[quote]Before I get started for those of you who are not aware I regret to inform you that Gamespot released an article today covering the future of DLC content in Destiny. This is a direct quote from the article. [quote]Destiny's microtransactions and paid expansions are both selling well, Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg said on an earnings call today, November 3. [i][u]As such, Destiny players can expect to see more of both in the future[/u][/i].[/quote] So the microtransactions....the microtransactions that were supposedly implemented to fund future content is going to stay....but we will all still have to fork out money for DLC. [/quote] The microtransactions exist to fund the "live team." They are the ones that make events like the festival of the lost, which is now funding itself and future events. We haven't heard much about future DLC/expansions yet. Aside from Luke Smith mentioning that raids are not guaranteed. There would need to be some kind of endgame content to push the carrot out a little further, so we may see more things like PoE or other non-raid endgame activities. Also, companies will all sell you as much as they can until sales drop off, that's just business. I don't know why you think that's abuse. [quote][b]The Kotaku article sheds light on the fact that Bungie and Activision cut up Vanilla Destiny to be sold separately. [/b][/quote] No, it actually doesn't. It implies that the game was changed into a less linear style of progression from the traditional FPS model to more of a RPG model. Some things were cut, but the game wasn't ready to ship and still needed more time if they had gone forward with Staten's script. They had art assets and level designs mostly done, but the game was far from ready and the cut content wasn't finished. [quote]You all just shrugged and kept moving forward. Oh well. Its not [i][b]Bungie's[/b][/i] fault. Its all Activision. Bungie loves us and wants to be good to us they just can't. So I am just gonna keep playing and hope it gets better. I know Bungie can change.[/quote] You're anthropomorphizing a company. Activision nor Bungie are altruistic, they're in it for a paycheck. Thy may want to make a cool game, but they all have bills to pay and they certainly aren't getting as rich as you think off of all of this. Bungie didn't know what they got into with Destiny. I'm not sure where the disconnect was, but they were clearly aiming for some kind of MMORPG/FPS hybrid, but fell short while trying to make the game more FPS-like and more accessible to their existing fan base. Ultimately, that created the Frankenstein like monster that was vanilla. The game has made great strides since then and co tongues to improve. [quote][b]Microtransactions are introduced into a game that most of us have paid over $120 for[/b][/quote] Microtransactions are in a lot of games. Blizzard added them to WoW, which I was already paying a sub fee for that had run into the thousands over the years. The microtransactions were for aesthetic things we could enjoy in the game, it wasn't a big deal then, so I don't know why console/FPS players feel so much differently about it. [quote]They cut content and set it aside to be sold separately at a premium [i][b]YET AGAIN[/b][/i] and no one seems to really care. Some even naively believe that the microtransactions would lead to free DLC in the future. The rest of you all just shrug and then say well its not [b][i]Bungie's[/i][/b] fault. Its cl;early just Activision. Bungie wants to love us and be good to us, but they just can't. So I am gonna keep playing and hope it gets better. I know Bungie can change. [/quote] What did they cut this time? The emotes? Yeah, those should have been included in the base game, along with a lot of other RPG-centric features. But Bungie missed the mark on that, so it is what it is at this point. Again, Bungie specifically said that microtransactions would go to the live team. They never said that expansions would be free, they said that additional events, quests and missions would be added incrementally at no additional charge. The notion that expansions would be free is from a Reddit user that said a lot of things, including microtransactions and free DLC/expansions. Just because it's on Reddit and someone claims to have insider knowledge doesn't make it true. [quote]Every misstep and every abuse is almost immediately forgiven and shoved aside in favor of blind hope and naive support. Each and every time they abuse or take advantage of the community you all just shrug and make excuses for them. You say its not their fault or that its just how the game business works. Or that they HAVE to make money somehow right? [/quote] No, I have a fair amount of butthurt about the state of the game. I do give them some leeway because the game plays well and is fun with friends... If the game was subpar in the gameplay or it looked cheap or something, it'd rustle my jimmies. Some of the new/revamped areas, like the colony ship in TTK, look kind of cheap and curdle slapped together. That bothered me, but with that being a single mission and likely used some old assets, I let it go and enjoyed how well designed the dreadnought is (and the raid), by comparison anyway. Destiny still reeks of last gen limitations, I really hope we get a fully next/current gen experience in Destiny 2. [quote][b][u]NO OTHER GAME WORKS LIKE DESTINY DOES AND NO OTHER GAME HAS TROUBLE MAKING MONEY. PLENTY OF GAMES MAKE PLENTY OF MONEY AND STILL DON'T TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THEIR PLAYERBASE.[/u] [/b][/quote] Most games are worse. There's pay-to-win in some games. Others will sell you extra skins, shaders, outfits, vehicles, weapons, etc. some do all that with a sub fee tacked on top. Some free-to-play games would cost thousands of dollars if you bought all the DLC. Just about every game has DLC now, which isn't at all surprising. Given that the overall quality of games has skyrocketed, budgets are enormous and sales aren't always as good as the publishers would like. Food for thought, a $60 game in 1990 would be $109 in today's money. So we are actually getting a pretty good deal on retail prices. [quote][u]Witcher 3 for example released over a dozen FREE DLC packs and their entire season pass was $25. The latest DLC called "Hearts of Stone" got a better review score than ANY of the Destiny content that has been released and yet it only costs $10. [/quote] For starters, Witcher 3 released a dozen free DLC packs that should have been in the game at launch. It was trickle content designed to keep you coming back in case you happened to wander off after beating the game. Now I not going to rag on CDPR here, they put out a quality game, mostly bug free and included a real manual, map and goodies in the box. They also put together some nice expansions and added a NG+ mode that is always welcome in a RPG title. However, we are again talking RPG vs. FPS here. FPS games are used to charging $15 for a few multiplayer maps. No new items, no new story, no new AI, etc. it's a different mindset and a different audience. That's not an excuse, but possibly a reason. [quote]Bethesda is another prime example. They have released games like Fallout 3 and Skyrim all to critical and [i]FINANCIAL[/i] success. They released quality DLC for a fair price and they made a FORTUNE.[/quote] The Fallout DLC in both NV and 3 were a mix of amazing and absolute trash. I never played the Skyrim DLC, though my girlfriend said it was an island full of repetitive quests. The engine they used was modular and allowed for rapid development of DLC like what we saw, it could be done well or poorly. Fallout also was nothing near what it could have been had Bethesda given it their full attention. They were too busy milking their ESO cash-cow at the time. [quote]Bioware released Mass Effect 3 with quality DLC for a fair price and even threw in FREE multiplayer DLC packs every month or so. Yet it was the most financially successful game in the franchise. [/u][/quote] Mass Effect 3 was great until their utter and complete blunder with the ending and subsequent caving to their fans. The fact that they allowed fan outcry to change a published game set a terrible precedent for years to come. Now everyone thinks they can botch on a forum and a company will bend over backward to make them happy. I had to pay extra for the multiplayer, which I really didn't care for. They also essentially forced you to buy and play multiplayer if you wanted the best endings in the campaign. Which is so wrong... [quote]You people need to wake the -blam!- up and look around you. Look at all the games that have been released since Destiny launched and look at how many have used the kind of underhanded tactics that has been used with Destiny. [/quote] So far Destiny is considerably more successful than all those other games, even the ones that were going to "kill" Destiny. So they must be doing something right. Why do you feel so cheated and abused? A lot of us find the game fulfilling and fun.