Although leaks and rumors spoiled parts of the announcement, Bungie finally answered questions on what's next for the studio and its popular franchise. Destiny 2: Shadowkeep is the next big piece of content following the end of the current season, bringing back Eris Morn as well as the Moon as a destination. The expansion also holds many more updates, changes, and fan requests including more customizable armor than ever before.

As seen in the Out of the Shadows ViDoc, Bungie revealed that Destiny 2: Shadowkeep embraces more of an action RPG style than ever before. Part of that evolution involves armor, perks, and mods which are essentially getting overhauled once again.

Right now, when players are faced with a decision to pick between armor that looks good or armor that plays better, most would pick the more gameplay functional armor rather than stylish looking one. Armor 2.0, as senior designer Matt McConnell calls it, intends to fix that divide by allowing players to take the mods they've unlocked and immediately apply it to any armor they own. The video shows an example of this by showing all different types of mods that can be applied to one of three sockets on a Titan's helmet.

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Interestingly enough, it seems like mods will have more of an effect on gear with the addition of three new stats players can govern. While Mobility, Resilience, and Recovery are still in play, the video quickly shows Discipline, Intellect, and Strength as well as maximum values that range from 45 to 100 points.

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The reveal lines up with the studio's goal of giving players even more ways to further customize their Guardian and to differentiate themselves from other characters. Ultimately, Bungie is looking to push the Destiny franchise more towards the MMORPG genre, something many in the fanbase have been asking for. While the studio isn't talking about the next game in the franchise, its clear that Bungie has a direction it intends to follow now that it doesn't have a corporate overlord watching.

Part of that new direction involves a free-to-play version called Destiny 2: New Light. This new package gives players access to all year one content while providing a short tutorial mission that's essentially the first Cosmodrome mission from the previous game. Once finished, the rest of the game opens up for them to explore including some parts of newer Year 2 and 3 destinations. Expansions and updates can then be purchased a la carte instead of in passes or bundles like in years past.

Destiny 2 is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One, with a Stadia release coming in November. The Shadowkeep expansion arrives on September 17, 2019 across all platforms.

Source: Imgur, (1)