Apologies if there’s some rule against pushing YT videos, but I think it’s relevant to everyone who plays Destiny, and feel that it’s important to spread awareness about microtransactions in the game and how Bungie is continuing to implement them.
this problem can be broken down into 2 sections. cosmetics, and pay to win.
cosmetic MTX in a box price game, is the most laughable thing i have ever seen and honestly doesn’t deserve debate. anyone who believes a cash shop existing in a non F2P game is okay is simply not worth talking to, and, are evidently the majority.
P2W in destiny is very hard to rationalize. cross thinks he’s solved this problem, but this is about what is considered content, and what is considered power. other P2W games all let you insert money and gain power either instantly or through some kind of loot box. Diablo: Immortal tried to get around this by requiring you to play a dungeon to cash in their loot boxes, but this brings up the other feature of P2W games, you can pull the “give me more power” leaver over and over and over again until you’re bankrupt. destiny doesn’t do any of that. destiny doesn’t let you put in money and gain power, and they don’t leverage gambling to incentivize you pay more money. the ONLY way you can consider destiny P2W is through expansions, seasons, and dungeons giving you more guns and exotics. he mentions how there is content in the season pass that is “pay to win” but the season pass also locks out the seasonal content. these are not separate purchases. thats without mentioning that the only thing these would be useful on are guns that can no longer drop.
overall this video has a lot of accusatory language and posturing with multiple strawmans and poorly supported arguments. he uses a clip at one point where someone says destiny costs over $100 a year when that is factually untrue. buying all of the new content in destiny has never cost over $100 in a single year. if you are just starting now, yes it does cost over $100, but to buy all of the destiny 2 content, when not on sale, is still cheaper than playing wow for 1 year. the price of the content just isn’t the issue, its the fact that they’re selling cosmetics on top of that and not investing in player investment into endgame progression, something this game has simply lost from what it was in D1 and maybe forsaken. the reality of the situation is, baring PvP, we are getting more content that basically ever before. people will go off about reskins on gear, but completely ignore the fact that the alternative is getting nothing at all. if lightfall had been a better story and the neomuna content wasn’t such a slog, people would be much more positive about the game at the moment.
Thanks for the summary. I was interested in hearing what he wants to say but not looking to spend the time watching the video!
its not really a summary, more of a response/criticism.
While I’m glad he’s bringing the issue up, I honestly think that the only reason people are concerned of it is because we’re in the “game bad” part of D2’s neverending cycle.
That’s part of the reason he made the video. He knows he can get clicks from all the people who claim to love this game but do nothing but complain about it on the internet all day.
Actually we shouldnt be in that part of the cycle right now. Historically, the first season or two after a major expansion have been the “oh wait, maybe Bungie does know what they’re doing” phase that occurs before we descend into season 3 of the year where people get bored and start worrying.
That fact that this is happening so early in the yearly cycle is worthy of note.
I think Lightfall’s lackluster launch and recent server instability has probably extended people’s feelings of “game bad” beyond the usual first season. Fuck I still see people caterwauling about Nimbus like they fucked their wife and shot their dog.
I miss getting new cosmetics from bright engrams
I gave up the moment they removed old content I paid for.
Glad he’s pointing it out instead of some rando on Reddit because it is pretty bad. I wish it weren’t like this but also none of us know what it costs to run Bungie.
I’m guilty of spending money on eververse but I don’t think I’m as egregious as others. I have clan mates that immediately spend $20 a season on cosmetics. In the end it’s not up to me to tell them how to spend their hard earned money. I do try to point this shit out to them but also if it wasn’t for people like them and millions of other doing the same then bungie wouldn’t keep doing it. So I’m screaming into the void a bit. I try not to waste too much energy on it.
I think the best thing anyone can do is vote with your wallet or just stop playing. I plan on paying for this game through TFS but after that I think I’m done and that’s okay. We don’t have to keep playing this game forever.
