On one hand I agree with you. On the other, Bungie wants 1/6th of the total cost of the game--1/6th of the current cost of the game with two expansions I might add--for an animation that took, oh, sixteen hours to make.

I don't generally mind what cosmetic content costs, but I do mind seeing the gouging knife so brazenly flaunted.

Why don't people flip their shit like this over CS:GO cases?

Because the keys that open those crates as well as the crates themselves are commodities, and can be bought, sold, and traded. Most people sell the cases that drop for them anyway. This is a purely one-sided transaction where the player gives the developer money and gets an account-bound cosmetic item in return, and not really comparable to the CS:GO or TF2 crate systems, in my opinion. At least in the case of the crates, there is real monetary value associated with them whether they are sold or a key is purchased for one to be opened.

The skull mask absolutely drops as a blue version. I've gotten three of them and used a glue to turn one legendary. There is also a small chance that the candy bags will drop legendary masks, and that the special items like glue drop during the daily heroic (they look just like all the other pyramid shaped drops). You can also get glue by destroying legendary masks.

I've adjusted my original post to reflect this information. Please see post #9 for a list of facts that lead to the confusion surrounding this issue, including a video from Planet Destiny. Thanks.

It really is a bummer that the first ''post release support'' is just built around microtransactions. Even if you can get that flaming skull mask from blue packages, it very much looks like you can't from the information presented in game. I had clansmates buy packages because they thought it was the only way to get that thing. That's just scummy.

From that Kotaku article I very much worry about post release support. It sounds like they gave up on DLC packs because they actually can't produce enough content for DLCs and put out a new game next year.

I foresee a dark future for year 2 of destiny. A full year of drip fed new exotics, questlines and content already built before the taken king even came out and seasonal events built around bullshit microtransactions. The only reason I gave them the benefit of the doubt regarding microtransactions was because they were suppose to help produce more content. This Halloween event isn't more content.

Bungie is getting ever closer to walking that perfectly wire thin tight rope of being scummy enough that no one cares but they can still take advantage of people.

I thought the best way of dissenting was by not buying the thing you're dissenting over.

@spraynardtatum: they're not (and can't) force anyone to buy anything. I don't see how this is taking advantage of people (at least those smart enough to take a minute to be aware of what they're getting into).

@pyrodactyl: Yeah, this was exactly my biggest fear for Year 2 of Destiny with this introduction of Microtransactions. If there isn't at least 1 major content release in the January-Febuary window and something around E3 most of the Destiny community will be dead by the time Destiny 2 comes out. We are already starting to see drastic falloff in people's interest in Destiny after Hard King's Fall launched. People did that once and a lot said I'm good see you guys next year. If they do like you've said and drip feed Exotics and small Quests and a few small Holiday events, while entertaining for a day, it isn't going to keep people in Destiny.

The problem is that I don't think they want to keep people playing. They now want people buying shit which is accomplished by having exclusive holiday emotes and items be available for a limited time. So instead of giving people content to buy and fulfill their contract with Activision that way, they will have new cosmetics for you to buy once in a while.

Reading that Kotaku story, it seems very unlikely we'll get any big content release until Destiny 2. A shower of emotes and small, time gated content, sure. A raid or a cool new horde mode or something? No way.

The free pack I got right at the beginning of the DLC, first time I logged in, contained the flaming blue skull. I literally could not have done less grinding to get it. Not sure how I can give you proof, guess I could equip it and link to my profile if you want. You can easily get the blue skull for free, it's all just random loot.

There is a you tube channel called Planet Destiny. They're devoted solely to covering this game, and also host a podcast. That podcast has had several different Bungie employees on as guests. They also host a website with a large database of info. They know the game, it's their job to know the game, and even they were confused by this event. Them producing a video that said there was a special mask that can only be found in paid packs was the only reason I felt confident enough to create this thread in the first place.

This is the problem.

Also "the best way of dissenting is not buying the thing you're dissenting over" logically makes no sense when it comes to digital items that can be made with almost no effort when compared to the work that went into the full game. If a developer makes a new hat for a character, it's a digital item. A manufacturer doesn't have to worry about how many hats to make, or how many hats to ship to each store. A retailer doesn't have to worry about how many hats to buy, how many hats to keep in their warehouse, and how they should price old hats so they sell and free up valuable storage space that could be used for other items.

None of this applies to digital items. From the moment the amount of money that went into creating that item is surpassed by sales--which would probably be insanely fast whether those skulls sold for 50 cents or 20 dollars each--the belief that "if you want to fight against micro-transactions, you should vote with your wallet" just doesn't make any sense.

If almost no work or risk goes into the creation of something, almost no sales are required before becoming profitable.

I said that was a possibility in my original post. Congrats, btw. You had a 1 in 17 chance of getting the only animated mask, which is also the only mask that doesn't look like it was made out of cardboard, which is also the only mask listed in the description of the paid packages and not mentioned at all on the free packages.

What are your thoughts on TF2? You can buy hats with money that effect gameplay of a PvP game, how outraged are you?

TF2 is a free to play game that is completely supported by micro-transactions. My thoughts on a free to play title are different than a game that many people have paid 134.99 to keep playing. Also never said I was outraged about any of this. I'd say disappointed is more accurate.

They can't force but they sure can tempt. They sure as hell can be the little devil on your shoulder telling you "it's not that much money (on top of all the money you've already spent) you dumb guardian peasant and besides, you fucking love Destiny". Sometimes that's all someone needs to purchase something they had no intention of buying. And you admitted yourself that you have to be smart enough to know what you're getting into to not jump on something like this. I personally don't think dumb people deserve to be taken advantage of.

Destiny is a $60-$140 game. A game that did and still does supremely well. Bungie asking for any money for a stupid holiday bonus map is taking advantage of their playerbase. Exploiting uninformed fans that merely want to look cool. But don't worry, they also know exactly how to price it and to make it available for things to randomly drop so that enough people can wager that it's not that big of a deal.

It's a full retail game that sold millions at a price point that was muuuuuch too high to begin with for how unfinished it was. Also, I reaaally can't get behind promoting gambling for valueless bullshit.

Planet Destiny made another video about this, and they're still saying that you couldn't unlock this without spending money, outside of your first shot at it:

@spaceinsomniac: Yeah, I had thought I heard someone say they got a blue version of it as well. But then I checked on Reddit late last week when one of my friends said that it wasn't possible. She was right. Not a single person had any proof of a blue Skull mask, which means that it doesn't exist. Also, glue was much harder to come by than I thought. I still think this whole event was silly and didn't personally get too into it, I got my two Legendary Masks that I will keep and my Thriller and Booo Emotes and called it good. But I do agree that putting the only desirable event mask behind an RNG based paywall is a pretty scum bucket move. I actually don't have a problem with selling the mask/masks. But if you pay silver for something, it should be something tangible, it other words you should know exactly what your getting from the outset. It would have been better had they just charged 100 Silver for each of the 16 Legendary Masks and 300 Silver for the Skull Mask. They would have still made plenty on Emotes and crazy people wanting to collect them all.