In Destiny 2, the new weapon crafting primarily means one thing: if you want the best weapon, you have to play a lot. MeinMMO has already had an exclusive look at the exact details and costs, revealing what to expect and why it’s still worth it.
When the Guardians begin crafting their personal wish weapons in Witch Queen on February 22, it will indeed be a lengthy and time-consuming endeavor. Players could see new details in the new ViDoc from Bungie.
- Players must first find the appropriate weapon pattern.
- Then, you need a “Deep Sight Resonance” weapon with the desired perk.
- To extract the perk, you must play with the resonance weapon and complete the task.
- Players need new materials to shape their weapon.
- Only those who play the weapon extensively will receive a complete masterpiece from a fully shaped weapon, leveling it up in the process.
How costly it will be for you, what grind awaits, and which materials you will soon be able to earn in the new expansion Witch Queen, MeinMMO has already discovered exclusively in advance at Bungie.
New materials need to be farmed: In addition to the known Ascendant Shards for armor, there will also be a special Ascendant currency for weapons: the so-called “Ascendant Alloy,” a type of Ascendant alloy. From what we know so far, it will also be limited to 10 pieces and can only be obtained in challenging activities.
Various other elemental materials and alloys will also be available:
- “Neutral Element”
- “Energetic Element”
- “Adroit Element”
- “Mutable Element”
- “Ruinous Element”
- “Resonant Alloy”
The costs for your wish weapon are high
Taking the seasonal legendary 540 RPM Pulse Rifle “Piece of Mind” from the upcoming “Season of the Risen” as an example. If we focus on the most expensive options when shaping the weapon, with upgraded perks, crafting this weapon at the “Sci-Fi Fantasy 3D Printer,” as Joe Blackburn calls the relic, would cost you:
- Weapon Frame: “Rapid Fire Frame” (requires weapon level 7) +10 range
= Cost: 20x “Resonant Alloy” + 40,000 Glimmer + 12 Upgrade Modules - Weapon Barrel: “Extended Barrel”
= Cost: 75x “Neutral Element” - Improved Perk: “Overflow” (requires weapon level 7)
= Cost: 1x “Ascendant Alloy” + 70x “Energetic Element” + 2000x “Neutral Element” - Improved Perk: “Vorpal Weapon” (requires weapon level 15)
- = Cost: 1x “Ascendant Alloy” + 70x “Adroit Element” + 2000x “Neutral Element”
- Final costs to forge the weapon:
= 5x “Resonant Alloy” + 10,000 Glimmer + 750x “Neutral Element”.
You will also need to get the same weapon repeatedly to extract all desired traits from the relic. Once players reach a certain level, they can, for example, gain +10 points to “Handling” or “Range”.
Players will thus need to engage intensively with weapon crafting.
Forming an exotic weapon, such as the submachine gun “Osteo Striga,” costs even more. Here, you will again need to cover the costs for the perks and, of course, for forging the weapon itself. This will also cost you considerable materials.
- 7x “Resonant Alloy”
- 15,000 Glimmer
- 2,375 “Neutral Element”
- 1x “Ascendant Alloy”
- 70x “Ruinous Element”
This example shows how much the costs for a “weapon of choice” would ultimately be. Please keep in mind that costs may change slightly before the release of Witch Queen.
What are “Improved Traits/ Perks”?
These perks or traits will have better abilities than the ones found on randomly dropped weapons. You can also use the material “Ascendant Alloy” to further enhance these traits.
Your first “shaped” weapon will be the Glaive: The Glaive is a projectile weapon, a shield, and a melee weapon in one, and will use special ammo. All necessary materials will initially be provided by Bungie, and players will also be guided through a quest to shape weapons.
You can read here how this first quest to unlock weapon crafting in the Enclave works:
The materials come from various activities: After that, you will have to earn all new materials for your crafting yourself. Sometimes you will receive them in general activities, but sometimes only from specific challenges. Essentially, they will come from the same activities you are currently playing: Raids, Dungeons, Strikes, and Trials of Osiris.
This will ensure that the Guardians have a lot to do for their wish weapon and that they will have to play for a long time. Whether the materials later will also be available for purchase is something we do not yet know.
However, even if the grind is high and the content will be extended, it could prove to be much more worthwhile than it was before Witch Queen.
That’s why weapon crafting will still be worth it
Of course, the costs are not to be underestimated. But this will not be just the price for an individual weapon. This change will indirectly also provide Guardians with more space in the vault. Joe Blackburn, Game Director of Bungie, has already hinted at this in an interview:
A side effect of a deterministic loot system is that players will no longer have to store hundreds of versions of the same weapon in their vaults. The outcome should be that players will be able to adapt relatively painlessly by creating a new roll when the meta changes regarding weapon archetypes or perks.
You can “reshape” your own wish weapon repeatedly and change it as you desire. Of course, this comes with costs and effort. But players will know exactly what they will get in the end starting February 22.
The chance for a God Roll will soon be 100%: Previously, a God Roll was purely luck. Players invested hours into an activity in the hope that the one weapon they wanted would drop. Whether it drops, no one knew, and many Guardians are still waiting for their wish weapon today.
Some Guardians have long wished they could work more purposefully towards their desired weapon instead of relying solely on luck. Bungie’s first step in this direction was the Umbral Decoder. Here, players could already significantly narrow down the weapon they would get. With the new weapon crafting, even more will soon be possible.
All craftable weapons will also have at least one origin trait. You can read here what that’s all about:
This could, despite high costs and a lot of grind, lead to significantly more engagement from Guardians when it comes to crafting their very own God Roll. Those who enjoy the Destiny 2 system and have no problem pursuing long-term goals in a game will definitely appreciate the system.
This system, by the way, is not entirely new: This crafting principle that Bungie introduces with Witch Queen is not new. In other games, such as Warframe, players also know exactly what they will get for their grind in advance.
Bungie will also bring many more perks into the game in the coming seasons. Thus, new perks for the forge will continue to be added over time, increasing the variety.
What do you think? Do you find the costs for your own wish weapon reasonable? Is the extra effort in grinding acceptable to you when you know exactly what you’ll get in the end? Or do you think the costs are way too high and only reachable for heavy players? And do you believe that the imminent overflow of Guardian vaults will no longer be an issue in the future? Please leave us your opinion in the comments.
