[u]NOTE:[/u] [i]This message is primarily for giving Bungie a heads up for next year, and is a reflection of my own experience and feelings on these matters and is not intended to speak on behalf of other people. All views are my own and I speak only for myself.[/i] ---------------------------- [u]TL:DR[/u] The alpha test used an OLD alpha build with a VERY limited slice of the game's PVE and PVP content, and all I have to say is a resounding WOW! The Division alpha although only going for 4 days, had less connectivity issues, more of a coherent storyline, more of a sense of purpose, and more character building/attachment than Destiny did in its entire first year and two DLC’s, and the graphics were absolutely beautiful and the world interaction was liberating! Just saying, you guys have already lost me, but you may very well lose a noticeable chunk of your customer base on March 8, 2016. Good Luck! ----------------------------------- So not too long ago I got sick of the non-stop repetitive grind that is Destiny. I did all the end-game content, did the raid, etc. Bored. So I stopped playing for the past several weeks as I no longer saw any point to it. However, having just spent from the 9th to the 12th of this month playing the ALPHA test for The Division and finding that I enjoyed the 4-day alpha more than the first year of Destiny and waiting for Bungie's empty promises of "but we have all this content in the expansions coming, just trust us and pre-purchase them" to come true. Unfortunately, I only see Bungie's/Activisions' behaviour getting worse over time. Constantly waiting for them to add the forever promised storyline back into the game, which has felt like a gaping void since the original release. And now the introduction of micro-transactions and the blatant manipulation of the in-game markets by nerfing the drop rate of materials so that people that don’t have the time but have the money would be more inclined to buy the supply packs of materials with silver instead of farming the required materials as was done previously. The more insulting part was that I felt like you treated the community with contempt by thinking we wouldn’t notice and that even if we did, there was nothing we would do about it. All of this after paying full price for a game and only getting a hollow shell which needs to be gradually filled in by buying more full price DLC. Like an idiot I bought the limited edition which came with an expansion pass, trusting Bungie (and Destiny), but after the massive disappointment of the original release, and then getting completely screwed over as the first two poor excuses for "Expansions" added almost no value to the game at all. Then the next expansion comes out and I find that I have to pay almost the full price of another game to get what SHOULD HAVE BEEN INCLUDED IN THE EXPANSION PASS!!!! Bungie and the Destiny franchise are the reason I will not pre-order games or buy expansion/season passes anymore without knowing what is included in them first, and waiting for reviews that I trust. So for that I should probably thank them as I am a much more discerning consumer now. I also have less than zero respect for the Bungie brand now, I was never a fan-boy from the Halo days, but they did A LOT of good work back there and I was really hoping that they would bring that same passion and talent into this new franchise that they had put so much time into as well as securing a record setting budget from Activision. But no such luck. The Division on the other hand, broke every single expectation that I would normally have of an early alpha test. Super solid gameplay mechanics on-par and in some ways better than Destiny. The open world was what Destiny should have been and the way that you interacted with it and moved through it was liberating, It didn’t feel like the game was constantly looping around on itself and was just being lazy in the world/level design. The levelling felt a lot less like a grind and a lot more like progress, and that you had actually achieved something which was worth the time you invested. I really hope that you do learn from the repeating cycle of disappointment of Destiny, I genuinely hope that when you do launch its successor, that you take what you have learned into account. We (the community) saw the potential that the franchise had, and we supported you financially with pre-orders to try and help you succeed and wanted to participate in what you had to offer. Yet, like the guy that peaked in high-school, you just keep wasting the opportunities that were given to you, and instead you keep trying to find new ways to squeeze more money out of a fan base that has already spent way more than they should have to on any new franchise. So Bungie, if you are not worried about The Division having an impact on your sales, you really, really should be. I for one will not be purchasing any more bungie products until they have been vetted and reviewed by people whose opinions I trust.