Bungie has made a previously purchase-only armor set free to earn in Destiny 2 following intense community backlash.
The Iron Majesty armor set, themed after the looter shooter’s recurring Iron Banner PvP event, had originally only been intended to be available via purchase with Silver, a premium currency, through Destiny 2’s Eververse store.
Iron Banner returned to the game on September 16, following a lengthy hiatus that began before The Edge of Fate‘s release. A separate armor set, reskinned and reissued from a previous season, had been intended to be earned in-game.
Controversy stems from the fact that a brand-new armor set for each class, themed around an in-game activity, was originally only available by spending real money, while Iron Banner itself only received a slightly altered version of existing gear.
Bungie replaces recycled Iron Banner armor
In a September 16 X/Twitter post, Bungie confirmed that the Iron Beryllium sets earned from Iron Banner had been updated to display the Iron Majesty visuals instead, with the former intended to be made available at a later date.
In addition to this specific change, Bungie admitted the “overall balance in paid and earned armor cosmetics is off for this season, and we’re aiming to adjust our approach to earned rewards in the future.”
Any cosmetics purchased through Eververse have no impact on gameplay, so this isn’t a case of pay-to-win. Rather, the outcry results from players’ increasing dissatisfaction with the overabundance of visually distinct cosmetics regularly being added to Destiny 2’s premium store, while armor earned through play is often reskinned, recolored, and generally not as visually distinct or appealing.
Related
Combined with substantial dissatisfaction with new progression systems and overhauls introduced in The Edge of Fate, Destiny 2 is going through a rough patch, to say the least. With any luck, this gesture will at least go some way towards signalling to players that Bungie is listening to feedback.