Destiny Rise of Iron Brings Back Shard Upgrade Mechanic
By Anthony Taormina 25 September 2016
New info about items in Destiny: Rise of Iron suggests that the shard/energy upgrade concept is returning for new gear earned in the Wrath of the Machine raid.
Over the course of Destiny’s two-year history the RPG-FPS hybrid has introduced features and mechanics that have gone over very well with fans. The raids, for example, are seen as the pinnacle of the Destiny PvE experience, and many grind for several days just to get a crack at the next one as early as possible.
However, while the raids themselves have been quite popular, some of the features and mechanics surrounding said raids have been less so. The concept of leveling up gear using shards and energy was seen as a cheap way to give the raids replayability and it served as a confusing gating process.
Thankfully Bungie got away from the shard mechanic with the introduction of Destiny’s Taken King expansion, but now it appears it might be making a return. New item details data mined from the most recent Destiny update suggest that shards, in one form or another, will be a key component to upgrading the new Wrath of the Machine raid weapons.
Obviously nothing can be confirmed until the Wrath of the Machine raid launches and Destiny players venture through, but for now it sounds like SIVA Key Fragments are the new “shards.” According to their item description, SIVA Key Fragments are “used to upgrade Wrath of the Machine raid gear.” Additionally, a player can “combine 10 SIVA Key Fragments to create a SIVA Cache Key, which opens SIVA Caches in the Wrath of the Machine raid.”
Essentially it sounds as if SIVA Key Fragments are a combination of Ascendant/Radiant shards for Year 3 and Moldering Shards. So if players don’t need any more to upgrade their gear, they can also use them to earn new gear from SIVA Caches. Obviously we won’t know for sure until Friday, when the new Rise of Iron raid releases, but based on the description that’s what it sounds like.
As we mentioned, the Destiny fan base was happy to see the shard/energy concept go, so it will be interesting to see how they respond to SIVA Key Fragments. On the one hand it sounds as if the item will upgrade both new armor and weapons, so that streamlines things, but it also sounds like another forced replayability tactic. Since smart loot was interested the need to grind out raids hasn’t been as strong, but it may be back with this new concept.
Let us know your thoughts on SIVA Key Fragments and if you think it’s a good mechanic in the comments below.
Destiny: Rise of Iron releases September 20, 2016 for PS4 and Xbox One.
