Destiny 2 players discovered that some of the best armor mods are locked behind paid seasonal content for New Light players — Destiny 2’s free-to-play version — and those who do not own the current season pass. Although Redditor ‘TheyCalledMeSnake’ noted this issue on the DestinyTheGame subreddit weeks ago, it once again became a hot topic within the Destiny 2 community.
nice to see that bungie are now monetising mods ????♂️ pic.twitter.com/lDFekR2EAS
— ً (@sayskyy) July 10, 2023
A Twitter user posted screenshots showing how only players who paid for Season of the Deep content can access specific mods due to seasonal requirements. As the screenshots show, players must reach Guardian Rank 7 (update: article originally said Rank 6) to unlock armor charge mods on class items. However, to unlock Guardian Rank 6, and a challenge titled Threats and Surges — named after elemental modifiers — requires players to increase reputation with the seasonal vendor. Here’s the catch: players can’t gain Sonar Station reputation without purchasing Season of the Deep, which requires ownership of the Destiny 2: Lightfall expansion. Some players are calling to the Destiny 2 free-to-play version “free-to-try.” Buildcrafting is a crucial part of the game, and not having access to mods can be limiting.
Armor charge mods are essential for solid builds, especially for endgame activities, so locking mods behind seasonal paid content is significant. While Bungie includes new story content, activities, and weapons as part of its paid seasonal model, players generally considered armor mods to be standard game content. Additionally, Bungie overhauled its mod system ahead of Lightfall‘s release, and in early 2023, it made standard mods available to all players, including New Lights. (This overhaul did not include special mods that players can only acquire from raids, which requires the raid’s respective expansion and has players earn mods by playing.)
Earlier in the year, a This Week at Bungie blog post titled “Buildcrafting Evolved” suggested that “All mods will be unlocked by achieving Guardian Rank 6.” It added, “Most players who have spent some time in the game will start out at rank 6 and instantly have all mods ready to go out of the gate.” The post didn’t address that Guardians would have to complete a challenge tied to a seasonal vendor for Guardian Rank 6.
When Lightfall launched, many Destiny 2 players, regardless of whether they were free-to-play players or had previously paid for game content, were grandfathered into Guardian Rank 6. Therefore, they did not have to complete the Threats and Surges challenge. As such, the issue went relatively unnoticed within the larger Destiny 2 community until recently.
Also, Destiny 2 players were aware that Guardian Ranks restricted players from building and saving new Loadouts, as the ability to save four additional Loadouts is also contingent upon players reaching Guardian Rank 6. However, for some, the restriction on mods crosses a line.
Player complaints regarding mod paywalls come at a time when even top content creators are noting Bungie’s push to monetize various parts of the game. Recently, Destiny 2 Youtuber ‘Aztecross’ highlighted these monetization efforts in a video criticizing microtransactions.
Bungie has not publicly commented on the issue, but several Twitter users have tweeted to the official Destiny 2 Team Twitter account to express their frustration.
Update:
On July 11, Bungie responded to player concerns through its Destiny 2 Team Twitter account.
“We are aware of an armor mod that is unavailable for players who do not own Lightfall or the Season Pass due to certain Guardian Rank requirements. This was not intended and the team is working on removing the Rank requirement as soon as possible,” the tweet says.
Bungie’s tweet notes that the issue is with an armor mod. The tooltip for the Threats and Surges Guardian Rank 7 objective lists its reward as “Armor Charge Mods Unlocked,” implying that the issue extended to additional armor charge mods.
