Summary
- Bungie plans to remove Destiny 2's Legendary Shards, which has been a longstanding currency in the game, leading to questions about the future of the in-game economy.
- The removal of Legendary Shards is due to multiple exploits that created an imbalance in the game's economy, making it difficult to balance costs and rewards. Two other currencies, Glimmer and Enhancement Cores, should receive major changes to compensate.
- Players are urging Bungie to increase the Glimmer cap and provide more sustainable farming methods for Enhancement Cores in order to address the issues caused by the removal of Legendary Shards. These changes would make the game more accessible and balanced.
Destiny 2's Season of the Witch saw multiple changes to the sandbox and overall components of the game, and future installments seem to aim at very similar results with new Exotic Catalysts, weapons, armor pieces, and more. A recent post made by Bungie stated that one of the game's main currencies is being removed, that being Destiny 2's Legendary Shards, which have been a cornerstone of the in-game economy for a long time now, posing questions about what is going to happen after that. This is not going to be an overnight process, and players have time until The Final Shape to spend their Legendary Shards, but when the expansion does launch, Bungie should make two major changes to the in-game economy.
One of the main issues with Legendary Shards that has also contributed to them being removed is the fact that there have been multiple exploits in Destiny 2 that provided players who happened to be in the right place at the right time with thousands of Shards. This eventually created an imbalance, even more so with new players starting their journey and veterans further amassing in-game wealth, to the point that it became almost impossible to balance costs and rewards efficiently. However, with Legendary Shards gone, two neglected currencies should each receive a big change to help players feel like their time investment in the grind is worth it.
Destiny 2 Should Have a Higher Glimmer Cap and More Enhancement Core Farming Methods
One of the most important currencies in the game after Legendary Shards is Destiny 2's Glimmer, to the point that one of the most valuable tips circulating among players is to spend Shards to purchase items like Exotic Sparrows from the Collection tab and store them in the Vault ahead of next season to have more Glimmer sources whenever needed. This is because of an underlying problem with Glimmer, which Bungie should address the moment Legendary Shards are removed from the game.
As it stands, Glimmer has a hard cap in Destiny 2 equal to 250.000, meaning that all additional Glimmer after that threshold is lost unless players spend it on a regular basis. The problem is that Glimmer is often useful in bulk, and when players go on a spending spree, such as upgrading Destiny 2's craftable weapons with the newly introduced method of spending Glimmer and Enhancement Cores, the currency can run out fast. A good solution would be to raise the current Glimmer cap by a huge margin, something players have been asking Bungie to do for a long time.
With Legendary Shards gone, raising the Glimmer cap would only make sense, seeing how currency conversion and the in-game economy could be impacted. An accompanying change that Bungie should make when Destiny 2's The Final Shape launches is tied to Enhancement Cores, which are currently used for a vast number of things - chief among them, crafting and Masterworking weapons or armor. This is part of the core gameplay loop of Destiny 2, and yet, Enhancement Cores are quite scarce in terms of how frequently and how many players can find.
Giving players a more sustainable way of farming for Destiny 2's Enhancement Cores in The Final Shape would be a great change, especially since they will most likely end up having even additional uses compared to now to make up for the loss of Legendary Shards. Then, Enhancement Cores can also be transformed into Enhancement Prisms, which can be traded for Ascendant Shards, meaning an easier and more abundant income of this currency can also go a long way to making buildcrafting in Destiny 2 even more accessible. Overall, there are seemingly no downsides to buffing the Glimmer cap and the farming methods for Enhancement Cores in the game, and they would help slap a bandaid on the possible rippling effect of removing Legendary Shards.
Destiny 2 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.