It Took Less Than a Season for Bungie to Scrap Over-Monetization on Transmog in Destiny 2

In last week’s This Week at Bungie article, the Destiny 2 developer detailed a change that’s now coming to transmog. This change shows that the monetization of transmog has basically killed it. Bungie wouldn’t be making this change if it was getting a decent payout from the system, but the reality is that it’s killing progression for many. Most of us just want to be able to change our armor’s appearance, but we don’t want to slog it out for hours or pay through the nose to do so. Thankfully, Bungie has actually listened to us on this one.

So what’s the change? You’ll no longer need to farm for Synthstrand to purchase Armor Synthesis bounties. In fact, Synthstrand is being removed altogether because it’s clogging up inventories. Instead, you can buy these bounties for 10,000 Glimmer. If you’re hammering the bounties and transmog, this will eat up your available Glimmer fast, but you can earn that fast enough that it won’t feel like a slog going through and generating the same amount again.

I’m not surprised that less than a season after implementing it, Bungie is removing this toxic system. We all knew that the monetization aspect was going to hurt it, but clearly, someone at Bungie has been begging to get rid of it. Imagine working so hard on a system that Guardians have been asking for, only to see it monetized and locked away from most of the community.

I don’t know about most of you, but I’m not paying for anything other than expansions and season passes. That’s enough. I don’t want to be charged to do something that other games allow me to do for free. It initially felt like a very Activision move, and maybe it’s a hangover from the publisher’s influence. I get Bungie wanting to try out earning a bit more money from its game, but this was never the way.

Let us know if you spent any money on this system during Season of the Splicer. I’m curious to see just how many of you actually went out and spent money on changing the appearance of your armor. There’s no shame in it, it’s your cash. I just don’t believe that any of the Guardians I know would actually do it. Hopefully, this goes on to shape decisions Bungie makes in the future.

Jamie Moorcroft-Sharp

I'm an avid Destiny 2 fan and player. I fell in love with Destiny 1 during the early alpha and have been hooked by the universe ever since. I really enjoy playing with other Guardians, speculating about the lore, and writing about as much of the Destiny universe as I can.