Well, it finally happened. After years of players begging, pleading, and Photoshopping Taken armor into Reddit mock-ups, Bungie has decided to bless us with the thing we’ve wanted since Destiny 1: an actual Taken-style shader and a fresh set of Taken armor ornaments. And in true Bungie fashion, it’s not a reward for tackling raids, completing triumphs, or even grinding your soul away in what remains of the long forgotten Gambit. Nope. It’s stuffed into Eververse, locked behind paywalls, and designed to wring every last nickel from your Guardian’s Lightless wallet.
Let’s back up for a second. Previously, the closest thing we’ve ever had to a Taken shader was the Taken-themed Desolate armor set from back in Destiny 1’s April update—remember the one you had to gamble for in Treasure of Ages loot boxes? Yeah, even our fondest Taken memories are tied to one of Bungie’s earliest loot box experiments (though it wasn’t that bad back then). Fast-forward to now: we’ve seen Taken effects littered across the franchise—King’s Fall, and D2’s reprisal, Dreaming City activities and even Deepsight to some extent, just to name a few. But Bungie always swore that making an actual shader was “too hard” with the existing system. Funny how those technical hurdles melt away when they can charge you a lot for it.
To be clear, the new “Taken” shader, which is ironically called ‘Nothing Given’, isn’t even a legit Taken shader. It’s basically last season’s Umbral Rumble re-skinned with a new name, stapled into a bloated $20 Eververse bundle alongside a Taken Phalanx Finisher and a Taken Skimmer sparrow. Missed Umbral Rumble? Congratulations, you get to pay again for the not-quite-Taken look Bungie promised was impossible to begin with.
And if that wasn’t enough to make you want to eat a Hive grenade, Bungie’s dangling a genuinely beautiful Taken ornament set that looks like a King’s Fall–Crota’s End hybrid dripping with Taken corruption (we admit, it is really f*cking awesome). Of course, you don’t earn it by, say, actually fighting Taken. No, it’s an Eververse exclusive at $15 a class. That’s $45 if you want to cosplay as a Taken Guardian across all three characters.
https://twitter.com/DestinyBulletn/status/1965464329639399828
Just when you thought Bungie couldn’t find new ways to insult your intelligence, they’ve also quietly jacked up Bright Dust costs. Armor pieces used to be 1,200 Bright Dust each (6,000 total). Now they’re 1,500 apiece, totaling 7,500 Bright Dust. Bungie claims this is a “bug” (their words, not mine), and the Destiny2Team promised a fix “in a future update.” Translation: “We’ll patch it after enough suckers overspend their Bright Dust.” We all know how this plays out—if something benefits players (extra loot, farmable exploits, fun glitches), it’s hotfixed in an hour. If it screws players? Enjoy your three-month “future update that we may neglect to fix for 18 months.”
Do yall remember when this was free in an update for destiny? This shit is crazy lmao
— Zarhonflip (@zarhonflip) September 9, 2025
And compensation for the uninformed players who get duped during this unspecified amount of time until a fix? Don’t hold your breath. Bungie isn’t that type of company.
The timing couldn’t be worse. This nickel-and-diming comes right on the hells of the overwhelmingly poorly received Ash and Iron update, which players already roasted for being so content-starved it makes the Curse of Osiris look generous. People spent an hour in it before realizing there’s nothing else to do, declaring they’ll just wait until the flashy Star Wars–themed Renegades expansion drops this holiday season. Even that’s getting pre-criticism thanks to today’s “Infiltrating The Lawless Frontier” ViDoc, which looks more like a Disney+ trailer than a Destiny update.
If you are interested in seeing today’s Eververse offerings, you can check out TodayInDestiny under there Eververse Calendar.
