Earlier this weekend, PAX West attendees took pictures of some armor sets and exotic weapons that were included in the Destiny 2: Shadowkeep demo at the show. Among them was an armor set that many believed was part of the upcoming Garden of Salvation raid, and because it looked like a reskin, a controversy ensued.
Then, an attendee claimed that they talked to Bungie and the developer revealed that the armor was actually tied to Vex Offensive, the new activity releasing with Destiny 2: Shadowkeep’s Season Pass. The idea of a reskin was still concerning but it did calm a lot of the frustration.
Unfortunately, it appears that attendee was mistaken when they claimed that the armor was not for the raid but Vex Offensive. Bungie community manager dmg04 has since confirmed that this leaked Destiny 2: Shadowkeep armor is the raid armor.
Since most of Bungie is at PAX West and this is a holiday weekend, dmg04 says that the studio won’t be back in the office until Tuesday at the earliest. At some point after that Bungie will likely address the concerns over the raid armor being a reskin, hopefully in a way that calms fans.
There is a lot to unpack around this armor, not the least of which is the fact this raid armor is a slightly different version of the Eververse armor from Curse of Osiris. Most players likely earned this armor through unlocking Bright Engrams via XP, but some might have purchased Bright Engrams in the hopes of getting the armor. And now that armor will be available for everyone for free, provided they can get through the Garden of Salvation raid.
The good news is that Bungie has been a lot more transparent since its split from Activision. Where before the developers might have shied away from explaining the motivations behind a decision, now Bungie lets Destiny 2 fans know exactly why a specific choice was or wasn’t made.
In the case of this raid armor it may come down to lack of resources or a looming deadline, but the assumption is that Bungie knew this controversy would develop and is prepared to respond. Maybe the studio didn’t expect Destiny 2 players to discover the armor so early, but now it gives the devs a chance to be open and honest before Shadowkeep’s release date in October.
Destiny 2: Shadowkeep releases October 1, 2019 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Source: Reddit