Bungie has now introduced a radical change for Destiny 2 regarding how players will obtain exotic armor, the best items in the game. With the DLC “The Final Shape”, exotic armor will only be available from the vendor Rahool and will no longer drop randomly in the game. The armors will be linked to a reputation grind, and specific rare resources will be required.
How can one obtain exotic armor with “The Final Shape”?
- Bungie clearly states in the new blog post (via Bungie): With The Final Shape, Rahool will be the source for all new exotic armors that will be introduced into the game.
- The idea is: The more engrams you decode at Rahool, the more reputation points you earn with him. Once you have completed a career path, you will gain access to the “Engram Ensiders” (a bad pun on Insiders).
- Once you have this special access, you can purchase any exotic armor for any character, paying with one Exotic Engram and one Exotic Code (Cipher).
Every Guardian can only wear one exotic armor piece at a time: The armor pieces grant them special powers that break the normally applied rules in the game. They are especially powerful and define an equipment build.
The different ways to find loot: Lottery or work
What is this idea? This idea of “reputation grinding for items” is known from MMORPGs like WoW:
Normally, in loot games, you find particularly strong items randomly. Luck and misfortune play a big role: One person finds an item the first time they defeat a boss. Another has no luck even after 3 months. This is exciting but can lead to frustration. Planning a build is difficult this way.
With a “reputation grind”, it’s much more bureaucratic: You know exactly what you still need to collect and do to obtain the item you want. The excitement is removed, but so is much of the frustration. It feels more like work and less like playing the lottery.
There are also intermediate ways: In MMOs or MMORPGs, it is possible to tell the game which item you want to farm and thus increase the chance for that specific drop. Or there are “protection mechanisms” that protect players from too much bad luck.
Players are very skeptical, want more details first
How are players reacting? On Reddit , there is a sense of skepticism in the comments, and generally an aversion to the idea.
One user says: He doesn’t know how the system will turn out in the end. Reputation grinding is one of the dullest aspects in Destiny and it’s so annoying to get exotic codes. If they were easier to obtain, it wouldn’t be so bad, but …
Another user says it depends on how quickly you gather reputation with Rahool, but overall the system sounds a bit bleak.
Overall, the mood is still uncertain. Most say they want to see first how easily they can obtain the required resources before making a judgment. The new system could lead to a significantly slower acquisition of exotics.
Something is happening in Destiny 2 in recent months, just recently a new mode went live: In the new mode of Destiny 2, you only beat bosses for strong loot
