Big changes are coming to mods in Destiny 2 in Lightfall. In a news post on their site today, Bungie explained some of the changes players have been anticipating to the mod system. “The current buildcrafting system relies heavily on a mod library that has grown to be highly complex and, at times, confusing,” the Dev Team explains in the post. “So, we are making some changes to improve it as well as other aspects of how you build your dream monster-killing machine.” Here’s what those changes entail.
Destiny 2 Lightfall Mod Changes — The Basics
Players will no longer have to purchase mods at Ada-1. Instead, all mods will be unlocked upon reaching Guardian Rank 6. Players who have been active in Destiny 2 for a while already will begin at Rank 6, with access to all mods immediately. New players will unlock them as they climb the ranks. We’ll have more information on the rank system as Bungie releases it.
Mod Energy types are being removed and the Combat Style armor socket is going away (more on that below). Most mods will also have a reduced energy cost. These are welcome changes — the energy type system was always a little annoying and required keeping a bunch of different armor sets on hand to use different mods. Weapon type mods are being deprecated and in their place we’re getting damage type mods. The goal here is to equalize weapon types and put the emphasis on loadouts that maximize their benefit across all of your weapons.
Artifact mods are becoming unlockable perks. That means that you won’t have to equip, say, Anti-Barrier Pulse Rifle once you unlock it on the seasonal artifact. Instead, it’ll be a constant passive effect that applies throughout the season. Armor with an Artificer Armor slot will get a new unique mod slot that will provide a small stat bonus instead.
Destiny 2 Lightfall Mod Changes — Armor Charge
Bungie is doing away with the Combat Style armor socket. Charged With Light and Elemental Well mods are being deprecated and their effects are being rebuilt into the new Armor Charge system, which works with Orbs of Power. Socketing an Armor Charge mod gives you the old functionality of the Taking Charge mod. You can hold up to three stacks of Armor Charge by default. Some mods will give you a passive bonus while you have stacks. While these effects are active, you’ll lose a stack every 10 seconds. Other mods instead consume one or more stacks of Armor Charge when triggered. Finisher mods now consume Armor Chargers rather than Super energy.
Elemental Wells are being replaced by damage-type-specific objects. Arc subclasses can spawn Ionic Traces, Solar subclasses get Firesprites, Void subclasses have Void Breaches, Stasis subclasses stick with Stasis Shards, and Strand users will get an as-yet-unnamed object. These objects will provide ability energy and can activate some effects like Elemental Wells do now.
The existing mod system in Destiny 2 could feel pretty clunky at time, so these changes seem set to streamline things. What do you think of them? Let us know in the comments.
