In an extensive post today reflecting on the state of Destiny 2 after the launch of Lightfall, Bungie discussed the changes to buildcrafting implemented in the game’s most recent expansion. The mod system was completely overhauled in Lightfall, and while the changes have mostly been positive or at least inoffensive, a few things were lost in the shuffle. Some new mods coming in season 21 of Destiny 2 should at least partially rectify this, though at least one highly-requested mod appears to be off the table.
Under the old mod system, players could often generate mod effects by collecting subclass items. For instance, the Elemental Shards mod allowed Stasis Shards to count as Elemental Wells for all purposes. Under the new mod system which focuses on gaining Armor Charge through Orbs of Power, these interactions are no longer possible. But Bungie is introducing two new mods in season 21 to restore some of that functionality: Powerful Attraction and Elemental Charges.
Elemental Charges provides an escalating chance to get a stack of Armor Charge when collecting the subclass object that matches your damage type. Since Strand has no collectible object, it’s instead tied to destroying tangles. The precise chance to get Armor Charge varies between subclass objects depending on how frequently they can be created.
Powerful Attraction allows Guardians to collect all Orbs of Power within a radius determined by how many copies of the mod they have equipped when activating their class ability. Bungie notes that there were a number of requests for a “Seeking Orbs” mod that would work similarly to the old Seeking Wells mod. However, this would apparently be unfeasible in Destiny 2‘s engine, since Orbs of Power are spawned for all players rather than being instanced objects.
These new mods should please Destiny 2 players who miss some of the old functionality of the deprecated mod system. It is kind of funny that something as simple as creating seeking orbs would apparently break the game, but still, these are welcome additions to the Armor Charge mechanic.
