I am in full support of the "cash shop", regardless of what they decide to do with it. I am not someone who believe P2W (Pay to Win) is true nor is it an issue that is going to change destiny in any capacity should something like it be implemented. I can make my argument by comparing it to the Market in Warframe, since a lot of people seem to want to compare the two games, especially writers for Kotaku. In Warframe, you can buy the "best base weapon" (For the record, Warframe has no BEST weapon because it depends entirely on your style of play and what you hope to achieve) in the cash shop. This weapon comes with a Catalyst, a sort of super-charger that gives you more energy and thus, allows you to use more mods. Even though the weapon is considered the "base base weapon", they are still inferior to any number of special variants of said weapon that can only be obtained by completing some of the game's most difficult content. If Bungie wanted to, they could let you buy Exotic and Legendary Engrams with Silver (the new cash shop currency) and it would not change the dynamic of the game in the slighest. Think about what comes around every Friday and is flocked to by all of us so we can throw our strange coins at it for items/engrams/three of coins (Xur). We'd still ultimately be at the mercy of RNGesus and that'd be ok because even if we get a roll we like on whatever item we end up getting, we'll either end up using the weapon or scrapping/infusing other things with it for one reason or another. Equippable items aside, Bungie has already said that they do not want the cash shop influencing game play, so you can write off anything you can equip from the get-go. That being said, they could easily add Exotic Shards and Focused Light as items you can buy with silver and honestly make a lot of bank doing it. Exotic Shards are hugely in demand thanks to the infusion system being what it is, so selling them for Silver would be a smart call on Bungie's part. As for Focused Light, since it only increases experience gains, it does not impact gameplay. Yes, your classes/gear will upgrade faster, but the impact from this has little to no impact on how people play the game. Thinking about it more, it would actually make sense for them to sell Strange Coins, since the only usable source for this is Xur who can convert them into Motes of Light. Buying things from him is a gamble anyway since you have no control over what he brings, so its always up for grabs if any of it will be remotely helpful/useful. It would mean that more people would drop money on coins when something they want comes up, thus turning Xur into a literal moneypit both figuratively and literally. This would also no direct impact on the game itself because players are already hording their coins to blow with Xur for various gear. It simply means that players have more ready access to Xur himself. Lemme wrap up this long reply by saying three things: First, Bungie intends to sell Emotes with the cash shop, but I can imagine this stretching out to special shaders and emblems as things move forward. Second, Exotic Shards, Focused Light, and currency items are actually smart decisions for later on in the shop's life as it fills a need that exists in the community without negatively impacting the game or encouraging players to abuse mechanics. Lastly, players of online games actually WANT a cash shop for their games and Bungie would be foolish to not follow the trend (If you don't believe me that this is true, go look at the most commonly played games these days. Platform doesn't matter. Players, as a whole, would rather pay to have the option of getting something to help them or improve how much they enjoy the game than to pay full out for new content. The best example I can offer for this is SW:TOR which was literally saved because it went F2P w/ a Cash Shop. WildStar recently did the same as well, and many mobile games have cash shops for their games.)

There shouldn't even be cosmetic microtransactions. They should make it available in game to purchase with glimmer. Bungie should rename themselves Bungivision.

Agreed. Strictly cosmetics

I will legitimately retire from destiny if they sell any sort of items that give people the upper hand. I hope so badly that this doesn't happen. I love destiny, but I refuse to be like one of those WoW addicts paying 40 dollars for a fcking ghost tiger mount or some shit. Tread lightly bungie..

Bump

Agreed