History of Sunsetting

Sunsetting was a system that placed infusion caps on Weapons and Armor, so older gear could no longer be raised to the maximum Power level and became obsolete in endgame content. It was removed after about a season.

Overview

The system launched in Year 4 with Destiny 2: Beyond Light. The idea, per Game Revolution, was that gear could only be upgraded to maximum Power for roughly a year before hitting its cap. The community disliked it, since it locked away weapons earned from Raids, Dungeons and the Crucible and made rewards feel like they expired.

Removal

Bungie announced on February 25, 2021 that infusion caps would go away starting with Season 14 (Season of the Splicer). From then on, new gear could be upgraded to max Power permanently. Items that had not reached their cap by then stayed permanently upgradeable; the Destiny Game Wiki says this covers any item that could still reach max Power, while Game Revolution adds that items already capped remained capped, though re-released gear could reach max Power.

Where it matters

Many weapon pages note "sunset" status for Beyond Light-era gear (for example Arctic Haze); today the mechanic is historical only.