The long-awaited Armor Synthesis customization system for Destiny 2 has been fully revealed by Bungie, but fans and prominent community members are already blasting the system due to its complexity. The new system requires players to grind for several currencies before a single piece of armor can be converted into an ornament, and the number of armor pieces that can be converted is capped.
The ability to transmog armor in Destiny has been highly requested since Destiny 1. Armor in Destiny 2 is generally fixed in terms of appearance and statistics, although some special ornaments can be applied to change the appearance of armor while retaining its stats.
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This new system for customizing the appearances of players’ characters seemed promising when it was first announced almost a year ago as Bungie was finally adding a highly-requested feature to Destiny 2, but the recent news has soured what was an exciting new feature for many. The new system allows Destiny 2 players to convert any armor already in their collections into universal ornaments that can be applied to their current armor to change its appearance. However, players may need to grind a lot to convert just one piece of armor into a universal ornament, as demonstrated by the three confusingly named currencies that players will need to earn to unlock an ornament.
The biggest issue for most Destiny 2 players is the seasonal limit placed on unlocking armor pieces for use with the new system. Players can only unlock 10 individual armor pieces per class, per season, which works out at two full armor sets for each class in a season. Any players that want to unlock more Armor Synthesis ornaments beyond the seasonal cap will have to use real money on microtransactions.
Many have specifically taken issue with the fact that the Armor Synthesis cap is far too restrictive and is unacceptable for players that already pay for expansions and season passes. While the new system is one of a few welcome quality-of-life improvements coming in Season 14, along with a power cap increase of 10 and the removal of sunsetting, many players are unhappy with its current state.
Some players have pointed out that the changes only affect cosmetic items and barely affect the gameplay of Destiny 2. Paying for extra resources to convert armor into ornaments is of course completely optional, and players argue that the system is a big improvement that will work well with the removal of gear sunsetting in Season 14 and outweighs small changes such as increase Bright Dust costs for shaders, and microtransactions for more ornaments.
This could have been an easy win for Bungie and would have got Destiny 2 players very excited for the upcoming season but has instead created a negative atmosphere around the transmog subject. Bungie is no doubt gathering critical feedback on its plans for the system, but it is not yet known if it will make any changes. Bunige is running Guardian Games 2021 and finalizing the details for the next season, so it's a lot to balance.
Despite the outrage caused by the full reveal of the Armor Synthesis system, it is a huge step forward for Destiny 2. Finally, players will be able to fully customize the appearance of their characters, which is a feature that has been requested since 2014 with the original Destiny. Hopefully, the developers are able to have the system better optimized by the time the Witch Queen expansion rolls around early next year.
Destiny 2: Beyond Light and the new Season of the Chosen are available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S
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Source: Bungie