Bungie defends Destiny: The Taken King's £/$40 price tag (Eurogamer)

Rndm

Member
Not so fast the most credible rumours as to why we got this weird twisted disjointed 'thing' that is Destiny's SP experience is that the plans were too grand to ship before contract clauses kicked in that gave Acti a bigger share. So Bungie fundamentally gutted what they planned necessitating the scrapping of the plot which is why they seem to have spent an ungodly amount of money for people like Bill Nighy and Lance Reddick to read a dozen lines to act as glorified vendors. Bungie chose to sign that contract and chose to ship the mess that they did rather than eat the clause they signed up to.

I don't blame Luke Smith or even Deej for being so damn bad at communicating a bad plan, I blame a shitty PR plan and Bungie for failing to understand that we know they fucked it up we just need to hear that they know it too so it won't happen again. I'm kinda pissed here because I dropped for the Season Pass after they dropped the Exotic Shard & Mat Trading patch thinking 'They get it they're removing some of the BS so I can just play'. Then TDB drops I've spent tons of marks on mats and they added in fucking Commendations just so I couldn't spend my leftover marks on legendary gear straight away, oh and exotic resets mean regrinding so fuck you too. Would have only played the 2 1/2 hours of SP content in TDB if it weren't for helping tow a mate into the end game.

Destiny is basically a glorified chat client for me and my mates but Bungie seem to really want to pretend they've made something 'epic' when it's a nice PvP game (as someone with 0 experience of these things) with a very wonky PvE element. As Battlefront looks to be capable of delivering that too with recent updates DiCE/EA may actually get my money instead this winter and as someone who rage quit BF4 for Destiny that took some doing Bungie GG

I appreciate that you gave me a different perspective on this since I have only really heard of the story that I was referring to.

But yeah, in the end we can at least all agree that Bungie and Activision made many mistakes and that they keep making them.

You know I like the gameplay, it's simple and fun, but the game isn't really worth the cash they are asking for anymore especially when other and better games are coming out. As you say, it's a good PvP game and it's fun if you want to play with friends, but the price of the expansion isn't worth it to me. I've stopped playing a while back and only came back for the Expansions.

It's sad, but the only thing that I am interested in is the story and I can keep up with that via YouTube. I have a hard time believing that people will really be into Destiny (3 or whatever) in 8 years or so.
 

Rndm

Member
There's a difference between saying something isn't far-fetched and assuming it's definitely true.

My original comment did not make that clear, sorry for that. but yeah, it's what I'm assuming from what I've read and heard, not a fact at all.
 
That exchange is nasty. Like.....it's Luke staring from the inside out, he's in a little bungie bubble where nothing can penetrate him. Maybe he does realize what a shitty deal it is, but the way he's defending it is...disgusting. Like he's bought into all the bullshit he's slinging. And that's just the worst a person can do, especially in a PR position. No sense of retrospection or self-reflection.

Yeah, I generally really like Luke, going from his GAF posts...but what a shitshow of an interview that was.

That´s just every MP game ever though.

I have not played another MP game that locks me out of an entire mode due to DLC. Are there some games that included DLC in their server rotation and caused you to get kicked off? Yeah, but there are always servers playing vanilla content.

When the first expansion pack came out, I sold my copy because they were willing to lock vanilla players out of the weekly strike/nightfall for a week if the DLC came up in the rotation. This is not the same as other games w/DLC fragmentation, as the weekly strike/nightfall were basically 2/3 of the endgame PvE--the raid being the other 1/3. So, if DLC came into rotation, it meant I had a lot less to do in a game that was (at that point) already content-starved. I couldn't hop into a "vanilla-only" weekly/nightfall playlist. I was fucked for that week.

It's anti-consumer bullshit.
 

patchday

Member
Your definition of "base content" is quite literally different to everyone else's. Base content to me (and I'd bet most people) is all the missions the original game came which you can still play regardless. Nightfalls and heroics are weekly events, they can be missions from the expansions, which I totally agree can suck but it's not like they've stopped you playing all the strikes from the core game or the Vault Of Glass raid.

Have you actually tried to play Destiny without the dlcs? I did. Trust me I couldn't do hardly anything. no one does VoG anymore and strikes are awful. DestinyGAF does these things together:

- Nightfalls
- ToO / Iron Banner
- Raids (edit- this includes PoE)

See what's wrong with this picture? When a DLC locks out the Nightfall there goes 33% of the ingame activity I can run with gaf. Sure I can pay for the DLC but I don't really want it. I just enjoy coop with gaf.
 

CREMSteve

Member
It impresses me how passionate Destiny haters are.

It's a fantastic game, but there's zero point in trying to convince people of it because minds are already made up.

It's my favourite game, because it just plays soooo good.
 

Wizman23

Banned
I just can't wrap my head around Deej and how fucking DUMB that statement he made yesterday about the collectors editions being sold out and that they will sell for more then retail on Ebay. I mean WHAT THE FUCK!!
 
Your definition of "base content" is quite literally different to everyone else's. Base content to me (and I'd bet most people) is all the missions the original game came which you can still play regardless. Nightfalls and heroics are weekly events, they can be missions from the expansions, which I totally agree can suck but it's not like they've stopped you playing all the strikes from the core game or the Vault Of Glass raid.

If I remember correctly these Heroics are one of the only ways to get strange coins for X'ur. Also from what I recall you don't get many from them anyway so doesn't this hamper your ability to really get better by acquiring exotics if one week I just can't get my four or five coins? This may not be a big deal, but it's one of those things I feel was set up to get people to just cave and buy the dlc's instead of waiting for the next weeks heroic to maybe be a mission you have.
 
Have to say as someone from the uk I find it quite insulting at how quickly they brushed over 40 dollars = 40 pounds

40 pounds is the equivalent to 62 dollars and I doubt AAA titles retail for that much out in the states?

Yeah.

Would be interesting to see how many Americans would be on board
for this Destiny expansion being 62 bucks. Mental.

But its UK prices we always get shafted lol.

Your definition of "base content" is quite literally different to everyone else's. Base content to me (and I'd bet most people) is all the missions the original game came which you can still play regardless. Nightfalls and heroics are weekly events, they can be missions from the expansions, which I totally agree can suck but it's not like they've stopped you playing all the strikes from the core game or the Vault Of Glass raid.

Nah man.

Like others have said without the DLC you lose out on dailies, weeklies and nightfalls which
lessen your chances of strange coins for exotics and chance to get an exotic.

Eventually I think the system is built to just force you into crumbling and getting the DLC.
Tying progression to DLC is kinda shitty.
 
Yeah $40 is a lot I just don't think I'll go that route. I'm sure DestinyGAF will be fine with it. One of them just posted earlier he put in 800 hours. That's over 33 days of your life just sunk into a virtual game that gives nothing back. Compare that to something like DOTA 2 that has prize tournaments with millions of dollars. Those gamers can justify that time and be rewarded for it. The same with Gran Turismo. Some of the best racers went to GT academy and have become real racers.

I absolutely agree that 800hours for Destiny is waaay too much for how much content there actually is to do in it. However I wholeheartedly disagree with your premise that a game can only be worthwile if you gain some sort of real life skill or money from playing. Unless you only used that as examples of getting "something" back, "something" to which I would add "friends" and "fun" among other things.
 

patchday

Member
I have not played another MP game that locks me out of an entire mode due to DLC. Are there some games that included DLC in their server rotation and caused you to get kicked off? Yeah, but there are always servers playing vanilla content.

When the first expansion pack came out, I sold my copy because they were willing to lock vanilla players out of the weekly strike/nightfall for a week if the DLC came up in the rotation. This is not the same as other games w/DLC fragmentation, as the weekly strike/nightfall were basically 2/3 of the endgame PvE--the raid being the other 1/3. So, if DLC came into rotation, it meant I had a lot less to do in a game that was (at that point) already content-starved. I couldn't hop into a "vanilla-only" weekly/nightfall playlist. I was fucked for that week.

It's anti-consumer bullshit.

If I remember correctly these Heroics are one of the only ways to get strange coins for X'ur. Also from what I recall you don't get many from them anyway so doesn't this hamper your ability to really get better by acquiring exotics if one week I just can't get my four or five coins? This may not be a big deal, but it's one of those things I feel was set up to get people to just cave and buy the dlc's instead of waiting for the next weeks heroic to maybe be a mission you have.

Yep these guys get it.
 
I just can't wrap my head around Deej and how fucking DUMB that statement he made yesterday about the collectors editions being sold out and that they will sell for more then retail on Ebay. I mean WHAT THE FUCK!!

"But that's not the point, right?"

WHY THE FUCK DID YOU EVEN BRING IT UP? Did you think anyone would appreciate your awkward off-handed brag?
 

Altima

Member
I do not care much about pricing or lacking of content but developer attitude is unacceptable.

Maybe I will keep this money to buy Halo 5 instead.
 
The whole interview is really embarasing since most of it is "Well we're comfortable charging that much," like that's an answer. But my favorite part is that one of the things he says that players have to look forward to regarding the content is "fully voiced cinematics," I mean, man, stop the God damn presses, you mean I don't even have to buy the voice expansion floppy disc seperate???
 
Well, yeah. I would rather do that - pay a few pounds or dollars or whatever - than spend money on things I already own.

"Well, we have nothing more to talk about regarding your opportunity to spend extra money in Destiny, other than The Taken King and the three versions we've announced."

The ammount of cynism in this comment is staggering. "We want you to give us money and we want you to give us money too. If you don't like giving us that money for stuff you already own, fuck you buddy."
 

patchday

Member
I absolutely agree that 800hours for Destiny is waaay too much for how much content there actually is to do in it. However I wholeheartedly disagree with your premise that a game can only be worthwile if you gain some sort of real life skill or money from playing. Unless you only used that as examples of getting "something" back, "something" to which I would add "friends" and "fun" among other things.

Yeah I realize I might come off a bit strong there but I mean it. 33 days invested into Destiny? A game you cannot "mod" to improve your art/programming/design skills. A game that has no major tournament prizes. A game that literally gives nothing back to the community in any tangible form I can think of. I guess some guys did get flown to Bungie for their twitch streams so that's something?
 

King_Moc

Banned
I have not played another MP game that locks me out of an entire mode due to DLC. Are there some games that included DLC in their server rotation and caused you to get kicked off? Yeah, but there are always servers playing vanilla content.

When the first expansion pack came out, I sold my copy because they were willing to lock vanilla players out of the weekly strike/nightfall for a week if the DLC came up in the rotation. This is not the same as other games w/DLC fragmentation, as the weekly strike/nightfall were basically 2/3 of the endgame PvE--the raid being the other 1/3. So, if DLC came into rotation, it meant I had a lot less to do in a game that was (at that point) already content-starved. I couldn't hop into a "vanilla-only" weekly/nightfall playlist. I was fucked for that week.

It's anti-consumer bullshit.

Didn't Halo 3 bar you from using almost every multiplayer mode when the map dlc started coming out? Seems like typical Bungie really.
 

BokehKing

Banned
even if i didnt already own this shit sandwich I wouldnt buy it due to ALL THE FUCKING HATE it receives from EVERYONE except for total d-bags.

274652.gif
 

rezn0r

Member
It impresses me how passionate Destiny haters are.

It's a fantastic game, but there's zero point in trying to convince people of it because minds are already made up.

It's my favourite game, because it just plays soooo good.

While I generally agree and up until the last couple weeks (I've had to go away twice) I was playing it 5-6 days a week, PoE has definitely not kept my crew's interest as much as even Crota did... and I'm starting to lean towards the 'haters' side a tiny bit, especially when thinking about how much TTK is going to have. I'll gladly eat my words if it's doubling the amount of areas (not just the old ones in reverse), even with just one new planet - but as of right now I really don't think that's what we're going to get. I hope I'm wrong.

The other online game I play is FFXIV and Heavensward's release may have been a wakeup call. The size of that is incredible compared to even all of Destiny's DLC+TTK added up... and I know it's apples vs oranges, and FF14 has a monthly fee - which for me is $9.99 so that means $150 vs $140 over the course of that 1 year...
 

Jinaar

Member
Bungie/Destiny had one job in my mind after I bought the game: Keep me engaged enough to continue with the universe and keep buying all the dlc.

I played up until raiding, did the raiding a bunch and quit. The story was horrible. The grinding was a pain. And the "fun" usually were little moments when you finally accomplished something or got a neat kill in PvP.

Destiny is like Achievements/Trophy hunting: Your carrot has been set, the journey will be long and maybe, just maybe, in the end, it was sort of worth the effort. Maybe. Probably. Not really. Nope.

And terrible PR by Luke. Bungie Juice must be super good drinking at head office. All over the face good.
 

Omni

Member
This needs to be in the op and bolded. I'm fucking disgusted, Activions' deed my ass, this is on Bungie as much as it is on the publisher. Luke Smith sounds like a "we've got them by the balls" shady pusher omg ahahah

Jesus Christ.

What a mess this has become.
 
Have to say as someone from the uk I find it quite insulting at how quickly they brushed over 40 dollars = 40 pounds

40 pounds is the equivalent to 62 dollars and I doubt AAA titles retail for that much out in the states?

They do.

Have you actually tried to play Destiny without the dlcs? I did. Trust me I couldn't do hardly anything. no one does VoG anymore and strikes are awful. DestinyGAF does these things together:

- Nightfalls
- ToO / Iron Banner
- Raids (edit- this includes PoE)

See what's wrong with this picture? When a DLC locks out the Nightfall there goes 33% of the ingame activity I can run with gaf. Sure I can pay for the DLC but I don't really want it. I just enjoy coop with gaf.

Exactly. See post below.

If I remember correctly these Heroics are one of the only ways to get strange coins for X'ur. Also from what I recall you don't get many from them anyway, so doesn't this hamper your ability to really get better by acquiring exotics if one week I just can't get my four or five coins? This may not be a big deal, but it's one of those things I feel was set up to get people to just cave and buy the dlc's instead of waiting for the next weeks heroic to maybe be a mission you have.

You get 9 coins from doing the weekly Heroic on the hardest difficulty. If you have 3 high-level characters, that's 3x9=18. That's a pretty significant amount of coins. If you don't have at least one of the DLCs, yeah good luck ever getting the stupid coins. I know when I was playing without Crota (which I still don't and won't ever have), it basically took out a huge chunk of the game because almost every week one of the strikes was a DLC one. And with House of Wolves being out? Yeah, like I said, good luck ever doing the Weekly and/or Nightfall without the DLC.

Bungie knows what they're doing on those weekly rotations. It used to be the same order for the Nightfalls and Weeklys every time, now DLC strikes appear in either pretty much every week. They obviously want you to get the DLC and this is one of their pushes to do convince you.
 

EL CUCO

Member
UPDATE 23/6/15 9.00am: Bungie has responded to fan debate surrounding the exclusive perks found in The Taken King's Collector's Edition with word of "something better" for veteran Destiny players.

Bungie community manager David "Deej" Dague has said that fans should expect details this Thursday in the developer's weekly Destiny blog update.
Shouldn't this update be in the OP?
 

Garlador

Member
Did some time-travelling back to 2005... I remember being so happy that Bungie stated that ALL their DLC for Halo 2 was going to eventually be free for everyone. They even boasted they convinced Microsoft to allow that because, according to them, it's what their community and fans deserved.

... 10 years later, that all has changed.
 

CREMSteve

Member
While I generally agree and up until the last couple weeks (I've had to go away twice) I was playing it 5-6 days a week, PoE has definitely not kept my crew's interest as much as even Crota did... and I'm starting to lean towards the 'haters' side a tiny bit, especially when thinking about how much TTK is going to have. I'll gladly eat my words if it's doubling the amount of areas (not just the old ones in reverse), even with just one new planet - but as of right now I really don't think that's what we're going to get. I hope I'm wrong.

The other online game I play is FFXIV and Heavensward's release may have been a wakeup call. The size of that is incredible compared to even all of Destiny's DLC+TTK added up... and I know it's apples vs oranges, and FF14 has a monthly fee - which for me is $9.99 so that means $150 vs $140 over the course of that 1 year...
Yeah, I've played it a ton but am not a fan at all of reusing areas,playing them in reverse, etc. I'm hoping for some genuine new environments that make it fun to explore again, because that's my favourite element of the game. It's why the VoG is so great, so many little hidden pathways and secrets. I won't pay a dime for emotes and shaders, I want new worlds to explore.
 
See what's wrong with this picture? When a DLC locks out the Nightfall there goes 33% of the ingame activity I can run with gaf. Sure I can pay for the DLC but I don't really want it. I just enjoy coop with gaf.

Like others have said without the DLC you lose out on dailies, weeklies and nightfalls which lessen your chances of strange coins for exotics and chance to get an exotic.

It's not 33% as that would imply every week it's a mission from the DLC, which isn't the case, it definitely reduces the number, but not all. But that's not what I was talking about, it was this funky definition of "base content", which for someone not familiar with the game would give them a totally different impression.

This may not be a big deal, but it's one of those things I feel was set up to get people to just cave and buy the dlc's instead of waiting for the next weeks heroic to maybe be a mission you have.

Yeah, I agree it's a way of selling you on getting the DLC that is a bit cheeky.
 

pj

Banned
Remember when The Dark Below came out and people were dismissing the lockout of weekly events as "big whoop, it's 1 out of 6!"

That wasn't even true given how they seem to weight DLC strikes higher than vanilla, it was more like 1/3. What are the odds that vanilla users be locked out of weekly events after The Taken King? 75%?

Even if you have the first 2 dlcs and choose not to get TTK, I bet you're still going to be locked out of weekly events half the time.

Hopefully they wise up and have a DLC and non-DLC set of weekly events.
 
I'm glad I saw this interview..
You say fuck you to me so I will say fuck you to you and take my 40 somewhere else Bungie and Activision. Thanks for making my decision better with asshats like that spewing their mouths. As an owner of the game and the DLC's this is a fucking insult to me.
 

Goose_7

Banned
Did some time-travelling back to 2005... I remember being so happy that Bungie stated that ALL their DLC for Halo 2 was going to eventually be free for everyone. They even boasted they convinced Microsoft to allow that because, according to them, it's what their community and fans deserved.

... 10 years later, that all has changed.

10 years later Bungie made a deal with Activision.
 

BokehKing

Banned
Luke Smith (1UP news editor) would have taken Luke Smith (Bungie apologist) to task for this interview.
Once the news editor saw what really goes on behind the scenes, and all the contracts and what can and can't be said, saw the bigger picture, he changed his tune.


To me. That's ok.
 

Magnus

Member
Are those quotes from an actual interview in the OP?

Those were word for word Activision UK's responses to Eurogamer's questions? That was smug as shit. Terrible.
 

GhaleonEB

Member
The ammount of cynism in this comment is staggering. "We want you to give us money and we want you to give us money too. If you don't like giving us that money for stuff you already own, fuck you buddy."

This is one of those quotes that, were it in a video interview, would play very differently, I think. I read it with Luke's slightly sarcastic, bemused voice in my head and it's simply a playful way to say, we have nothing to announce at this time. That's it. You are projecting hostility onto a quote that is not there.
 

PooBone

Member
Are those quotes from an actual interview in the OP?

Those were word for word Activision UK's responses to Eurogamer's questions? That was smug as shit. Terrible.

Yep, copy and pasted from the source.

This is one of those quotes that, were it in a video interview, would play very differently, I think. I read it with Luke's slightly sarcastic, bemused voice in my head and it's simply a playful way to say, we have nothing to announce at this time. That's it. You are projecting hostility onto a quote that is not there.

I basically agree with this statement.
 

BokehKing

Banned
Remember when The Dark Below came out and people were dismissing the lockout of weekly events as "big whoop, it's 1 out of 6!"

That wasn't even true given how they seem to weight DLC strikes higher than vanilla, it was more like 1/3. What are the odds that vanilla users be locked out of weekly events after The Taken King? 75%?

Even if you have the first 2 dlcs and choose not to get TTK, I bet you're still going to be locked out of weekly events half the time.

Hopefully they wise up and have a DLC and non-DLC set of weekly events.
If you're still playing destiny at that point, why would you not have the dlc?
 

slop101

Banned
I do have to say, in the initial game, having only 4 planets/areas for $60 was a bit of a ripoff. One new area for $40 is fucking highway robbery.
 
If you're still playing destiny at that point, why would you not have the dlc?

"You already bought the game--why are you not blindly buying the DLC?"

This (horrible) discussion point comes up in almost every Destiny thread, or at least Destiny threads concerned Bungie's lack of respect for its playerbase.
 

Kinsella

Banned
Have you actually tried to play Destiny without the dlcs? I did. Trust me I couldn't do hardly anything. no one does VoG anymore and strikes are awful. DestinyGAF does these things together:

There's a ton of people playing vanilla. There's also a ton of people still playing the demo.
 
I do have to say, in the initial game, having only 4 planets/areas for $60 was a bit of a ripoff. One new area for $40 is fucking highway robbery.

Try living in the UK. They've decided it should cost £40 over here (currently $62.96 at time of posting)...

Are they high?
 
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