@wolfstein_3d: I agree with a lot of what you are saying, especially in regards to how Bungie decided to push this weird notion that players needed to play Destiny 2 for 100 hours, then put the game down and come back later for the DLC. I think it's extremely funny that they are just now realizing that if they allow players, and actually actively create systems that encourage players, to put the game down at a certain point, many of those players will just not return and purchase DLC. That seems like such a no brainer to me, I don't know how any intelligent person thought that was a valid strategy. Don't get me wrong, I have no issues with the ease of use features they implemented with Destiny 2, but the fact that they actively took away any sort of... let's call it Post End Game progression, was a really stupid move.
Here is where I disagree. I don't have any problem with companies charging for a base game, DLC, and microtransactions for cosmetics (as long as it's done resonably). Destiny 1 always straddled the line of being solid Cosmetics players wanted, mostly reasonable implementation, and just barely away from danger zones of microtransactions. Here are my issues with Destiny 2's Eververse: No ability to actually purchase items for a specific amount of real currency (it's hidden behind a 2 layer system of Buy Silver, turn Silver to Bright Dust by buying Bright Engrams and maybe get Dust or destroy items you get, then buy the items of the week for extremely high Dust prices) and it seems like End Game activity cosmetic rewards have been removed so that they can add more items to Eververse every Season. In Destiny 1, for most of Eververse's lifetime, Emotes (the primary item in Eververse at the time) were sold for a specific amount of Silver (200/$2 for Rare Emotes or 500/$5 for the fancier Legendary Emotes). With Destiny 2 removing this ability, it's now only possibly to obtain these Emotes via Bright Engram loot boxes. Due to some changes they started with Destiny 1, of giving out 3 free Weekly loot boxes, at least for me, this is the lesser of the two issues at hand though. One of the great changes Destiny 2 has made is that for the first 3 Levels each week, you obtain XP 3x faster, thus obtaining your first 3 Bright Engrams rather quickly (about an hour or so of gameplay each week). After that you can more or less count on obtaining Bright Engrams at a rate of about 1 per hour through normal gameplay. Considering the price of Bright Engrams, 200 Silver for 1 BE or 500 Silver for 3 BE's or 800 Silver for 5 BE's (keep in mind Silver is 100 for every $1, with bonus Silver for more purchased at a time, for $50 you get 800 bonus Silver, best value... haha), if you buy 1 set of 5 BE's each week you are spending $8 to negate only 6 hours of gameplay for those same Cosmetics. Personally, I think that's a ridiculous waste of money, and haven't spent a dime on Eververse for D2, but some people do, and to each his own. My biggest issue comes from the trend that Bungie has stripped bare the rewards for completing activities within the game that were always present, like Sparrow, Ships, and Ghosts from Leviathan, especially Prestige, where things like this would have been an actual incentive for players to complete said activities (something Prestige Leviathan was sorely lacking).
TLDR: To summarize, I don't have an inherent issue with the fact that Eververse exists and Bungie sells microtransactions. I think the Emotes add a unique flavor to Destiny that honestly just gives it so much more personality. I do however wish items were able to be purchased for a specific $ amount in Silver so random loot boxes were the only viable way to obtain a specific item. Also, and most importantly, I am upset at this trend with Eververse due to the fact that Destiny content is being removed so that they can develop more items to put into Eververse. This is not good for the game. Chasing Raid, Trials, and other End Game cosmetics you were able to earn via Gameplay was a very special part of Destiny 1, and Eververse swallowing that up isn't healthy for the game at all. It all goes back to that discouragement of Post End Game progression we talked about at first, and Destiny 2's sore lack thereof.
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