destiny 2The Summer Season Event “Solstice” is just around the corner, and before this year’s Loot Celebration. bungee has outlined some important changes. Some of them I love. Others not so much. The test will be in how the overall grind of the event balances out, but for now I’m intrigued in a way I haven’t been in years.
As times go byyou, the Destiny 2 Solstice was just an all-too-familiar grindfest riddled with annoying wrinkles. Bungie is trying to shake things up this timeand that’s how. As teased earlier, the solstice festivities will now be organized around a single event card to make everything easier to track. Like the current weekly challenges tab, it will help you stay on top of all your long-term goals. It is also being monetized.
Throughout the Solstice event, you’ll earn tickets, and if you pay $10 to unlock the Event Card’s premium tier, you can start redeeming those tickets for exclusive new rewards. Some Solstice cosmetics will also be sold through the regular Eververse microtransaction store, but others will be locked behind the Event Card. This is supposed to save players money, as the total rewards that can be earned are over 30 in value if sold in the shop. is effectively a new mini season pass.
But the real meat of Solstice is the armor, and the changes there are far more intriguing. There’s an elaborate new currency economy and it’s all geared towards upgrading gear so you can recast it for higher custom stats. It’s extremely confusing and also incredibly on the mark for Destiny 2. Here’s how Bungie breaks it down:
- Earn Kindling by completing Solstice Event Challenges
- Spend Kindling to improve your armor stat roll potential
- Earn Silver Leaves by completing activities throughout the game.
- Transform Silver Leaves into Silver Ash by completing the new activity: Bonfire Bash
- Spend Silver Ash to change armor stats from the armor mod screen.
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There are three upgrade tiers for armor. Every time a new tier is unlocked, it applies to every piece of that armor. Once you unlock all tiers, you can start choosing which stats to maximize when re-rolling (the armor will also start to glow, though the best glows will still be locked behind a microtransaction). The idea is to let you chase armor with a certain build in mind, whether for Trials, Grandmaster Nightfalls, or any other end-game activity. It sounds great, in theory at least.
In practice there are some ways it could really suck. The most obvious way is if this new system runs into bottlenecks and makes it hard to go at your own pace. There is effectively no reason to reroll armor before you’ve maxed out the upgrades, but those upgrades are predicated on completing Event Card Challenges, leading to the possibility you reach the cap on Leaves or Ash before you can do anything meaningful with them. Hopefully that doesn’t happen, and hopefully the activities are generous in awarding the new currencies.
I say hopefully because I’m actually looking forward to Solstice this year. It’s been a while since the last time I wrote about Destiny 2. Things are a bit love/hate right now, which is saying something considering Bungie’s loot shooter has been inspiring mixed emotions for almost eight years. Season of the Haunted has been a real disappointment for me so far, especially leaving how high it was the witch queen.
I have traditionally been it burned up in the annual solstice event very quickly, but after some longer-than-usual breaks from the game this year, I’m honestly looking forward to playing again and having something to do besides another dreaded run through Nightmare Containment. The summer release schedule is barren (with a few notable exceptions) and I need something to fill in the gaps. I also desperately need more cold. Grinding three different coins and another paid pass to maximize rewards may not seem like it, but when Destiny right, that can be pure happiness.
