Well, the latest showcase of the Destiny 2 The Final Shape expansion was quite something, wasn’t it? Among a deluge of exciting new info was the reveal of three new The Final Shape Exotics, which let you steal and combine perks from other Exotic armor pieces across Titans, Warlocks, and Hunters, regardless of which class you are. Sure, the new Prismatic subclass is the major key to Destiny 2’s multiclassing push, but these Exotic class items shouldn’t be overlooked either, and I think they’re going to be more important than any of us realize.
While the new Dread enemy race would have been more than enough to surprise and delight fans of one of the best FPS games ever, no one expected Bungie to totally rip up the rulebook when it came to class abilities and Exotics. After seven years of creating new subclasses, bolstering existing ones with new Aspects and Fragments, and probably thousands of balance changes across Arc, Solar, Void, Stasis, and Strand, Destiny 2 is now saying ‘fuck it’ and going all-in on multiclassing with Prismatic. But this mix-and-match approach also extends to Exotic armor perks.
As was revealed during the multiplayer game’s latest livestream, new Exotic class items will be added that come with two random-rolled perk slots. These slots can contain a perk from any piece of Exotic armor, so even if you’re a Hunter, your class item could contain a perk from a piece of Warlock or Titan gear. According to brief snippets of menu footage from the showcase, the Exotic Titan mark is called Stoicism and the Warlock bond is called Solipsism, but I wasn’t able to spot the name of the Hunter cloak anywhere.
“These new class items are all about Prismatic and making that feel good,” says Bungie’s expansions project lead Catarina Macedo. “It’s going to be all about enhancing your builds and your combination of Light and Darkness.”
While that sounds great, I actually feel a bit concerned about the fact that the perks on these new Exotics are going to be random-rolled. Unlike weapon crafting, where you get a clear upgrade path towards getting the perks you want to compliment your specific Hunter, Titan, or Warlock build, it seems there won’t be any kind of system like this for chasing Exotic class item perks.
My worry is that finding the perfect roll to complement the Prismatic loadout you want is going to take a long time. Macedo ensures that it is “going to be fun to chase these perks”, but it’s worth remembering there are almost 200 Exotic armor pieces with their own perks out there, so that’s a lot of combinations.
Unless the grind is incredible quick and easy, or there is some kind of system in place that can influence your rolls to some degree, I actually feel like these new Exotic class items could dictate what Prismatic build you end up with, rather than the other way around, and that would be a real shame.
I’ll reserve full judgment until The Final Shape release date arrives in June, of course, but for now there is this small question mark hanging over my general excitement for Destiny 2 multiclassing.
For more Destiny 2 news, read up on the freshly-added New Light Kits which prove Bungie learned from one of its biggest microtransaction scandals. Or check out the mid-tier perk that’s now completely overpowered thanks to an in-game bug.
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