It's been a while since I've posted anything, and even longer since I've created a new thread. Some of you might remember me and my... reflections on the current course of Destiny. To those who don't know me, I have a freakin' library of critique and insight on this game that you may/may not want to check out. I welcome you to my thoughts. On topic, as my title says, this pay-to-level buff is the worst news yet. Not only has ActiBungie directly lied to all of you who still play this game (yet again), they can't even go a couple of months without screwing you guys over. Not even three months ago, they released the Everess Trading Company (in-game Cash Shop). They swore that it would only ever be for "cosmetic items", meaning that the items are for vanity/appearance purposes, but "will never be for anything that inpacts gameplay or the in-game experience". That's the lie. Bungie couldn't go even two (2) months without breaking that solemn oath that they swore to you that they'd never do. To those who say that this buff is not "Pay to Win" (P2W), you're right. It's not... yet. This starts a very, very dangerous path for Destiny to be on. Destiny occupies a very unique position in the industry as attempting to mix the best of an FPS with the best of an MMORPG (Bungie fails on most respects in this, but I digress...). In most MMORPG's though, once a P2W strategy is implemented, the game takes a striking nose-dive in player population. Even the most successful MMORPG ever is facing this very thing, WoW. They were holding solid at 12 million regular, active accounts. Shortly after implementing a $60 USD buff that gets a new character immediately to max level, their numbers started drastically declining. Right now, Bungie is testing the pool temperature with this level-to-25 buff to see how bad the backlash is going to be. If they feel it can be mitigated/absorbed without too much damage, then the [b]REAL[/b] P2W buffs will start showing up in the cash shop. After that; weapons/armors at multiple Light levels (including Max Light level weapons and armors) will start showing up in the Cash Shop, etc. This level buff is only the beginning. Polygon actually posted a very good article on why this is such a horrible decision by Activi$ion/Bungie, and I invite all those who read this thread, whether you are for or against this level buff in the cash shop, to read it. [url=http://www.polygon.com/2015/12/16/10293298/destiny-leveling-bungie-taken-king-grind?ref=yfp]Level Buff is Horrible for the Future of Destiny.[/url] Read it. Discuss. But if ActiBungie continues down this path, this game is going to tank itself in the very near future. I've seen it happen to countless MMORPG's over the past twenty years of MMO gaming, and Destiny does not have the robust player population support that those MMO's had to keep them going before they finally shut off the servers. This very well could be the start of Destiny's "death knell". It might not happen for months, or even a couple years. But P2W is guaranteed to kill games. Every single time. Discuss.