MrS
Banned
No, it was from a Bungie employee, not an Activision employee. I think the distinction is important.
Bungie defends Destiny: The Taken King's £/$40 price tag (Eurogamer)
- Thread starter Vashetti
- Start date
Xaero Gravity
NEXT LEVEL lame™
I know it's his baby, but I hate seeing Lukems like this. 
Bungie made a change with the House of Wolves in direct response to people being upset about that. The Heroic strike and the Nightfall strike are no longer the same, and they are alternating ones from the expansions, so players without them are not locked out of both activities in any given week, and not for two weeks in a row.
3/4 of those planets weren't even as interesting as old Russia.
Oh thank fuck. I really hope he's at least talking about those emotes.
Listening to that Gerstmann rant... he's dead on. While I've enjoyed my time with Destiny, the amount of unfulfilled potential is unbelievable. I do not believe for a second the past year of Destiny content is what Bungie originally wanted to make. Whether that's their fault or Activision's, who knows. Destiny is in my book one of the most disappointing games ever released. Luke Smith's smug responses are just digging that hole deeper.
Corronchilejano
Member
Sorry, I don't know Luke's "slightly sarcastic, bemused voice", however, consider exactly what he's saying. He's amused someone really, really wants to spend money on this game and is seriously considering buying an incredibly overpriced package (because you're buying content you already own) just to have it.
Being amused (and wondering) how fanatic and loyal a customer is is no way to keep your fans. It's like John Romero-ing your own company.
Wolvesinthebathroom
Member
I still think the taken king will be better than vanilla destiny and the dark below in every way. Is that worth forty dollars? Probably not.
WoW has recognised that as more expansions come out, the barrier to entry to catch up with where the userbase is increases significantly, such that they keep updating the 'base' game of WoW to include all but the latest expansions. That seems to be approximately similar to what they're trying to do with Destiny in spirit, and it's not a bad idea in itself, it's just not particularly well-handled.
Y'know, with their close partnership with Sony on this, I'm mildly surprised it hasn't come up as something for PS+. Base game, no expansions, would give the userbase a nice boost and lead to selling the various expanded packages, and with their long-term plans for making money off the series, reducing the initial barrier that stops people buying DLC at all is not a bad idea.
YouTube? You can keep up with Destiny's story with Vine, never mind YouTube.
I know it's his baby, but I hate seeing Lukems like this.
he's been abrasive almost lately f'real
bungie appears to be stuck up its own ass when they allow comments like this to represent their vision
hikarutilmitt
Member
I've no issues with the price and even expected it.
The amount of game I get out of this $40 is going to be far and away more than a lot of other, shorter game experiences with little or no replay value that want $60. I'm pretty much likening this to a fighting game upgrade, as those tend to either be a smaller update patch free, a $15 small-ish expansion or a $40 disc upgrade. And this is what I'm getting with Destiny.
The only thing about this I don't like is that I don't get to have access, apparently, to the stuff like the emotes and class items without rebuying the game. DeeJ seems like he's going to let us know more about what they have planned for those of us who already have it, though. As much as I would like to have the strange Coin, I can live without it for $40.
The amount of game I get out of this $40 is going to be far and away more than a lot of other, shorter game experiences with little or no replay value that want $60. I'm pretty much likening this to a fighting game upgrade, as those tend to either be a smaller update patch free, a $15 small-ish expansion or a $40 disc upgrade. And this is what I'm getting with Destiny.
The only thing about this I don't like is that I don't get to have access, apparently, to the stuff like the emotes and class items without rebuying the game. DeeJ seems like he's going to let us know more about what they have planned for those of us who already have it, though. As much as I would like to have the strange Coin, I can live without it for $40.
Commanche Raisin Toast
Member
Still slightly problematic considering you get increased xp gain until the following week on that character for finishing the nightfall.
So users without the dlc are locked out of getting an xp buff.
Also: when did they make this change? I did the weekly stuff the week before last and the week before that and weekly and nightfall were both the same.
You seem to be one of the only people in this thread defending Bungie. Then I recall that you were invited by Bungie to visit their studio and play games, and you were also in the credits of Halo ODST. I understand they are your friends, but due to your relationship with the Bungie team I take anything you say in this thread with the biggest grain of salt possible.
Luke Smith has been the lead Raid Designer for Destiny. VoG was far and away the best content in Vanilla Destiny.
Luke and the Bungie Raid team are probably the main the reason so many of us are all still playing Destiny IMO.
He has been a blunt jokester for a long time, since the long ago time of Halo 3. His jokes didn't translate well into text for this interview. That is all.
Luke and the Bungie Raid team are probably the main the reason so many of us are all still playing Destiny IMO.
He has been a blunt jokester for a long time, since the long ago time of Halo 3. His jokes didn't translate well into text for this interview. That is all.
GlamFM
Banned
Commanche Raisin Toast
Member
I played arcon priest weekly and then nightfall. Same character. Wut?
burritosenior
Member
If the internet taking offense by that forces Bungie to take their heads out of their... well, to reconsider their policies, then I'd say it's worth it. After all, regardless of what Lukems said, there is still a very real problem with Bungie, of which this debacle is only one symptom of. Something like this calling attention to it for the masses who aren't regularly involved in Bungie's community might actually help force some change, which would be a good thing in my opinion.
Rex Griswold
Member
Come on.. I'm enjoying the Kool-Aid as much as anyone else still playing but there's no way to turn this around positively.
My biggest issue with The Taken King is that it costs $40 to year 1 Destiny players and on top of that the only things that they get in addition is a unique shader, a sparrow, and an emblem. That is not what I was hoping for. I would be much happier if it were let's say $30 (preferably $25) for the expansion with or without the extras. I know Destiny is a fantastic game that I enjoy (primarily because of the community), but if they expect me to shell out that much more money for the game, I don't know what I'm going to do for the two expansions after that. Plus let's not forget the truth of the matter that Destiny 2 is in the making whether we like it or not. I just wish the game shipped at launch as it is shipping later this year with everything. It makes me think that I should wait a year after the next game comes out to purchase it. Sure I'll be behind in levels and "lose out on the experience of first year" though I'll be up in cash and I'll have the knowledge that I have (personally) made the right choice.
Trust me guys, I don't hate Destiny, though I am not a fan of their DLC pricing. I've clocked in countless hours into that game and still have fun, though I don't think I'm going to be shelling out the cash for this expansion unless it goes down in price due to the sheer number of other games that there are to play at the moment.
Trust me guys, I don't hate Destiny, though I am not a fan of their DLC pricing. I've clocked in countless hours into that game and still have fun, though I don't think I'm going to be shelling out the cash for this expansion unless it goes down in price due to the sheer number of other games that there are to play at the moment.
he's a reliable poster, I would trust him over alot of the posters that seems to do hit and runs in every destiny thread.
Its been changed for a month now, the weekly and nightfall are different.
I don't really understand that if you put countless hours into a game, how is the dlc not worth it? I've definitely got tons of value out of the first two expansions and this one being 40 is not an unfair price. I guess it may be a value proposition but the amount of hours to how much I've spent on destiny. It's a great deal.
Silvawuff
Member
I'm reading this as an expansion, right? That means it should have more content than a cheaper DLC.
As this game doesn't charge a sub, I think that's not bad. Other companies that run MMO-type games charge that for the expac and sub fees on top.
As with everything, interested players will do their research and decide if the value of the game is worth the price tag, or if it's worth it to wait for a price drop.
As this game doesn't charge a sub, I think that's not bad. Other companies that run MMO-type games charge that for the expac and sub fees on top.
As with everything, interested players will do their research and decide if the value of the game is worth the price tag, or if it's worth it to wait for a price drop.
GlamFM
Banned
I´m pretty sure it started late may.
Maybe you did the nightfall twice with two characters?
Anton Sugar
Member
I didn't know about his ties to Bungie, but Ghaleon always provides a very measured but positive perspective on Destiny, which I appreciate, as I can froth at the mouth just as much as anyone who is disappointed in Destiny...
Buuuuut...I don't think anyone needs to project hostility into Luke's statements to understand just how smarmy he sounds in those interviews. Again, I've always liked Luke from his posts here, but the interviews are just ugly and horribly handled.
His post is 100% spot on.
Lalalandia
Member
I'm going to agree in part with you I think putting his words down on text robbed them of the tone in which they were said (likely awkward, jokey, evasive) and instead laid bear the problem at the heart of Bungie. They have no idea how bad this looks outside the Bungie cave instead only playing shadow puppets in the intense glow of their superfans on bungie.net. Look at Deej's updates, I gave up reading these after a few weeks when it became clear that was going to be no substantial discussion or info sharing with the community. Instead it was a vehicle for fluff pieces on the community and anodyne 'Reduced Error <Random Mammal>' technical updates that were silent on the significant issues with the raid.
I'm going to go with the Queen's Bounties here as an example, not the HoW equivalent but the vanilla version that showed up once. It's clear this was designed to allow PvE players access to a legendary lvl 20 armor piece and a legendary weapon to smooth that lvl 20-26 grind zone. The first week it dropped severely underlevelled friends and I did the launch/reload/launch thing to get that second game mission that we could just about scrape. It was damned frustrating at times but we chose that grind and the rush on winning was great but Bungie grew afraid it would break their awful Asc Mats system and so killed it after that first week. No communication it fell down the memory hole and because Bungie had deemed it unworthy of comment it was fine to just keep ignoring months of fan requests and then have the gall to call it a new feature when it was retooled for HoW.
Deej and Luke Smith's problem is that they are poorly briefed on the right tone to strike when dealing with criticism and that is not 'Aw bro
why so down? Look it's all cool man, here look at this new thing you can pay for instead'. On Thursday we are going to get more of the same from Deej but it'll be 'Aw bro not cool why wouldn't you wait before dogging us We have all these cool goodies like shaders, bikes and maybe a gun but yeah it's $40/40/£40 so we cool now bro?'I hope for their sake they radically rejig their community and PR teams because this 'carry on regardless' attitude is driving folks away and causing unnecessary grief for people like Luke who should not be handling the hard questions (and seriously it's E3 a PRESS event be prepared for this).
BreezyLimbo
Banned
Yup. Ghaleon has always been level headed when it comes to discussing Destiny and Bungies faults, if you've been to the OT in the past you'd know this. No reason to call him out like that unless you're trying to bury what he says.
GlamFM
Banned
Pretty disgusting post IMO.
Im always amazed by the amount salty hate brought on by GAF, and some of the media outlets. If there is one thing I can knock Bungie for is the way the game was marketed in its early days, obviously it was a mistake to offer the grandiose vision they had for the game that fell short. Been playing since the Alpha and poured in way too much time than I care to admit but if I look at how high the game continues to be on Twitch, my friends list which consists of the majority still playing the game, and the amount of attention brought by click bait articles backing Luke Smith into a corner I can tell that interest hasnt fallen.
Its beyond simple. If you believe TTK price is too high before you even know the exact content youre getting, dont buy it. If you believe that having some emotes that can only be acquired by purchasing the collectors edition isnt fair, dont buy it. If you believe Guild Wars 2 or whatever MMO youre going to compare to Destiny has far more content, then why wouldnt you go play that instead? The Destiny community doesnt appear to be going away anytime soon despite how much that bothers you. People like myself who have gotten thousands of hours of enjoyment in the game are going to gladly sink another 40 bucks into an expansion . Something Im not sure Luke Smith has to defend.
Its beyond simple. If you believe TTK price is too high before you even know the exact content youre getting, dont buy it. If you believe that having some emotes that can only be acquired by purchasing the collectors edition isnt fair, dont buy it. If you believe Guild Wars 2 or whatever MMO youre going to compare to Destiny has far more content, then why wouldnt you go play that instead? The Destiny community doesnt appear to be going away anytime soon despite how much that bothers you. People like myself who have gotten thousands of hours of enjoyment in the game are going to gladly sink another 40 bucks into an expansion . Something Im not sure Luke Smith has to defend.
GlamFM
Banned
Destiny is absolutely the Drive-By Shit post game of the year. Outside of the community thread it seems impossible to talk about Destiny AT ALL.
Obliterator
Member
I really dont see the issue with the $40 price tag. For those of us who are gonna play it we are going to get dozens of hours out of this. There are plenty of games charging 60 bucks for 6 - 8 hours. This will be far more for $40
THAT SAID there not being a "Year 1" CE is fucking disgusting. The people who want the CE's are Destinys biggest fans and they are scamming us out of money by selling us stuff WE ALREADY PURCHASED.
There should be a Year 1 CE for us that costs 50-60 bucks and doesn't include vanilla Destiny or the Expansions
THAT SAID there not being a "Year 1" CE is fucking disgusting. The people who want the CE's are Destinys biggest fans and they are scamming us out of money by selling us stuff WE ALREADY PURCHASED.
There should be a Year 1 CE for us that costs 50-60 bucks and doesn't include vanilla Destiny or the Expansions
krypt0nian
Banned
SOOO glad this is blowing up all over the net. They deserve their noses rubbed in this shit.
XANDER CAGE
Member
Ultimately I don't think it matters what tone Luke spoke in or whether or not he was joking; I'm inclined to agree that he was trying to crack wise. That doesn't make it any less of a PR blunder. This is one of those cases where perception is reality. The interview paints a less than flattering picture of Bungie regardless of his intentions. Sometimes jokes don't land. It's especially unhelpful when the subject at hand is "fans are upset."
That's why the hate is justified. People are trying to get invested with the game and want to feel like they aren't gonna get ripped off in the future. $40 taken king I can almost swallow. $40 more for exclusive emotes is just a big fuck you to the existing community, especially since they've been wanting things like that from day one. Hell from alpha days. Why you'd screw those people over I'll never understand, and makes them feel like greedy bastards
What do you get in the CE?
MrS
Banned
It's quite telling that the only people defending Bungie are the guys who regularly post in the OT. Virtually everybody else can see the major problems caused by a) the DLC price b) Luke's interview, while DGAF regulars continue to defend Destiny by saying Luke was misunderstood. It's indefensible imo.
piratethingy
Self professed bad raider
I'm not going to buy it just like I didn't buy any of the other DLC after being so disappointing with the game.
That doesn't mean I can't post about their disrespect for their customers in a topic about their disrespect for their customers.
As I said earlier, I hope those who enjoy the game continue to do so. But I'm going to go ahead and reserve the right to discuss what I consider to be the most disappointing videogame of my life on a forum about discussing vidoegames.
joecanada
Member
ya PoE is really not that great, I had the LE anyway so all of this was just sucking the most value I could out of it and I do enjoy the PvP when its not lagging to all hell which is about 30% of the time.
But there's no way I'm forking over more money to grind for new or to keep my current weapons. They make everything a fucking chore in this game, here grind for some etheric light or else your weapons you spent hundreds of hours already grinding for will be useless....
It's like gates they intentionally put up to force you to grind even more, and I won't pay another dime for chores thanks. Besides as you stated by fall destiny will be old news...
"season 2" LOL now I get it, my 99 dollars was only for "season 1"... good one bungie, good one.
GlamFM
Banned
What makes you think only the regular OT posters are the ones that have put significant or recent time into Destiny?
Lalalandia
Member
Base Destiny, TDB, HoW + TTK
- Three Class Specific Emotes
- Three Armor Shaders
- Three Exotic Class Items with XP Bonuses
But really the issue most folks have is that they want almost the same price for 1/4 of the content they sold the actual game at
piratethingy
Self professed bad raider
Because if your opinion differs from his, you're "shit posting" or bringing "salty hate" just to quote his last two posts.
ethomaz
Banned
Exactly! It doesn't make any sense (even through a business perspective) to bite the hand that is feeding you. We early adopters that have built Destiny to what it is today are getting shafted by this. I understand they want to provide "exclusive" items, but all I'm seeing is that "I should be a late adopter to your game because I am actually going to get more value in the long run, thanks Bungie!" This type of money-grubbing is abhorrent and should be looked down upon by all members of this community. If they really wanted to build Destiny as an MMO then provide us with the content and items that a real MMO has. They would have to space out their expansion packs, and make sure they are expansions to the core game, not just a few things here and there.
MrS
Banned
I play it and I'm certainly not defending it, nor will I buy the DLC.
ITT:
A few from the Destiny OT who are defending Bungie and Luke
Everybody else who can see what Bungie are pulling (in terms of DLC price, £=$, bonus content rip-offs) and are condeming Luke's interview
krypt0nian
Banned
I've played it consistently since launch and I think this is a shit show on Bungie's behalf, and especially by Luke.
Obliterator
Member
You also get physical stuff like a replica Strange Coin, nice packaging, and Steelbook case. I want that stuff. I DON'T want to fucking pay for content I ALREADY bought. Thats just gross
Wolvesinthebathroom
Member
There are some physical goods like a book and a strange coin replica too,