With Destiny 2 developer Bungie back in the office, it was finally time for the team to address player concerns and improvements to the game. In a very lengthy post, director Christopher Barrett gave a general breakdown regarding how Bungie plans to improve, tweak, and change the systems in Destiny 2, including Eververse.
Since its launch, Eververse has been a contentious part of the Destiny 1 and Destiny 2 ecosystem, and frustrations with the microtransaction store only exacerbated with the recent Dawning event. Players felt like Bungie was using Bright Engrams and Eververse to serve as new content, without actually giving players much to actually do. Moreover, many felt like Bungie was encouraging players to spend money on Eververse if they wanted to collect all of the enticing Dawning armor and items.
Making Eververse Better
Moving forward, Bungie plans to take the focus away from Eververse in an effort to reward players for interacting with the game. Specifically, Bungie is adding sparrows, ships, and ghosts to achievement reward pools so players can earn them just by completing activities.
On top of that, Destiny 2 will feature new ways to earn Bright Engrams through gameplay and not just leveling up a character. And finally, there will be ways for players to directly purchase the items they want from Eververse alongside adjustments that give players the items they want from decrypting a Bright Engram.
Crimson Engrams
Bungie says that these Eververse changes will go into effect in future seasons, but players will see some of the tweaks next month with the Crimson Days event. Like The Dawning, there will be a special engram tied to the event called a Crimson Engram that will unlock unique items themed around the event. However, Bungie will also offer Crimson Days items for completing the Nightfall, Raid, and the Crimson Days milestone including a special emote, weapon skin, and exotic sparrow.
Additionally, players will earn both a Crimson Engram and an Illuminated Engram for every level up, which is a major change compared to The Dawning, which only offered Dawning Engrams for completing milestones and daily quests. Players can also earn Crimson Engrams from Crimson Days matches and by completing the Crimson Days milestone on each character.
And finally, Crimson Engrams will be weighted so that players continue to get new Crimson Days items until they have everything in the Crimson Days inventory. So hopefully, the days of getting the same ghost from engrams are gone.
Overall, the changes to Eververse sound promising. Bungie is giving Destiny 2 players more paths towards earning Eververse items without spending money on Silver or waiting for level ups. If nothing else, it is a good first step and will make Eververse feel less like a focal point and more like an add-on.
Destiny 2 is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.