their efforts, they won't be made purchasable until late in the season. Specifics are still being nailed down but Smith said Bungie expects to enable rank purchasing at some point in the final two to four weeks of the ten-week season.

"We know that sometimes life gets in the way, and you just want to get the last few rewards before the season ends and everything resets," he wrote. "In the same way that we’ve been doing seasonal catch-up for Power, we think providing a late-in-the-season rank catch up makes sense. This initial version is our starting point, and the way we’ve designed Seasons moving forward means that we’re going to be able to have the flexibility to tune how this works once we see how Season of the Undying goes."

He also emphasized that Bungie will not boost XP requirements for high-level ranks in order to pressure players into spending more money near the end of a season: "We just want our community to be able to play together as easily as possible and narratively be part of the Destiny world as it changes POE goods ."

The free reward track, which will be granted to all players in each season, is like a "sampler platter" for the season, Smith said: If you want the best rolls for each piece of armor you'll need to play the seasonal activity, but the base version of all the armor will be available on the free track. Eriana's Vow, a new Exotic hand cannon, will also be offered on the free track, but at rank 35, compared to the first rank on the premium track. "We have also added a lot of rewards on the free track that are nice quality-of-life rewards for players, like upgrade modules, which are free Infusions," Smith said.