Bungie has revealed that it is making a few changes to what gamers can buy from The Agent of the Nine, more commonly known as Xur, the vendor who shows up every week in Destiny: The Taken King to sell exotic weapons, armor, engrams and consumables.
Beginning Thursday, when the dark-clad vendor is expected to appear for the first time in Destiny: The Taken King, gamers will only be able to purchase either an exotic weapon or an exotic engram but not both. The change comes courtesy of Destiny turning into its second year.
Previously, gamers were able to buy an exotic weapon, an exotic engram and three exotic armors, but Bungie's Tyson Green, senior lead of its design team, says the decision to change the way Xur sells his items is for everybody's benefit.
"In Year One, Xur was a community 'loot drop,' a shared rallying point that everyone could cheer or curse. In Year Two, Xur's offerings have been changed so that he will select either a specific Exotic Weapon or an Exotic Engram for sale every week," Green says. "This change is due primarily to our desire to give players more direct paths to acquiring the Exotics they want through Quests and gameplay experiences, and to avoid repetition in his inventory."
In the meantime, gamers are still allowed to buy one exotic armor piece per class every week. Green also confirmed that Xur will begin hawking a new consumable called Three of Coins, which may compensate for the changes by increasing a gamer's chances of having the next boss enemy drop an exotic engram when he's killed. The more Three of Coins is used, the higher the chances of dropping an engram.
"These consumables have a cumulative luck effect, so even if one doesn't net you a drop, the next one has a higher chance to do so," says Green.
It's still unclear, though, how much the Three of Coins costs, but judging from what it can do, it's not going to be cheap.
Finally, Xur will be selling a legacy engram each week. This contains Year One exotics that will help players finish up their Year One Collections, and Bungie says they are "strongly [biased]" toward the items gamers don't already have. However, Mythoclast and Necrochasm won't be included so players still have to obtain them the way they did in Year One.
