The Final Shape, the end of a ten-year saga in Destiny 2, brings with it some much-needed quality-of-life features. The game has been in a state for a long time, and even the smallest improvements go a long way toward reaching the potential every player knows the game is capable of.
The Best Quality of Life Features Coming to Destiny 2 in The Final Shape
Some of the quality-of-life updates coming in The Final Shape are for veteran players or those who play a lot of endgame content. Others are just amazing additions to the game or, hopefully, blanket improvements to how we interact with it.
Overhauled Buff UI
There are a lot of buffs available in Destiny 2, so many that the game’s UI can’t keep up with them. That’s probably because it hasn’t seen a meaningful update launch. I mean, the current one does try to prioritize buffs and effects based on the encounter you’re in, but with only four spaces on the left side of the HUD, keeping track of your build and enemy effects is a nightmare.
The updated UI reorganizes everything, placing mission-critical buffs at the top center, build-related buffs on the left side, and weapon-specific buffs and effects just above the weapon UI element at the bottom left. At face value, these updates might seem like an overcomplication, but I can guarantee you that the new system will be miles better than the one we have now. You do need to move your eyes to more than a single spot on the screen, but after the update, you’ll also know exactly where to look to see where an effect stands. No longer will we be wondering if Radiant has pushed down some other buff that just ran out but we don’t know because we can’t see it. Etcetera.
Clan Updates
Clans are currently kind of a joke in Destiny 2. Sure, they’re a good way to get some extra, incredibly minor rewards, but they serve no real purpose outside that one instance. Clan banners have also been effectively worthless for years. With The Final Shape, Hawthorne — the least-important NPC in Destiny 2 and dedicated clan steward — is getting a vendor progression system.
While Hawthorne’s new reward structure mirrors those of every other vendor at the Tower, they’re much more valuable than they are now. New rewards include Ascendant Shards and Alloys, a full suite of Weekly, Daily, and Repeatable bounties, plus actual reasons to play in a clan. These include reduced costs of items you can buy from Hawthorn to even more upgrade materials for completing Clan tasks during the week.
The Prismatic Subclass
Okay, yes, I’m cheating here, and I’ll keep cheating for the rest of this article. Prismatic is much more than a quality-of-life update, but for jaded Destiny veterans like myself, it’s both a feature and quality of life improvement. Despite how versatile the current buildcrafting system is in Destiny 2, in my experience, the best builds for each class tend to boil down to only one or two options per subclass.
Prismatic’s ability to draw from every currently available subclass in what I hope is a seamless and fun way will make for a breath of fresh air and bring more build variety back to the game. I don’t think the relative limitations within Primsatic will do much to stop the community from cracking it open like an egg, and I know there will be dozens of potentially great builds making the rounds within a week of The Final Shape‘s release.
The New Enemy Faction: The Dread
Here’s my second cheat. Yes, I know a new enemy faction is a much bigger feature than something that usually fits into a quality-of-life list, but let me tell you something else: I’m tired of all the enemies we have now. There hasn’t been a truly new enemy race since the Scorn in Year 2 of Destiny 2, otherwise known as five years ago. Since then, it’s been the same enemies in varying numbers and clothing types.
As annoying as Tormentors can be, their addition in Lightfall was one of my high points, as they required a different way of thinking to defeat. You had to play differently against them, and they were truly threatening in a game that hasn’t had any actual threats in years. That The Dread are bringing that same novelty across six additional units will breathe a bit of life into the same “shoot at the head to kill” gameplay we’re accustomed to.
Exotic Class Items
Destiny 1 players will remember the Exotic Class item as a concept, and one I know a lot of long-time players have wanted since Destiny 2 released. With The Final Shape, these Exotic gear pieces will serve a much greater purpose: Taking parts of the effects from two other Exotic armor pieces and placing them in a single slot. No, you don’t get two whole Exotics for the price of one, but alongside Prismatic, this addition could take buildcrafting to a whole new level.
My concern is: Did Bungie pick the right parts of the Exotics to add to the class item? Will having a class item with a Synthoceps ability increase melee and Super damage, or will it be the other part no one likes? And so on. Provided Bungie gets this feature right, grinding for the perfect class item might be back on the menu.
There are bound to be dozens of other quality-of-life updates coming in Destiny 2: The Final Shape, but these five are the most important, I think. If you’re looking for more content, check out our Destiny 2 guides hub.
