Destiny 2 saves Guardians who want to look good 150 hours soon. Transmog entered the game with much negative energy, but even after the planned fix, there is still a big problem that isn’t really new.
When Destiny 2 finally received Transmog in May 2021, the Guardians wanted to cheer. However, the fashion feature attracted criticism and was worse than feared. The team of Franchise Director Luke Smith (featured image) wants to smooth things over and ease the grinding that lies between players and their good looks.
This is new: Bungie removes the resource “Synthetic Thread” with the start of Season 15. Starting August 24, 2021, you’ll skip the most elaborate process in armor synthesis, which is how the Transmog system is called in Destiny 2.
- At the moment, you need 150 synthetic threads to buy a bounty from Ada, which is then needed for the actual Transmog process.
- Such a synthetic thread is time-gated; it drops in-game only about every 2 minutes, regardless of what activity you are playing.
- This results in a grind of about 5 hours for the 150 synthetic threads – without accounting for the bounty task or the messenger trips to Ada and back.
- If you really want to maximize the Transmog limit per season, it amounts to about 150 hours just for the required threads.
Soon you can simply buy a Transmog bounty from Ada. The bounty costs 10,000 Glimmer, which is not much. Then complete the task and transform an armor piece.
Transmog is useful when the new armor is stronger or at a higher level but not visually appealing. This way, players can walk around as they please without having to sacrifice the power of new items.
This is the reaction: Players had wished for the change. They want it to be implemented immediately and not wait until the end of August as planned.
However, even after the changes, there is a significant problem with Transmog, and this isn’t really new.
Bungie saves Guardians 150 hours per season, but they have other worries
These problems with Transmog are now getting even bigger: Even before Transmog entered the game, Guardians complained about the cosmetic feature. These criticism points could become even more pronounced starting in August:
- Artificial limits: Only 10 Transmog transformations can be earned per character and season. This means that no matter how diligent one is, not all looks can be earned. After 10 Transmog bounties per character, it’s over for the season (3 months).
- Too expensive: The limit can be bypassed through the Eververse, the cash shop of Destiny 2. If you pay Bungie 1,000 Silver (about €10) per set, you can keep on transmogrifying.
- To have all over 4,000 legendary armor looks for Transmog, one would need Silver. This is estimated to cost about 30 years of gameplay or $6,000-12,000 (via Twitter).
These criticism points haven’t weighed heavily in practice so far, as the grind made it difficult to transmog often. However, starting in Season 15, as you no longer have to grind 150 hours of synthetic threads to reach the limit with all 3 characters, the reality sets in: even with the new system, you cannot transform as many outfits as you wish and suddenly run into a (pay) wall.
How expensive is Transmog? From Season 15, you will reach the point much faster where only an investment of Silver makes you look cooler. To have all over 4,000 legendary armor looks for Transmog, one would need Silver. This is estimated to cost about 30 years of gameplay or $6,000-12,000 (via Twitter).
Of course, it’s utopian to transform all armors, and probably no Guardian really needs every set. Many have their few favorite looks. Even though the changes are desired in themselves, they do not change the big Eververse problem for many.
Bungie itself now says about it: “We will continue to monitor how the reactions to the armor synthesis turn out and how often it is used when Season 15 begins” (via TWaB). So it is quite possible that the artificial limit may change in the future.
However, considering how long cosmetic shaders were once-only usable items – over 3 years – it could take a few more seasons.
What do you think about the situation regarding Transmog now that you have almost a season to play with it? Do you fully understand the criticism or are you just glad that Bungie is making some changes? What are your expectations for the still unnamed Season 15 that starts in a month? Let us know in the comments.
