Hey guys/Guardians,

So I just finished the campaign and now I get access to Bright Engrams, yet even though I was awarded one, when I go to Tess it states that to decode even the first one I need to "make a purchase", which is a microtransaction of £4.49.

Everything I'm reading online talks about how the BE's are decrypted by Tess, and you can purchase Silver to do so IF YOU WANT, but they skip past the fact that it sets up the first one as something you HAVE to do(?).

Feels like I'm missing something, but any help on how to get Silver without coughing up real cash would be great - or if it's a prerequisite to pay... that just sucks, but wouldn't surprise me.

Cheers!

Yeah that's... not what should be happening.

It should show the Bright Engram(s) that you have and let you click one to decode it. I've decoded a bunch of bright engrams now without getting any Silver at all.

Are you certain that you have one in inventory? I'm looking at her menu without one and that's where I'm seeing the Requires First Bright Engram Purchase.

@efesell: Well that's... an interesting turn of events haha!

Yeah I've got a red bar coming up inside the pop-up that hangs over the Engram saying that it "Requires First Bright Engram Purchase".

I know they've been having a load of server issues so maybe something's glitched out, but yeah... not the best. I'll grind another level out and see if that changes anything.

So you literally finished the game, went to Tess and were able to decrypt? I don't remember any previous Bright Engrams being awarded that used up my 'free one' allocation - if there even is such a thing? Like I should be able to decrypt the Bright Engrams I'm awarded without paying any money, simple as?

Yeah if you have Bright Engrams she is just a cryptarch when you talk to her, nothing fancy. For whatever reason you just seem to be getting her normal storefront.

@shalashaskauk666: Yeah, I've decryped about 50 Bright Engrams so far, and payed absolutely nothing for them. But I'm far from a normal player, as I took off work all week for launch. You shouldn't be having to spend anything. There are only a couple things I can think of that could cause this. First you don't have a Bright Engram, which is what sounds like what is happening, so it's asking you to first purchase one to be able to decrypt one. It is possible that when your first Bright Engram dropped you had allowed your 10 Engram slots to fill, thus not actually allowing you to obtain your Bright Engram. This would be odd though and would mean you need to go see the Cryptarch to Decrypt your other 10 Engrams as soon as you can. I've played a lot and the most Engrams I've ever had at one time was 4 though, so I doubt this is the case. The other alternative is that your game was bugged and it didn't drop the Bright Engram into your inventory properly. I haven't seen or heard of a situation like this, but this is the most likely situation. I hope this information helps, but you are in no way obligated to pay for Bright Engrams, and I actually highly encourage against it since they are relatively easy to obtain anyways just by playing the game. If you continue to see issues check the Bungie Help forums here. Create a ticket and see if they can help you resolve the issue.

@shalashaskauk666: After you hit level 20, instead of getting more levels, you get these engrams. You talk to the lady and on the right side of the screen there should be a list of all of your engrams. Non-Bright engrams are grayed out (there's another NPC for those.) When you click on a Bright engram, you open it. No questions asked, you just get your stuff.

I didn't finish the story yet and I've opened a bunch of Bright engrams without paying any real money. So I don't know what's going on with your game.

@shalashaskauk666: You should be able to decrypt any Bright Engrams you have unlocked. Maybe you misremembered and decrypted it already? See what happens if you reach max XP again, you will be given another one. If you can't decrypt that one, something weird is going on.

Thanks so much to everyone and especially hestilllives19 for such an in-depth response!

I'm going to grind another level and see what happens when I get a chance, I've a feeling that like a couple of you have suggested, I've decrypted the first Bright Engram in a blur of postgame unlocks, only to then not realise haha. You certainly get a ton of rewards after that final mission, and I have a sinking feeling that I might've actually decrypted the first Bright Engram when I beamed into the hub world, did all the "Talk to X" quests and then tried to talk to Tess again, to no avail.

I'll update the thread once I get time to try in a couple of hours, and if that is the case, mods please delete the thread (but thanks to guys so much!)

@shalashaskauk666: You should get 3 free bright engrams just for finishing the campaign.

Yeah so... it was that I'd already used the free ones without really taking note of what was happening. All I had to do was get another Bright Engram and the screen you get shown when you talk to Tess is totally different.

Sorry for all the confusion and thanks a bunch to everyone who replied - the GB community continues to be the best I've ever been a part of :)

Happy blasting Guardians, I'm gonna go try out my new... leg armour pieces! :D