There's more to the arrival of "The Dark Below," Destiny's first big expansion pack, than the addition of new content. It's a massive update that also changes some fundamental things about how the game works.
Case in point: there's a whole new system for upgrading Exotic weapons and gear. Say goodbye to constantly trying to get Ascendant Materials to enable upgrades. It's a new day.
All Exotic upgrades now happen via Xür, aka "Agent of the Nine," the mysterious vendor that only appears in the Tower on weekends. To be more specific, Xür is typically around from Friday mornings at 1:00 AM EST until 1:00 AM EST on Sunday mornings. In other words, that's late Thursday night until late Saturday night.
Once you acquire an Exotic item — be it from random loot drops, rewards for leveling up, or direct purchase — upgrading now costs Glimmer (aka in-game money) and a new currency called Exotic Shards. The Glimmer amount is expected to be around 7,000, so start saving now. One Exotic Shard is required for each upgrade slot, except the final slot which requires two.
Most players will find acquiring Exotic Shards much easier than getting your hands on those elusive Ascendant Materials. Exotic Shards are acquired in two ways.
| Exotic Shards: How To Get Them |
| 1. Purchase from Xür for 7 Strange Coins. 2. Scrap an Exotic item you already own. |
What about Exotic items you already own? They're not automatically upgraded.
Go visit Xür on Friday or Saturday, and he'll offer to trade one of your old Exotics for its equivalent under the new system. (To be clear: the traded-up weapons are exactly the same, only the way they're upgraded changes.) You have to have an Exotic Shard and 7,000 Glimmer to complete the trade transaction. Also note that he'll only update one of your Exotic items per week.
| Finding Xür |
| Given Xür's newfound importance, you're going to want to keep tabs on him. He pops up in one of several random spots in the Tower, but if you don't want to waste time looking for him, head over to whereisxur.com. You'll also see what he's selling this week.You can also follow @FindXur on Twitter for updates on his comings and goings. |
He'll trade it the same whether your original Exotic item has any existing upgrades or not. Now there's good news and bad news here.
The bad news: Trading in an Exotic with Xür resets your upgrade slots, starting you over at nothing. So you're not required to update your Exotics. It's entirely optional.
The good news: Once you buy all of an item's upgrades, your Exotic will max out at a higher rating than before. Also good: the upgrading process happens a heck of a lot faster than it did before.
You may be wondering why Bungie is instituting all of these changes to a system that wasn't broken. It all comes back to "The Dark Below" and the changes it brings, most of which come from player feedback. When you get new Exotic items while playing through the DLC, those weapons and gear will upgrade under the new system — and they're more powerful than the older Exotics. So these changes to existing Exotics are to bring everything in line with the new content.
There you have it. Players are advised to start saving up Glimmer and Strange Coins now. "The Dark Below" arrives on Tuesday, December 9, 2015, but Xür is already selling Exotic Shards now.
