It has been known for some time that the transmog system, which allows you to change into any style you want without sacrificing status, would be implemented in Destiny 2. Tim Clark, a Destiny enthusiast, was very pleased with this news. He said in October 2020, "As much as I love playing dress-up with space soldiers, this is the best news I've heard in this cursed year."

Today, Bungie revealed how its new "armor synthesis" system will work, and we wonder how or if his enthusiasm will hold up. Called "Armor Synthesis," the system will allow players to convert the appearance of their armor into a universal armor ornament, which will allow them to change its appearance as they see fit. However, it requires a lot of work to make it work.

To begin, players must defeat enemies to earn "synthstrands" Once 150 synthstrands have been earned, they can be submitted to Ada-1 in the Tower in exchange for class-specific bounties that earn "synthcords." Synthcords are converted to Synthweave in the Tower's Loom, and finally Synthweave can be used to convert unlocked armor (Legendary and below) into Universal Armor Ornaments.

Some examples of bounties:

Vanguard

Crucible

Gambit

Destinations

Raids and Dungeons

Why did Bungie Only they know why Bungie felt the need for bounties to improve quality of life.

And there's another catch: players can earn up to 10 sinsuvs per season, per class, i.e., up to two full ensembles. (The first season will offer double the amount as a sign of good will.)

If you want "more," then you will have to go to the Eververse Store. At the Eververse Store, you can purchase the Thinsweave Templates individually for 300 silver, or in batches of five for 1000 silver. By the way, Destiny 2 silver is $5 for a bundle of 500 pieces, and bundles priced higher than that add bonus silver.

I haven't played Destiny 2 in a long time, so it is possible that there is a valid reason for such a convoluted system, but to my eyes it just seems wildly and unnecessarily complicated at best. On a more cynical note, this could be seen as a subtle nudge to real-money Eververse stores: you can hang around all day for a limited number of appearance changes, or you can spend a few bucks and be done with it.

As expected, the new system was not for everyone.

Bungie also revealed changes to the shaders used to change the color and shading of the Guardian's armor. The removal of the Legendary Shard required to apply the shader is a good thing, but the cost to purchase it in the Eververse Store will jump from 40 to 300 Bright Dust. This has also been well received.

The transmog system is expected to go live "in a few more weeks," but while all the details are out, this may not be final. Reaction to the system (and shader changes) has been so widely negative that Bungie's senior community manager dmg04 thanked players on Twitter for their feedback and asked them to "keep the feedback coming."

"As always, we're in it for the long haul," he tweeted.

It probably doesn't matter: as of this writing, "Bungie" was trending on Twitter, along with "Transmog."