Destiny 2 made some big changes to how shaders worked, and fans are naturally unhappy as they throw some shade of their own at Bungie. If you skipped out on Destiny 1, shaders were cosmetic items that allowed you to change the look of your entire set of armour, giving players the chance to walk into battle with sparkly red and white pieces of equipment or godawful arrangements of orange and purple. I’m not pointing any fingers, but we all know who has the worst taste in Tower fashion here don’t we “COUGH”ITWASGAVIN”COUGH”.
I need to go see the doctor. Anyway, Shaders could be applied to your entire set of armour, were infinitely reusable and could also be stored or reclaimed at the touch of a button. In Destiny 2, shaders are now consumable items. Want your outfit to resemble AC/DC’s Back In Black album. Well Hell’s Bell’s prepare for a bit of a grind, as you need a shader per armour piece.
That works out to four pieces per set that you’ll need to earn, mostly from Bright Engrams that Tess hands out at the Eververse station. Now you can easily earn a Bright Engram from completing in-game milestones, levelling up further after you reach the cap and completing other activities. Or you could pay real money to put some Silver in your account and use that to purchase a few of the cunningly disguised loot boxes.
Bear in mind that there is no guarantee that you’ll even receive the shader that you’re looking for, as the contents are completely random. Fans have been livid over the switch from having a collection that was accessible at any given time to a feature that reeks of microtransactions. Here’s what Destiny 2 creative director Luke Smith had to say about the matter:
Shaders are earned through gameplay: leveling, chests, engrams, vendors. We expect you’ll be flush w/ Shaders as you continue to play. (1/4)
— Luke Smith (@thislukesmith) September 7, 2017
When you reach level 20, Shaders will drop more often: vendor rewards, destination play and endgame activities. (2/4)
— Luke Smith (@thislukesmith) September 7, 2017
When you reach level 20, Shaders will drop more often: vendor rewards, destination play and endgame activities. (2/4)
— Luke Smith (@thislukesmith) September 7, 2017
With D2, we want statements like “I want to run the Raid, Trials, or go back to Titan to get more of its Shader” to be possible. (4/4)
— Luke Smith (@thislukesmith) September 7, 2017
Like a one-hit wonder song used by a psychotic bank robber during a session of torture, I feel stuck in the middle over this. On the one hand, it is a bit of a slap in the face to be charged full price for a game and still have microtransactions thrown in for good measure. On the other hand, I’ve been rolling in Bright Engrams since I hit level 20 this week and shaders don’t matter that much to me. Hell, I even prefer the whole one shader per armour piece system, although the consumable aspect does sting somewhat.
They’re purely cosmetic, and have no impact on the endgame. What doesn’t matter to me, matters heavily to others though.
Last Updated: September 8, 2017
Allykhat
September 8, 2017 at 07:37
I knew this was going to be the case… still pissed about it. Grinding the raid and trials just to get shaders now? Eish. WIll have to run the raid twice to fully color 1 set of armor, and thats assuming you get shaders to drop on both runs :/
Kromas Ryder
September 8, 2017 at 07:51
Meh. If I can run Karazan 4 years straight with 11 alts just to get a crappy horse in wow this does not phase me too much. Cosmetics are not that much of a deal to me whenit comes to micro transactions. Then again it is a slippery slope and it seems Activision is already too far in to not slip and land in piles of money.
Allykhat
September 8, 2017 at 08:21
The grind for them isnt the problem. The problem is that a system that used to be: Get shader, use shader whenever you want, has now been turned into a one time consumable and doesn’t just need to be ground for, but also dilutes loot pools.
Myself and a good mate of mine has a tradition in D1, we called ourselves the Glow-Buddies. When we played together we would always switch to our Glowwho shaders, then back to our normal ones when we done. Unless we amass a silly amount of shaders so each time we can switch, we wont be able to do that any more.
Craig "Crios" Boonzaier
September 8, 2017 at 07:53
As a PC person, I’m looking forward to this on Battle.net, also the delayed PC launch gives time for a lot more reviews to come in.
BTW, the third tweet from Luke Smith, is a copy of the second one.
Admiral Chief
September 8, 2017 at 08:06
No thanks, I like my purrrdy things in Warframe too much
Ottokie
September 8, 2017 at 08:14
If I wanted to gamble I would go to the casino.
Ottokie
September 8, 2017 at 08:17
If you want to milk people with micro transactions then fine make the game F2P. But charging 60 Euro for a game with pay to win real money gamble boxes and skimping on cosmetics. It still amazes me this has not been boycotted by gamers.
jimz0r
September 8, 2017 at 08:20
Warframe is the perfect example of how to do it right.
And it that game, you unlock entire palettes that are permanent.
Ottokie
September 8, 2017 at 08:22
I have 700+ hours in Warframe, I still respect that game as the best way to implement the F2P model with MT’s.
Original Heretic
September 8, 2017 at 08:30
Question about Warframe:
I’m not that far. Second planet (started on Earth, now on Venus). But the maps seems to be the same, over and over. Is there a LOT of map recycling?
Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy it. It’s just a bit monotonous, looking at the same stuff all the time.
Ottokie
September 8, 2017 at 08:32
Every planet has a similar tileset at the start. As you move on the tilesets randomize more and change completely when it becomes an infested zone.
Original Heretic
September 8, 2017 at 08:36
So basically, every plant is different from the other, but maps on the same planet are basically the same? Until later.
Ottokie
September 8, 2017 at 08:37
Yea, the start of the game is still basically from when Warframe was conceived way back. Almost like starting fresh in World of Warcraft. Gotta work through old content to get to the new content 😛
Original Heretic
September 8, 2017 at 08:38
Like any MMO.
Ottokie
September 8, 2017 at 08:39
Plains of Eidolon patch is also going to be one hell of a change and take people out of their comfort zone. I really hope it turns out well. I miss spending entire weekends in Warframe.
Original Heretic
September 8, 2017 at 08:40
I just got my one mate jamming it, so we’re about to start missioning together.
Ottokie
September 8, 2017 at 08:41
If you are on PC, there is still a whole bunch of us who play on and off these days. Always happy to help if you get stuck somewhere or need a specific item to go farm.
Original Heretic
September 8, 2017 at 08:42
PS4. My PC gaming days are firmly in the past. The constant hardware upgrades killed me.
Ottokie
September 8, 2017 at 08:44
Awwww 🙁
My PC has seen more console hardware upgrades come and go this generation, still not upgrading. It’s still purring away at 120fps in games xD
Ottokie
September 8, 2017 at 08:24
People think I rage about MT’s as a whole. Hell I love cosmetics, Warframe has over R2000 out of my pocket, Path of Exile has R1500 out of my pocket. Why? because I pay them for a specific item I want. They did not put it behind some scummy gambling loot box that “might” give me what I want.
Original Heretic
September 8, 2017 at 08:28
Very good to know, since I’ve just started jamming Warframe.
Fnuik
September 8, 2017 at 08:32
I don’t mind that I need a shader for each armor piece, but the single-use is bullshit. I want to change the look of my armor when I want as much as I want.