Destiny 2 has undergone many fundamental changes to its systems and economy over the past few years, and Bungie has revealed in the latest This Week At Bungie blog that another big change is on the way. Starting next season, destination materials such as Helium Filaments, Glacial Starwort, or Dusklight Shards are getting retired and will be no longer obtainable across the game.
The removal of this often overlooked currency has major implications for a variety of vendors and the wider economy, with everything from Upgrade Modules to Ascendant Shards previously requiring destination materials to purchase. But as Bungie Design Lead Josh Kulinski explains in the blog, the evolving nature of Destiny as a live service has left destination materials feeling like a redundant and unapproachable part of the experience, especially for newer players.
“One of the major goals that we have on the Economy Team for Destiny 2 is making the game more approachable to new and returning players,” he explained. “One way that we can do that is by reducing the number of currencies that players need to understand and keep track of. With fewer currencies to manage, it’ll be easier for players to learn and remember the value of the items that they have in their inventories.”
While the destination materials players currently own won’t be deprecated like previously removed currencies, they will only serve one purpose starting next season at Master Rahool’s material exchange. Here, Guardians will be able to turn in the destination materials they have left in their inventories for 5000 Glimmer per stack of 20. Any items that previously required destination materials to purchase, such as Enhancement Prisms or Ascendant Shards, will now either have Legendary Shards costs in their place or see no additional changes to their price beyond the destination material cost getting removed.
The choice to make Fundamental Osmium on Savathûn’s Throneworld in The Witch Queen award XP and Glimmer rather than the material itself was a tease of this upcoming shift, and when season 19 launches, destination materials found in other patrol spaces will offer up similar rewards when harvested. Mods for your Ghost that previously affected destination material acquisition will also be changed or removed accordingly.
The change will certainly free up a lot of inventory space for long-time Destiny 2 players and leave a much shorter list of currencies left for new fans to get to grips with, but whether the simplification of the system and the further reliance on Glimmer will have a positive effect remains to be seen. But with season 19 on the horizon with a December launch date, now is the time to make use of any destination materials you may have while they remain a relevant part of the economy.
