Destiny 2’s Solstice armor grind is somehow worse than years past

Another summer in Destiny 2, another Solstice holiday event. While the actual content of the event has mostly stayed the same over the last six years, the main prize, a cosmetic set of Solstice armor, has only gotten more convoluted to earn. It’s now held behind a bureaucracy of Bounties and confusing upgrade paths, making menu dancing more of the main event than Solstice’s longtime featured activity: the, frankly, brain-dead Bonfire Bash.

Solstice first kicked off in the summer of 2018, offering a permanent summer holiday for Destiny 2 to accompany its popular Halloween-themed Festival of the Lost and wintertime Dawning holiday (Guardian Games would first appear in 2020). The event brings Eva Levante back to The Tower to invite players to enter the EAZ, where the holiday activity currently sees Guardians eliminating enemies to grow the biggest bonfire they can. While there are some Solstice-exclusive weapons, the real draw for the holiday is the unique Solstice-themed armor on offer each year. Bungie has experimented in the past with different ways for players to earn the Solstice cosmetics, but this year might be the worst yet.

How did Solstice’s armor grind change?

In years past, the Solstice armor itself wasn’t hard to earn, but players would spend some time upgrading it to see additional glowing appearances. It didn’t require much effort if you just wanted a set of armor and didn’t care about how shiny it was. Now, however, players can’t even earn a single piece of the new look without engaging in some lengthy busy work.

For 2024’s Solstice, Guardians must first speak with Eva Levante and complete the event’s introductory quest. This is nothing new, and it is how Solstice usually starts: with a quick explanation of the event’s mechanics. Those who have participated in past Solstice events might notice that before we even start the grind toward shinier versions of the event armor, or a set with better stats like 2023, we’re grinding to get the armor itself.

Each piece of armor needs to be created in the new Solstice Forge menu. There, players can grab armor slot-specific Bounties to earn Alloy for that piece of armor. Bounties come in three varieties: Silver, Green, and Gold. Silver Bounties are the fastest to complete (example: Defeat enemies) and reward 5 Alloy, Green require a little more planning (Generate Orbs of Power or Subclass-specific kills) and reward 15 Alloy, and Gold requires the most commitment (Complete two Raid encounters) but grant 50 Alloy. Once players earn enough Alloy, they can use it to claim another Bounty from the Forge, requiring a Bonfire Bash completion to finally reward the one armor piece. 

Each piece of Solstice armor costs 100 Alloy to forge, and each Alloy Bounty costs increasing quantities of Silver Leaves, depending on the variety. Hilariously, though, it doesn’t end there. After players earn their Solstice armor, they can opt for the traditional glowing version of the set, which requires another cycle through the same process per piece. The key difference is that the glowing armor requires 50 Alloy instead of 100, but that reprieve is offset by the Bounty’s requirement to complete another 2-5 Bonfire Bash activities before it pays out.

It’s way too complicated to efficiently grind Solstice armor

Complicating matters even more is the system used for Solstice Forge Bounties. The thing is, the Alloy earned from these Bounties is specific to one piece of Solstice armor. This means that if players complete a helmet Bounty, they’ll only receive Helmet Alloy. At the same time, you can only ever attempt one Bounty at a time per armor slot. So, players might be incentivized to grab the Bounties with the higher payout. Well, even if you’re capable of completing a Gold Bounty objective, like a Raid or Dungeon, there’s no guarantee one of those Bounties will be available in the Forge. 

The available Bounties appear random, with an option in place where players can spend 5 Silver Leaves (the same cost as a Gold Alloy Bounty) to reroll available Bounties. But, of course, Silver Leaves are the same currency needed to obtain the Alloy Bounties themselves. Top it all off with the fact that Bonfire Bash isn’t particularly engaging to play and only rewards 5-10 Silver Leaves per run, and players have quite the slog on their hands if they’re going for Solstice’s top prize.

It feels like an overcomplicated system designed to force a slow payout or for players to give in to the Eververse Store. For those who want the set and who can’t be bothered with the grind, the glowing Solstice set is available for 6000 Bright Dust or $15 in real money.