Destiny 2 livestream shows off dramatic changes coming to armor customization

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Armor will have new stats and additional slots, plus mods will be unlockables—big news from fashion-conscious guardians.

Major changes are coming to Destiny 2 when the armor 2.0 system goes live as oart of the upcoming Shadowkeep expansion on 1 October. Bungie devs revealed how players will be able to take advantage of those changes to "build a better monster killing machine" in a livestream today that showcased the full process of creating and customizing loadouts.

Bungie is clearly aiming to go deeper on the RPG aspect of Destiny 2 by focusing heavily on enabling players to fine-tune their builds. Ammo finders will now be tied to specific weapons, for instance, and will work more reliably than they do now, and you'll be able to put two different types of reloaders on a single set of gloves—something that's currently not possible. 

Randomized armor perks are also out: Instead, armor pieces will have an energy rating and type that will determine which mods, and how many, can be applied to it. Each mod will require a certain amount of energy, which can be upgraded to a maximum of 10. Your goal then becomes to add mods that total up to the current energy of that piece while delivering the synergies you desire.

The new armor mods will be available from the Gunsmith in a rotating stock, and also through Gunsmith and event engrams, and significantly, they will be unlockables, meaning that once you've earned one, you can use it wherever and whenever you want. Currently mods are consumables, and not cheap, so this will be a very welcome change.

You'll also be able to more easily see the results of all this new hotness in armor 2.0. Your Sparrow and Ghost will be visible on the character screen, making it easier to properly coordinate your look (probably the most important thing about Destiny 2), and there will be a visible effect on the ammo finder mod to let you know that it's actually doing something.

Also interesting is that you'll apparently be shown the buff from your artifact on the character screen: Check out the "bonus" section in the image below, which suggests that with enough play you'll be able to surpass the power cap for that season:

Image via Teawrex (Image credit: Bungie)

We also learned that glimmer cap is being increased too, from 100,000 to 250,000. Can't spend it if you haven't got it.

The stream focuses entirely on armor customization, and doesn't delve into topics like finishing moves or artifacts, but it's a really good, nuts and bolts look at how Bungie aims to offer far greater flexibility to Destiny 2 players than they've had previously. For an in-depth discussion on how it got to this point, don't miss part one of game director Luke Smith's reflections on the state of the game, released yesterday. The second part arrives tomorrow.

Andy Chalk
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.