In their latest blog post Bungie detailed how cosmetics are changing with Season of the Drifter. Specifically this relates to how we purchase them, and it’s now looking to be geared more towards a direct purchase system rather than a roulette or loot box-style system.
Currently all Guardians can partake in the Prismatic Matrix. This system gives Guardians a one-use key that spins the wheels of fortune somewhere in the background, and drops out fancy cosmetics. As with all cosmetics these can be broken down to Bright Dust if you already have them or just don’t want them. More ‘spins’ on the Prismatic Matrix can be purchased, which gives you more chances at earning the cosmetics you really want.
However, with Season of the Drifter this is all set to change. The Prismatic Matrix is going away, so use all your keys before the 5th of March. After the new season launches the Eververse will offer cosmetic bundles.
What are Cosmetic Bundles?
As far as I can tell each bundle will have one item that isn’t available outside of Eververse, packaged in with a load of cosmetics that you can earn by playing the game. In this way these cosmetics are very much premium, though no word on how many of them there will be has been given just yet.
The difference in the system here is pretty obvious, we now have a guarantee of earning a cosmetic we definitely don’t have, and anther chance of earning some others that you may or may not care about.
I like the shift in focus here moving from encouraging you to purchase lots of chances at earning the loot you want to simply purchasing it, but I think this is still a dangerous game for Bungie. In the early days of Destiny 2 the game was plagued with monetisation, and it was not well-received. As long as this system starts and remains small I think the community will survive, but if it grows and leaks into other areas we could have a situation on our hands.
Why is Bungie Changing Cosmetic Purchases?
There are two core reasons that I can think of as to why Bungie is making this change:
First, loot boxes have come under heavy fire in the media, and they’re being banned from games in Belgium. I think this is Bungie’s way of skirting the rules, and probably a few gambling laws, because their ‘loot boxes’ won’t be based on random chance because they offer a specific item. I’m no expert, but this seems to make the purchase more of a direct one than a chance or what is usually more like a lottery ticket.
Second, Guardians can’t have been spending much money on the Prismatic Matrix system. I barely noticed it, but I don’t really care about cosmetics. However, I think those Guardians who do want to be able to complete their collections. It’s impossible to do this, or very expensive, if you have to spend money on loot boxes for a chance to get the one cosmetic you’re after. I wouldn’t consider this fun, I doubt the serious collectors out there do, so Bungie is removing it.
That’s how cosmetics are set to change as of next reset, let us know what you think of this in the comments.
Image Source: Bungie
