Destiny 2 players left furious after learning ‘truth’ behind Armor Synthesis system

After years of waiting, a transmog system finally landed in Destiny 2 with Season of the Splicer. Just 24 hours into the new stretch of Destiny history and players have already uncovered the real grind hidden away for Armor Synthesis.

Guardians had been pleading with Bungie for years to add a transmog system into Destiny. Almost seven years on and such a system has finally made its way into the ever-evolving shooter though not quite as everyone had hoped.

Upon the announcement of Armor Synthesis, Bungie copped a huge wave of backlash. Players were already agitated by the fact that changing appearance came with limitations. Rather than just swapping out styles, an entire process was set up with new materials and new bounties.

With these features came strict caps for each player: Just 10 pieces of armor can be altered per character in any given season.

While the initial stats around this revelation were shocking in their own right, one day into the new update and players have already discovered that it’s actually worse in practice.

To start the transmog process, Guardians must first acquire a batch of Synthstrand. With 150 of this new material in hand, bounties can then be purchased to continue the next steps. With Synthstrand dropping from any foe in any activity, it didn’t sound all too tedious at first. Another material simply racking up in the background while you go about more pressing business.

However, a post on the popular Raid Secrets subreddit soon uncovered the reality behind these drops. It turns out that individual pieces of Synthstrand are locked behind a time-gate. This means you can’t just waltz out of the Tower, kill 150 enemies, pick up a bounty, and be on your way. 

Synthstrand only drops once every two minutes as Reddit user ‘alonie-homie’ discovered. Based on some quick math from another player, this means you could be grinding for an absurd 53 hours and 20 minutes before maxing out transmogs for a season on just one character. If you’re looking to replicate that across all three classes, that’s six days and 16 hours of in-game time, assuming you complete bounties at an optimal pace.

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To make matters worse, this entire grind can be bypassed through the Eververse. For players not too eager on the above, the final transmog material can simply be purchased through the in-game store.

Naturally, when this discovery came to light, a vast majority of Guardians were fuming. “Reading the numbers here makes me want to quit playing,” one player said. 

“Let’s be honest here: this is F2P mobile timer dogsh** in a full-priced AAA game,” another added. “Who in the fu** over at Bungie thinks this is acceptable? We paid for the game. Now a core feature is hidden behind a timer you can only skip by paying more money.”

Given the ongoing controversy surrounding the new system, perhaps it’s only a matter of time until Bungie reels it back somewhat. Lowering bounty requirements would be a decent first step, and maybe even doing away with seasonal caps could help lessen the blow as well.

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For the time being, the devs are yet to respond to the outrage. Season of the Splicer just kicked off and Armor Synthesis is one of many new additions in Destiny 2. Be sure to brush up on our complete rundown of the new season.