Destiny 2’s biggest balance update will be the reason why normal players can no longer afford the endgame

The biggest balance update of all time is due in December in Destiny 2. As early as next week, players will be able to try out the extensive skill changes in their builds. But the high costs of the current mod and masterpiece system could mean that normal players can no longer afford the endgame from then on.

In December, Destiny 2 players will be able to play with the new cooldowns of their skills and supers for the first time after the biggest balance update of all time. The extensive balance changes for more gunplay and greater build variety include, for example:

• Different cooldowns for skills and supers in PvP and PvE
• Supers are assigned a cooldown level
• The intellect score, the super’s passive cooldown, won’t be that important anymore

These kinds of different cooldowns and power outputs should make the game more dynamic and add depth to the build-crafting.

Bungie about this in TWaB vom 18.11.2021

That it should give the players more freedom sounds good. It means there will be more trying out builds and mods in the future. However, that will also cost players more.

More build freedom is expensive: The high costs for masterpieces or changing the armor element could become a problem in the future, especially for casual gamers. For masterpieces alone or simply changing the legendary armament affinity to solar, arc, void or stasis, the costs are currently quite high.

Here not only mica and fragments are due, but also a valuable ascendant fragment and improvement prisms. With exotic armor it even costs the player a whopping 3 ascendant fragments.

Not all players can afford this: Normal players in particular hardly have any ascendant fragments or enhancement prisms. At the moment it is still possible to get by with little or no masterpiece armor. However, this could change after the update. The players would then have to consider whether they can even afford to try something new or click their builds back and forth for fun.

While there are good and effective materials farming methods, they also take time.

Bungie’s wish for more freedom and creativity in the builds would possibly fail because of the high costs involved. After all, not every gamer can invest that much time farming for materials and then playing the game.

The current cost model is far too extensive

Each mod in Destiny 2 costs a certain amount of armor energy, which each armor piece has depending on the upgrade. Unless the armor is a masterpiece, not all of the necessary mods can be socketed, but the new build may need to be effective.

There are also many mods that have their own affinity. Solar mods only fit in solar armor. These include the elementary sources mods “Projectile Source”, “Manifold Source” and “Explosive Source Creator”.

If you don’t have good solar armor, you would first have to make expensive changes to the armament affinity and only then could you test your new build in the gameplay.

Season mods make creative builds even more expensive: As Destiny 2 continues to develop, a selection of rotating mods is added with each season. Including new champion mods or strong effects (buffs / debuffs) which are then indispensable in every player build.

Here, too, it may be necessary to change, test and adapt builds again and again.

The seasonal artifact also slows down the creativity of the players. Not all mods can be activated there at the same time. Each reset also costs more than the previous one. Even for long-time gamers, this becomes a really expensive proposition at some point.

“Let’s change armaments affinity for free!”

Given the multitude of costs and restrictions that come into play with the upcoming balance update, appears the wish of the Destiny 2 community on reddit still up-to-date and relatively simple. Bungie is supposed to free all armor and mods in the game from their affinity, i.e. their specific scorching.

It doesn’t matter if armor has solar, void, arc or stasis. The mods would fit anywhere. This lowers costs and gives players more freedom in the build options that Bungie promises.

It would also mean that the system itself would no longer feel so restrictive for players. New players could also change their builds more often.

how do you see it? Do you think Bungie should rethink the mod’s affinity? Or do you not mind the high costs because you like to farm endgame anyway and have no problems with it?