With all of the fantastic QoL changes to Destiny 2, it's quite shocking to see them take such a large step back with this to the point where it feels very anti-player.
In Destiny 2, you can now apply shaders to everything: individual pieces of armor, weapons, Ghosts, ships, sparrows. This is especially fantastic for armor as you can now mix and match shaders, creating an interesting and more unique look than in Destiny 1.
The problem is that they are now consumables. If you attach it to a piece of armor and then switch to another, you lose it. While shaders seem to drop in multiples, that doesn't change the issue.
The entire point of allowing the player to now use shaders on multiple pieces is to let them play around with their design. You can't very well do that if you're worried about losing a shader just to try on another and see how it looks with others.
And yes, there are at least 20 shaders that will drop from the new Bright Engrams -- something you can purchase with real money. You can also get a Bright Engram each time you "level up" once you hit the max level of 20.
They introduced the ability to customize yourself more and then drastically limited the player's ability to actually play around with them. There are now two large threads on the Destiny Reddit front page regarding it as well.
I honestly can't believe this system made it into the final game. It makes no sense at all.
Destiny 2 is amazing. I love it. But it needs to be said that this is a very poor design choice and and it needs to be changed. Shaders should work as they Destiny 1: you collect them once, you have them for good. Except now you can equip them to everything, allowing players the ability to play around with their look to their heart's content.
That's rewarding and fun. Having players worry about experimenting with their character's design because they might lose a rare shader and need to get it again? That's very much not fun.
EDIT: I should add that while I do mention in the OP that some are tied to microtransactions, the main issue here is that the shaders are one-time use consumables. Please keep that in mind when discussing the issue.
In Destiny 2, you can now apply shaders to everything: individual pieces of armor, weapons, Ghosts, ships, sparrows. This is especially fantastic for armor as you can now mix and match shaders, creating an interesting and more unique look than in Destiny 1.
The problem is that they are now consumables. If you attach it to a piece of armor and then switch to another, you lose it. While shaders seem to drop in multiples, that doesn't change the issue.
The entire point of allowing the player to now use shaders on multiple pieces is to let them play around with their design. You can't very well do that if you're worried about losing a shader just to try on another and see how it looks with others.
And yes, there are at least 20 shaders that will drop from the new Bright Engrams -- something you can purchase with real money. You can also get a Bright Engram each time you "level up" once you hit the max level of 20.
They introduced the ability to customize yourself more and then drastically limited the player's ability to actually play around with them. There are now two large threads on the Destiny Reddit front page regarding it as well.
I honestly can't believe this system made it into the final game. It makes no sense at all.
Destiny 2 is amazing. I love it. But it needs to be said that this is a very poor design choice and and it needs to be changed. Shaders should work as they Destiny 1: you collect them once, you have them for good. Except now you can equip them to everything, allowing players the ability to play around with their look to their heart's content.
That's rewarding and fun. Having players worry about experimenting with their character's design because they might lose a rare shader and need to get it again? That's very much not fun.
EDIT: I should add that while I do mention in the OP that some are tied to microtransactions, the main issue here is that the shaders are one-time use consumables. Please keep that in mind when discussing the issue.