Armed in pride, you have walked into Destiny 2, unlocking a title by gilding it would a serious flex these days. Bungie’s last tweet has Guardians showing off their shiniest digital trophies by trading them just like baseball cards in the schoolyard.
For the non-Destiny folks (we seriously won’t be judging here), gilding is earning a title and then earning it back season after season. Straight A; straight A again the next semester while all others struggle with basic math. The tweet shows one sick screenshot of a crappy game with some title “Fatebreaker,” and the sweet thing: the counter reading gilded because they have done the work four times already. Four. Times.
Reputation is what you can imagine, really; some are humble brags. Others quietly admit they haven’t finished any title. One Guardian struts their x5 gilded “Conqueror” while another struts around with pride saying he did just one “Dredgen” without any gilding. The gaps are just hilarious.
Here is where Bungie really satisfied that sweet tooth: taking what could have been just one more set of dry checklists and turning it into social currency. Titles began as those cute little brags; gilding really turned them, though, into the hardest flexes: “I did this hard thing once”; “I do this hard thing every few months because I’m built different.”
And there is a little something to say: foregoing some of the titles involves serious grind in gilding. This person is who would practically run Grandmaster Nightfalls or go flawless in Trials for part-time jobs. These are the people that look at the new season’s challenges and say, “Yes, only 50 hours this time.”
Here is pure phenomenal mindwork. The number next to that title? Not merely a number for completions but for tracking dedication. Clearly distinguishes between “I was just lucky one season” and “this is how I do things now.” In a world where fashion is the name of the game at end, having the shiniest title is the equivalent of wearing Emerald-dubbed armor.
Bungie has also been smart in filtering all that while introducing new titles. Just make sure that you keep the old ones relevant with gilding. Pretty neat trick: hardcore players have to have something to chase for, while casuals earn a title in their own sweet time and say, that’s good enough.
So what’s next for titles? 10+ gildings becoming the norm? Special reward for milestones with the gilding? Meanwhile, as per Bungie, it’s probably thinking of ways to milk it some more.
For now, it’s safe to deduce the implications of this: if you want to flex in the Tower, you’ll need to stack up some gildings. Looks a lot cooler for your “Flawless”-title with a little “x7” next to it, doesn’t it? Just don’t look too closely at my personal title collection…we don’t talk about that.
