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Destiny 2 players are not pleased with the proposed transmog system

Arguments about Destiny generally separate players into the those for and those against but the latest argument about Armor Synthesis or transmogrification as it’s know in other games has players mostly on one side – against.

Transmogrification has been a feature Destiny players have been begging Bungie for, for as long as we can remember and on Thursday Bungie detailed how it would work in Season 14 which launches next month.

The Black Armory’s Ada-1 returns but this time as the Armor Synthesis vendor for Destiny 2.

Strap in because things are about to get complicated.

Armor Synthesis adds three new materials to Destiny 2 namely:

  • Synthstrand – acquired by defeating enemies and used to purchase bounties. Players will need 150 Synthstrand per bounty
  • Synthcord – earned from the bounties purchased with Synthstrand
  • Synthweave – converted from Synthcord at Ada-1’s Loom at the Tower and used to turned an (as in one) armour piece from Collections into a Universal Ornament

We have no idea how common Synthstrand is as a drop but we hope it’s as common as Glimmer.

Synthcord bounties will cover five categories:

  • Vanguard – Complete playlist strikes using specific subclasses OR accumulate points in Nightfall Strikes
  • Crucible – Capture zones in Control OR complete Crucible matches and defeat opponents using specific damage types as a team
  • Gambit – Send and defeat Blockers in Gambit OR defeat Primeval Envoys, high value targets and Primevals
  • Destinations – Defeat Nightmares on any Destination or in Nightmare Hunts OR defeat bosses in the Blind Well in the Dreaming City
  • Raids and Dungeons – Complete the final encounter of any Raid or Dungeon OR generate Orbs of Power in Raids or Dungeons

This is good news as players will be able to choose the path they are most comfortable with to grind out these bounties. And this is where Bungie messed up in our, and the community’s opinion.

At most players can earn 10 Synthweave per class per season through bounties. Bungie is celebrating the introduction of Armor Synthesis by giving players the ability to earn 20 Synthweave in Season 14 but, after that, it’s back to 10 per season.

Of course, you can purchase Synthweave from the Eververse store for real money.

One Synthweave will cost 300 Silver and a bundle of five will cost 1 000 Silver. On Steam this translates to R85 and R299 based on Silver bundles with the lowest price. Synthweave purchases through Eververse can be applied to any class.

With the earnable Synthweave capped at 10 per season this means players will be able to turn two sets of armour into an Ornament each season which isn’t great. Of course you can just buy more with real money if you want but this is precisely the problem.

To players this looks incredibly greedy and worse it puts a time gate on grinding which is never good in a game that encourages players to grind.

But wait, it gets worse, especially for stalwarts.

Year one armour ornaments from Vanguard, Crucible, Iron Banner, Faction Rallies, Prestige Raids and Trials of the Nine cannot be applied to any armour piece yet.

“Ornaments can still be applied if the base armor piece is from an activity that the ornament originates. As an example, if a player owns Crucible ornaments from Curse of Osiris, they may be applied to Crucible armor pieces at no cost. However, these ornaments cannot be applied to Seasonal armor,” writes Bungie.

As for players who were hoping that Armor Synthesis would finally bring back the Solstice of Heroes 2018 and 2019 glows, that isn’t happening.

“Additionally, all base armor appearances from 2018 and 2019 Solstice of Heroes events will be available for Armor Synthesis. However, due to an issue where 2018 and 2019 glows cannot be socketed alongside armor appearances in the new Guardian Appearance system, the glows will not be supported. Solstice 2020 armor glows were developed with the Guardian Appearance system in mind, and players will retain the white armor glow if it was earned during the event. Subclass based glows will continue to function on their Universal Ornaments as well,” Bungie explained.

As a player who opened their wallet to buy these glows which became useless the next month, this stings and leaves a vile taste in our mouth.

The final shred of bad news regards shaders. Shaders will now cost 300 Bright Dust, up from 40 Bright Dust though there is a reason for this. With Armor Synthesis, shaders will become permanent unlocks meaning you won’t have use materials to reacquire them from Collections. Shaders will cost 500 Glimmer to apply to armour and weapons and there is a new “Apply to All” button that will cost 2500 Glimmer.

As a reminder, dismantle your shaders before Season 14 kicks off.

All of these changes and additions just feel greedy and the community is not pleased.

Over on Bungie’s forums every post on the front page is a criticism of this system and on Reddit, it’s more of the same.

Generally, additions such as this split the community in two but the distaste for this system appears to be universal. And we completely understand this.

The cap, the unnecessary addition of three new materials to grind out, more bounties. It’s almost as if the accounting team at Bungie designed this system to maximise profits and minimise fun.

How can Bungie change this though because, rest assured, there will be changes given the backlash. We suspect that either the seasonal cap will be raised or removed completely. The confusing material situation is likely too complicated to fix ahead of the new season but we suspect over the long term this may be changed.

Bungie’s favourite line is “we’re listening” and this time we hope it is because this needs to change and before Season 14 hits.

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