Bungie promises to reduce microtransactions in Destiny 2.

Action
Bungie promises to reduce microtransactions in Destiny 2.

Destiny 2 is all about action and rewards: shoot each other and you'll get loot. But in today's Destiny 2, the balance of rewards in the game is not where we want it to be," game director Luke Smith said in a new This Week at Bungie update.

"Frankly, there's not enough pursuit in the world, and for players who have been waiting for Bungie to address the over-aggressiveness of Eververse's microtransaction store, it's a welcome, if belated, statement.

To correct the balance, Destiny 2 Year 4 will make a number of changes to rewards, allowing players to chase more and better things. Each season of Year 4 will also deliver Aspirational Pursuit of Armor, which can be earned through in-game activities rather than through the Season Pass or Eververse Store.

Rewards for "aspirational activities" such as raids, trials, and dungeons will also be improved: for example, season 13 will add new armor, accessories, and weapons to trials, and the next raid will feature brand new armor, weapons, and exotic accessories. To be honest, raids always come with their own weapons and armor.

The Core Playlists (Strike, Gambit, and Crucible) will add new armor sets that share geometry but have activity-specific shaders and decals; Bungie plans to add these new sets every new year, and each new Pursuit Weapon with activity-specific legendary skins that can be unlocked in the core playlist will also be added each season.

Bright Dust (but not to be confused with Silver, which is a real money-based currency), used to purchase items in the Eververse Store, will also be easier to earn. We will be moving from a character-specific method of earning Bright Dust to an account-specific method." Smith explained, "This change is intended to allow a single character player to earn significantly more Bright Dust than they currently do.

Bright Engrams in the Season Pass will be adjusted to include Year 3 Eververse items that were previously only available in Bright Dust or Silver.

"And going forward," Smith said, "the Bright Engram will be updated each season to include Eververse items from three or more seasons ago.

At a cursory glance, the reaction to the announcement in the Destiny 2 subreddit appears cautiously optimistic. It is hoped that the changes will address some of the complaints that Tim addressed in his discussion of the recent Guardian Games event: the Guardian Games event was "a bounty hunter's hamster wheel, and old activities like Forge are worth revisiting. There are few new riffs that are worth revisiting and even less incentive to revisit in terms of rewards," Tim opined.

Categories