Why is Destiny 2 Transmog so Complicated?

Bungie has finally given us details around how Ada-1 will be helping us with transmog in Destiny 2. I expected this to be quite a simple service, but from the looks of things over on Bungie’s website, they’re vastly more complex than anyone could have anticipated. It’s honestly hard to tell if this is all about money or ensuring the game doesn’t break, it feels like a bit of both.

So, here’s a rundown of how transmog works in very simple terms.

• Kill enemies and earn some Synthstrand.
• Spend your Synthstrand on bounties, which award Synthcord.
• Use something called The Loom to convert your Synthcord into Synthweave in the Tower.
• Use Synthweave to convert armor into a Universal Armor Ornament.

That is a much easier-to-understand version of what Bungie put out there. There’s quite a lot of space for awkwardness within it too. For example, you can only earn 10 Synthweave per class per season. However, Destiny 2 season 14 will up that to 20 because the feature is launching then.

You can also buy Synthweave from Eververse though. One Synthweave is 300 Silver, or a bundle of five for 1000 Silver. That’s about £5 in the UK, and I imagine roughly $10 in the US.

To top things off, you can’t transmog Exotic armor, which just seems dumb. Plus, some Destiny 2 Year 1 items won’t be included, probably because they’ve been binned.

What Does it all Mean?

The limitations on how much Synthweave you can earn have been put in to stop the game from breaking. Limiting how many Ornaments Guardians have gives Bungie the chance to find a way to make the game allow for them all over the course of years. However, that argument falls flat when you consider that you could buy enough of the stuff to make everything into an Ornament anyway.

What Bungie has done here is take a fan-requested feature and needlessly monetize it. The limit is there to encourage spending from those who want to get as many Ornaments as possible. I don’t think that’s okay.

Finally, Exotics aren’t going to work with transmog because other Guardians apparently need to see your loadout. I don’t see how this is a thing. The only Guardians checking you out are teammates. No Guardian is looking at your loadout in the middle of a Crucible match. Plus, if armor is transmogged, wouldn’t that show up in the menu anyway?

All of this feels like a failed attempt to implement transmog in Destiny 2. I could live with the monetization, it makes sense for Bungie to get some cash from this. Leaving Exotics out sort of ruins the entire concept though. Now every build has to be crafted around a piece of Exotic armor, it can’t just be your favorite, unless you don’t care about it looking terrible.

Let us know what you think of this development in transmog in the comments.