It's not about the affordability for me. I've spent [u]thousands[/u] in cash shops funding my own private arms race in Pay to Win games for no other reason than I [u]can[/u] afford it. I posted this in response to another topic, for me the issue is this: Even short of being P2W, microtransactions rarely if ever[u] improve[/u] the overall game experience, they just artificially alleviate player inconvenience/annoyance that is caused by the game itself. Think about this for a second - there are already time-gated game progression mechanics built into the game - i.e. you have to wait a week for Armsday Orders, you can only get raid loot once a week, etc. So even if it's not technically P2W, I can easily see one possible future for this game where everything is put behind an annoying time-gate that can be circumvented with Silver. It's easy to imagine a "buy now" button on vendors' screens that lets you get your armsday orders the moment you place them, or instantly upgrade weapons and armor, or buy another "pass" that gives you another go at the raid, or buy those heavy synths you need, etc, etc, etc. If you're reading this and think the "grind" (and tbh I laugh when people call it that here) is real now, wait until what I described above becomes a reality. So if it ever seems like it's starting to take forever to unlock those nodes on that upgrade tree, or planetary materials are becoming more difficult to find, or glimmer drops are drying up - know that they're just setting the stage to build in a microtransaction. Mark my words. This is going to happen: [b]They'll gradually make in-game tasks more and more time consuming to complete, building in artificial time-gates wherever possible, at the same time they scale back the availability of currency and resources to create a perpetual in-game macroeconomic imbalance wherein players are constantly operating at a deficit... all the while making the "Buy Now" button more and more shiny and attractive.[/b] --Ever wonder why Player-to-player trading was never part of the game? It's so they can control the entire IRL revenue stream produced by the game's economy, instead of letting xXX420NoobKillerz69XXx sell his extra materials or glimmer for cash directly. -- Ever wonder why there are no numeric values visible on gear upgrade nodes and all you get is a little circle to complete? It's so the amount of XP needed to upgrade an item can be changed without you knowing. -- How long is it going to be before your ship runs off of Helium Filaments, that you either need to a) Farm The Shit Out Of, b) Buy with Glimmer that's drying up or c) Buy with Silver just to get your ass out of the tower? -- How long is it going to be before you need to buy your starting allotment of ammo from Banshee before you jump starside (unless you just want to show up bullet-less and melee the shit out of everything until you get an ammo drop) and ammo synths of all kinds become a must-have even to go on patrol? Think I'm crazy? Since TTK dropped, I've run out of primary ammo at least 6 times running just daily missions and/or patrols. That never used to happen before TTK. These 4 questions aren't just paranoid speculation... they're based on experience with other cash-shop games. The model is set up monetize every possible aspect of the game, while still providing an easy way for people to get in, get playing, and get hooked. There's no generosity behind Bungie dropping some silver in all our accounts. "Hey kid, first taste is free. If you like it, you know where you can get more... tell your friends". Whether we wanted it or not, this stuff is happening. But it doesn't stop there. Let's put aside economics for a second and let's talk about what this could do for this game's community. Cash shop environments can divide a player base more than any 34+Max-Gally Elitist ever could... You think the butthurt is bad now... just wait until you have a forum that's also divided between cash-shop players who "aren't broke-ass low-rent losers" and non-cash shop players who "earn their stuff the legit way". The forums will burn. It will be MuteFest 2015 all over again. No thanks. Not for me.