Another example of how Bungie can revert some changes it made to Destiny 2 in the past is the fact that Gambit now allows players who don’t own past Gambit-related Shaders to get them as random drops at the end of the activity. This could be a major reason why Destiny 2’s Lightfall could motivate new players to play Gambit more often, as the expansion will introduce the second Darkness subclass, Strand. Strand is all about traversal skills and aerial combat to a degree, and it’s designed with flashy green hues, which would pair perfectly with a fan-favorite Gambit Shader.
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Why Destiny 2’s Gambit Could See a Resurgence of Active Players With Lightfall
One of the most beloved Shaders in the entirety of Destiny 2, and most likely the one players like the most from the Gambit selection, is Gambit Jadestone - a dark green Shader with intense green glows where the armor allows it. Aesthetically, Gambit Jadestone is possibly one of the best Shaders to pair with Strand subclasses, as long as the base armor models chosen by players through the transmog system have bits that can glow. A great example comes from the Guardian Games Eververse sets, which all have multiple glowing parts naturally, as they let Gambit Jadestone enhance them with its bright green.
Gambit is generally considered a subpar activity at best, and it doesn’t have a huge fanbase within the community, but because Gambit Jadestone is only available there, newcomers could show up in droves in the Drifter’s playgrounds once they discover this unique Shader. Destiny 2’s Gambit could see a resurgence of active players when Lightfall launches because of this, and that’s because fashion is often considered one of the most interesting aspects of the game in its current iteration.
How Destiny 2’s FOMO Problem Can Be Problematic Ahead of Lightfall
It’s also worth mentioning that even veteran players might not have Gambit Jadestone unlocked, and that’s because of Destiny 2’s big FOMO problem, where skipping a single season (namely the one when the Shader dropped, in Season of Dawn) makes a huge difference. The fear of missing out is something Destiny 2 actively promotes as part of the seasonal model, as not playing for a while can and will hinder players from completing everything there is to do or obtain. With Gambit Shaders, Bungie did make them available again with The Witch Queen expansion, but they are still gated behind abysmally low chances to drop.
There doesn’t seem to be a bad luck protection system in place for this either, and thus it could potentially take a couple of Gambit games for players to get Gambit Jadestone (or other Gambit Shaders), or it could take years. As such, diving into Gambit for a chance at a fantastic green Shader might be worth doing now instead of waiting for Lightfall to come out, as there is no guarantee players will ever get it. Overall, Destiny 2’s Strand will still be widely used regardless of this detail, but its best Shader relying on RNG is far from ideal.
Destiny 2 is currently available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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