Destiny 2 is getting customisable ghosts
Shell story.
Destiny 2 is getting customisable ghosts, Bungie has announced.
Ghosts are the little floating balls that accompany guardians. Your ghost in the original Destiny was voiced by Peter Dinklage (he of "that wizard came from the moon!" fame), before he was replaced by Nolan North.
Ghosts have worked much the same in Destiny for years, popping into existence to res you whenever you bite the dust. Not to dig too deeply into the lore, but it is your ghost, supposedly a piece of the Traveler itself, who raises you from the dead at the beginning of Destiny 1 to become a Light-bearing guardian.
Back to this update, and Bungie said it plans to give ghosts an overhaul - their first in quite a while. In Destiny 2: Beyond Light, the upcoming expansion, Ghosts have energy levels and access to mods with various energy costs, instead of being pre-loaded with specific perks.
This applies to all ghosts apart from the Generalist Shell, which means you can use your favourite ghost regardless of tier. That's a nice touch, although perhaps not if Generalist Shell is your favourite, I suppose.
Ghost shells come with a selection of mods by default. You have to get the others from gameplay. You can't buy them from Eververse, Bungie stressed.
Onto the mod system. Each ghost has four mod slots. Three are unlocked by default, and the fourth is unlocked by masterworking the shell. Here's how it looks:
"One of our goals with this update was to separate visuals from functionality," designer Mina Jasinski in a post on Bungie.net.
"We wanted any ghost shell to be viable and still have access to highly useful mods, regardless of tier or source.
"You'll be able to select your favourite ghost shell based on appearance without any detriment to your experience. Whether you purchase a ghost shell from Eververse, earn it from the newest raid or pull an old favourite out of Collections, your ghost will have access to all the same mods across your account. From there you can increase energy levels on your favourite ghost shells and set each of them up with different mod combinations of your choosing."
The energy level upgrade costs are glimmer, legendary shards, and enhancement cores. Each of the four mod slots is for a different type of mod: experience, tracking, economic and activity. Bungie provided an example of their use:
"... a Crucible-focused player who wants to grind out materials and earn XP towards their seasonal rewards track might choose Guiding Light, Meager Glimmer Booster, and Lesser Core Harvest (Crucible)."
Of note: most of the old ghost perks have been brought forward largely unchanged as default unlocked mods. Remember the destination-specific material or cache tracker ghost perks? These are now globally effective, non-destination-specific versions of themselves, which is welcome.
"We hope that these changes allow you to interact with your ghost more meaningfully and help you to set up a variety of ghost shells that suit you in various playstyles and activities," Jasinski said.
Destiny 2: Beyond Light is due out 10th November 2020.