• POLITICS
  • SCIENCE
    • Astronomy
    • Physics
    • Biology
    • Geology
    • Environment
    • Medicine and Health
    • Sociology
    • Psychology
  • MOVIES & TV SHOWS
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Virtual Reality
    • Bionics
    • Nanotechnology
    • Engineering
    • Robotics
    • Space Exploration
    • Transport
    • Industry and Service
  • GADGETS
    • Mobile Devices
    • Wearables
    • Consoles
    • Hi-Tech
  • GEEK CULTURE
    • Gaming
    • Comics
    • Thingamajigs
  • MUSIC
  • SOFTWARE
    • APPS
      • Android
      • iOS
      • Windows
  • HARDWARE
  • CARS
  • REVIEWS
  • Advertise
  • Geek Reply Jobs
  • Contact Us
Geek Reply
  • HOME
  • Editorials
  • Geek Squad
  • GeekReply Jobs
  • Contact Us
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Google+

  • LinkedIn

  • RSS

Gaming

Destiny 2’s Single-Use Shaders Are Just Plain Wrong

Destiny 2’s Single-Use Shaders Are Just Plain Wrong
Aaron Greenbaum
Aaron Greenbaum
September 7, 2017

From what I can gather, Destiny 2 is a fun game. Many gamers who hated the first Destiny seem to enjoy the sequel a great deal more, and thanks to the PC beta test, I can say from firsthand experience they’re right. While PC gamers need to wait a bit to play the game, PS4 and Xbox One (and PS4 Pro) owners are playing Destiny 2 as I write this article and sadly discovering several issues with the game, namely its microtransactions, or to be more specific, the one-time use shaders.

Depending on your video game experience, you may or may not recognize “shader” as the term commonly used to describe cosmetic items that overwrite the colors of wearable equipment. Shaders are standard in many modern games, especially role-playing games that emphasize character customization, including Dragon Age: Inquisition and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Blood and Wine. Shaders are a godsend in MMOs where all end-level armor looks homogeneous. Why should every player settle for the same old drab silver and brown suit when players can color it as bright and shiny gold armor with purple highlights? Shaders were everywhere in the original Destiny, and players could swap shaders at any time. However, according to a Reddit post, Bungie (or more likely Activision) decided to change how shaders work in Destiny 2 by making them disappear after being used. Oh, and they can also be found en masse in loot boxes that can only be purchased with real world money, because why not?

Perhaps the executive behind this decision didn’t get the memo, but Destiny 2 is a loot-based game, which means players are stuck in a never-ending cycle of “find armor and weapons, equip them, and replace them five minutes later with even better armor and weapons.” While luck plays a huge factor, eventually every player will replace every piece of equipment with something better, which raises the question: what’s the point in wasting a one-use shader on a piece of equipment that will inevitably be replaced? Gamers color their armor with shaders to give it a specific color scheme, but this scheme is replaced when players equip a new piece of armor. Since the shader is one-use, the new armor piece can’t be colored unless the player has a duplicate shader, which is highly unlikely given the random nature of the loot drops. In other words, there is no point in wasting limited-use shaders on equipment that will be replaced. Sure, gamers can always stockpile shaders and use them to color end-level equipment, but this equipment will eventually become obsolete in a future patch or expansion. To put it simply, the loot-based nature of Destiny 2 conflicts with the nature of Destiny 2‘s shaders.

You are now probably wondering how Activision/Bungie should handle shaders in Destiny 2. Since shaders can now be applied individually to every piece of equipment, including weapons and ships, perhaps the companies should take a page out of Wildstar. In that game, shaders have unlimited uses and can be applied to almost any piece of armor or clothing. Moreover, players can mix and match shaders to create any color scheme imaginable. Personally, I consider Wildstar the bar by which other MMOs should be measured regarding how shaders are implemented. Maybe it’s too much to ask the developers at Bungie to copy Wildstar‘s shader system, but the company should at least get rid of the one-use limitation.

Bungie could and should patch in an update to Destiny 2 to fix the shader system. The fan outcry is near universal; nobody likes that shaders are one-use items. I cannot think of a legitimate reason why shaders shouldn’t be permanent items, and apparently neither can anyone else. Please, Bungie, you have a good game on your hands; don’t ruin it for the fans. Please.

W3Schools
Related ItemsActivitionBungieDestiny 2featuredMicrotransactions
Gaming
September 7, 2017
Aaron Greenbaum
Aaron Greenbaum

All you have to do to get my attention is talk about video games, technology, anime, and/or Dungeons & Dragons - also people in spandex fighting rubber suited monsters.

Related ItemsActivitionBungieDestiny 2featuredMicrotransactions

More in Gaming

gaming equipment

Maintaining Your Mental and Physical Health While Gaming

Frankie WallaceDecember 16, 2020
Read More

Microsoft Adds to Its Cloud Gaming Lineup with Bethesda

Matt DavisOctober 2, 2020
Read More
PS5 Xbox Series X

PS5 & Xbox Series X Release Dates – When Will The Next-Gen Consoles Launch?

Mike GuarinoAugust 28, 2020
Read More
Xbox Game Showcase

Xbox Series X Exclusives To Be Revealed On July 23rd

John CusackJuly 7, 2020
Read More
Apple Arcade Free

Ever Been An Apple Arcade Subscriber? You May Be Getting Another Month Free

John CusackJune 24, 2020
Read More

Modern Classics: The Traditional Games that are Better Played Online

Matt DavisJune 17, 2020
Read More
The Last of Us Part 2 Ellie

The 3 BIGGEST Game Releases Of June 2020

Mike GuarinoMay 26, 2020
Read More
pikmin 3 deluxe switch

Pikmin 3 Deluxe Reportedly Coming To Nintendo Switch Soon

John CusackMay 15, 2020
Read More
PS5 logo

PS5 Is So Far Ahead It Will “Help Drive Future PCs,” Says Epic CEO

Mike GuarinoMay 13, 2020
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Game Deals

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • Comments

  • gaming equipment
    Maintaining Your Mental and Physical Health While Gaming
    GamingDecember 16, 2020
  • Esports is now an Official Medal Event at 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games
    Opinion PiecesDecember 30, 2020
  • Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Mac
    Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Mac- It can surely save the day
    ReviewsSeptember 26, 2019
  • Esports is now an Official Medal Event at 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games
    Opinion PiecesDecember 30, 2020
  • gaming equipment
    Maintaining Your Mental and Physical Health While Gaming
    GamingDecember 16, 2020
  • How Futuristic Movies Compare to Reality
    Geek CultureOctober 27, 2020
  • The end of geo-blocking within the EU
    Opinion PiecesOctober 19, 2020
  • Just 10% Of iPhone X Users Want Apple To Remove The Notch, Survey Says – My WordPress Website says:

    […] There are lots of requests that Apple users are…

  • The 9 most plausible rumors in regards to the new iPhones – Mark Swarrts says:

    […] Just 10% Of iPhone X Users Want Apple To…

  • Onimusha: Warlords HD PS4/Xbox One Box Art Revealed - GameSinners says:

    […] mean for the series, as its success could result…

  • 5 Essential Tips to Setup a Web Hosting Business | Your Own Website says:

    […] Source link […]

Geek Reply

Greetings techies! We are Geek Reply, a website whose main goal is to bring you all the latest news and updates from within the industry and beyond. What can you expect to find here?

Professional journalism coupled with expository writing for the most part, but we also give our honest opinion or throw in a pinch of humor for good measure when we deem it necessary. Our team is comprised of enthusiasts from across a wide variety of fields ranging from smartphone junkies to camera nerds, and everything in between. But perhaps you were looking for your daily dose of science news or hoping to read about the latest apps. If that’s the case, don’t worry, you came to the right place.

GeekReply Secured with GeekReply Scured
Nintendo Switch GeekReply

Copyright © 2020 GeekReply - Webdesign & Marketing - iPublicitate

The Suffering Franchise Finally Shambles onto GOG
L.A. Noire will Return on Switch PS4, Xbox One and VR