With the Season of the Chosen finally winding down, Bungie has begun to outline what's next for Destiny 2 players. While the studio remains tight lipped on what the theme of story beats of Season 14 will be, fans have gotten substantial looks at some of the changes coming to the live service title. Part of that involves further weapon balancing, perk changes, as well as the long awaited return of the classic Destiny raid known as Vault of Glass.

However, for most players, the most exciting news for Season 14 is Destiny 2's version of a transmog system. While Bungie refers to this system as Armor Synthesis, players will once again be able to visit Ada-1 at the tower to start creating new universal ornaments. While fans are thrilled that this long requested system is finally being implemented, how this new transmog system was implemented has been a sore spot with the community as to really maximize it, players will likely need to spend real money.

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While Bungie remains silent on any potential changes to plans for armor synthesis, the system itself can be a little confusing as it features a number of steps players will need to undertake before being able to convert armor into ornaments. Here's everything Destiny 2 players need to know about Armor Synthesis.

Destiny 2 Confusing Transmog System

What is Armor Synthesis?

While it may go by different names based on the game being played, Armor Synthesis is essentially a transmog system that allows players to completely customize the look of their character without actively changing the equipped armor. Most loot based games feature a system like this as it allows players to continue wearing the best gear stats-wise, but changing the look of the armor to something that may be more eye catching or fits what the player wants.

For Destiny 2, players will be able to convert their currently owned gear into universal ornaments, a system which changes the appearance of their armor into something else entirely. Former Black Armory merchant Ada-1 will be responsible for this new system, offering new bounties to players that reward materials needed to make this process happen.

How Does Armor Synthesis Work?

As with most things in Destiny 2, players won't be able to start making ornaments right at the start of Season 14. The process involves a number of resources that need to be acquired in a specific order. Destiny 2 players should prepare for another grind as defeating enemies drops a material known as Synthstrand, which is then given to Ada-1 in bundles of 150 to unlock activity specific bounties. Completing these bounties awards the player with Synthcord which can be converted at Ada-1's loom at the Tower to create Synthweave. This material is then used to unlock armor appearances from the player's Collections tab into a Universal Armor Ornament.

Bungie's goal with the bounty system was to allow players to earn Synthcord through their favorite activities rather than forcing them to play through something they may not necessarily want to spend their time doing. Five categories will be available, encompassing Vanguard related activities like Nightfalls and Strikes, Crucible, Gambit, Destination related tasks, as well as Raids and Dungeons. Players are encouraged to pick up the correct bounties for what activity they want to accomplish as abandoning a bounty will reward a portion of spend Synthstrand, but not all of it.

destiny 2 ada-1 image

Things to Keep In Mind

Bungie has been pretty clear with regards to how the system works, though some of the requirements they've set aren't sitting well with the community. As it stands now, players can earn only ten Synthweave per class each season besides Season 14. To celebrate this upcoming season, Bungie has doubled this total, allowing players to earn up to 20 Synthweave per class. On paper, this means players have the option to convert four full armor sets or 20 individual pieces. One the cap has been reached for that season, the player will have to wait until the next one to continue earning more from simply playing.

For those who want to go above that hard cap, Bungie is making Synthweave available to purchase through the Eververse Microtransaction store. A single token of it costs 300 Silver, while 5 will run players 1000 Silver. While these can be applied to any class, fans are upset about the hard cap each season as Destiny 2 currently features so many pieces of armor that sticking to the free method would likely take players 13 years to transmog every piece of armor. Naturally, this is an impossible and unrealistic task, which ultimately pushes players into spending actual money to get what they want.

In addition, this Armor Synthesis system can only be used on Legendary armor and has zero effect on exotic gear. Bungie's reasoning is that exotics need to maintain their default appearance so that players can identify them and understand what perks that player may be utilizing in that particular activity.

Certain Year-1 armor sets will also be excluded from this new ornament system due to technical constraints. Year-1 Armor sets include Vanguard, Crucible, Iron Banner, Faction Rally, Prestige Raids, and ill-fated gear from the Trials of the Nine. Thankfully, Bungie intends to solve this problem in an upcoming season, so players should just hang on to the gear for the time being. Armor glows from the 2018 and 2019 Solstice of Heroes event can't be socketed in the new appearance system either, though the 2020 versions were developed with this in mind, and will function as intended.

destiny 2 armor configuration

What About Shaders?

To go along with Armor Synthesis, Bungie has also made sweeping changes to the shaders system, the way that players can further customize their appearance through different color patterns. While the current system has seen plenty of criticisms over the years, in Season 14, players can now apply shaders to every piece of armor at the same time, or individually as it currently works. Legendary shards are no longer required to apply new shaders, only glimmer.

Better yet, Season 14 ditches the current consumable aspect to shaders. Every unlocked color scheme now appears inside of the Guardian Appearance screen, so players won't need to go into Collections to pull out the colors they want ahead of time. These systematic enhancements should make the customization process much easier than it is now for players, who constantly have to swap back and forth through multiple screens and menus. Plus, with the overhauled systems powering shaders that now make the colors apply to armor much better, players should have more ways to tap into their creativity and make their guardian the way they want.

Destiny 2 is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.

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