Between their laughable ignorance on the exchange rate front, basically gouging uk customers, and the slap in the face that is the collectors edition of taken king, i'm happy to add my wallet's wimper to the 'speaking with your wallet' choir. Wish I had gone for the base game only...
Bungie defends Destiny: The Taken King's £/$40 price tag (Eurogamer)
- Thread starter Vashetti
- Start date
EL CUCO
Member
Thanks Jason.
Lalalandia
Member
It was telling that Luke's response was more awkward squirming and non-answers then too. I mean don't they brief him? Do they not have reporter intelligence packs so that you understand that 'just joshing with the guys' is not going to cut it when your community is this pissed?
I guess I see the value conversation differently because I've spent like 300 hours with the game and it's brought me more enjoyment than just about anything else over the past year (despite the many, many issues we've all gone through). Considering there's no monthly fee, I feel like I've gotten a pretty good deal!
I feel the game should've launched with that + free content updates + large expansion.
But adding micro transactions to all of that feels way worse.
Would you feel the same way if you were being charged 50% more than your neighbour for no apparent reason and the explanation was "whelp, your money is weird huh!"
This thread itself is full of people angry about
- Luke's attitude
- currency differences
- not getting new emotes
- the 40 dollars pricepoint compared to the 60 dollars they spent on the base game
- Destiny in general
Of those, the differences in currency conversions are probably discussed the least, and easily the most justified.
If I could pay 2 bucks for a new dance I would have done it ages ago. That's not bad at all IMO considering all the other shit you do unlock via normal means. I'm actually surprised they haven't done it yet
Thanks for your comments! Yeah it's hard to quantify value when you play for so many hours. Can you tell us when your interview is going up?
Only insiders would know that. But if TTK introduces MTs then we know that it is being marketed for $40 already.
It's been well worth my investment. And you're talking to an XBone player that got beyond the Sony exclusives long ago.
Why would Destiny ever have a monthly fee? People bring that up as if Bungie is doing them some favor. Nothing about the game's online interaction makes it appear to need a monthly fee. If Bungie wants to say "Hey we're not charging a monthly fee! Isn't that great of us!", I'd have to quote a popular Chris Rock stand up bit.
I think if September comes around and there's no way for veteran players to get the new emotes other than to re-buy old content I'll be pissed as hell. I'm just hesitant to jump into the outrage pool right now because I feel like we don't have all the information, you know?
A lot of people would have issues just because it would appear to be more "cutting up" the already scarce content to resell which they have been accused of doing already. I mean Bungie already got caught cutting corners with the CE items for Destiny 1 where the "exclusive items" were just reskins (or for a time exact copies) of items in the game already.
Destiny is already a fairly expensive game, adding in microtransactions on top of the numerous complains of "not getting your moneys worth" could be disastrous.
But we don't even know everything that comes with the TTK, and people are already saying it cost too much. People want something, for nothing, and I really don't get it. Other territories paying more compared to the US IS bullshit, but I don't think anyone at Bungie controls that decision.
MrS
Banned
Way to avoid the question, which was about currency conversion not emotes.
Glitchesarecool
Member
I mean, unless you learned something new in your interview or there's some massive revelation on Thursday, it seems like all the information is out.
I know a lot of people would. And it wouldn't affect the game for those who wouldn't like the current DLC plan does.
But alas, they chose this path and it seems to be working for them.
I think MMOs subsided by cosmetic micro transactions + big expansions are the best way to do this so I'll always be defending that I guess.
that value judgement is kinda up to the players, Destiny wasn't worth full price to me, an expansion with more content a casual player will never access (in a way relevant to fun progression) for the same price sure doesn't sound like a good value proposition, I don't care how comfortable he is with it. The crazy thing is, if there was a way to digitally upgrade with all the collector's edition stuff, or even a content pass where it was announced that you could get it down the road, I might have considered checking it out.
I still can't believe we're having this conversation about Bungie. Such a bummer.
I still can't believe we're having this conversation about Bungie. Such a bummer.
Holy Shit! I am in complete agreement with Mr Scorrier. The end times cometh?!
https://mobile.twitter.com/tomphillipsEG/status/613376025775460352
I'm sure he's just spinning it too!
I'm sure he's just spinning it too!
Souldestroyer Reborn
Banned
I'm sorry but how anyone from US GAF can say that there's nothing wrong with the pricing when UK GAF is being asked to pay a minimum of $63 for this expansion is incredibly dissapointing.
You're totally missing the point.
Why should I be paying over 50% more for the same content as U.S. GAF? For what logical reason?
I've spent even more time in the game than you have, but I've paid much more than what you did due to 1:1 pricing.
It's bullshit and it should be called out. It may not directly effect anyone over the pond but would any of you be happy paying $63 for an expansion, when you know others are only paying $40?
You're totally missing the point.
Why should I be paying over 50% more for the same content as U.S. GAF? For what logical reason?
I've spent even more time in the game than you have, but I've paid much more than what you did due to 1:1 pricing.
It's bullshit and it should be called out. It may not directly effect anyone over the pond but would any of you be happy paying $63 for an expansion, when you know others are only paying $40?
krypt0nian
Banned
Which makes Luke being interviewed at all a mistake. People are upset. Bring out the clown.
Sorc3r3r
Member
Of the haters for sure, but the people hooked by the game will bite, i have no doubt about it, i can see them spend a ton of money for whatever in the game.
All the grind system they have in place is perfect,perfect, for a microtransaction model.
I am way more surprised that a mt model isnt still in place.
Buy shaders, ghost skins, heavy weapon ammo, sparrow skins, currencies, reputations, i mean, it is a microtransaction heaven, a gold mine.
But activision is failing me and i dont know why.
Negative market polls?
(I have already written a post like that in the thread, but i'm amazed that the greed has not completely taken over the game, and i am pleased that Destiny fan base can enjoy the game without a scam system in place, these little thing happening now could be rembembered with a nostalic smile instead).
squidhands
Member
What could possibly soothe the "community" at this point? It's all shitty namecalling and pitchforks now, with no sign of letting up.
And once again, I see that the ignorant question brought up by Eurogamer goes completely unquestioned. Even the interviewer thinks this response is way too much
We have the information that people in the UK have to pay alot more than people in the US and maybe elsewhere. That was the question he asked you
e: you already answered that
A wise man has spoken.
JohnOfMars
Banned
Here's the thing. Bungie is the one who put us in this situation. They're the one's who said new Expansion $40/$80 with emotes. But they won't tell us everything else. They won't say what's in the expansion beyond a raid and some new PvP modes. Just "we're really confident in what we're putting in there. We're now accepting preorders." They won't tell us if actually everybody gets new emotes in the expansion, but these are just a few special ones. They won't even show us the emotes.
Bungie whiffed HARD on the lead-up to The Dark Below. The whole "commendations gating" and "re-level your exotics with Xur picking which you can" came out of a print interview and everybody was shocked and angry. DeeJ was seemingly dismissive and then wound up apologizing. They had an emergency blog post detailing the changes.
House of Wolves was totally different. They had twitch reveals, developer interviews, it was fantastic.
The Taken King is another Dark Below it seems. A price is announced before content. Bundles are really punitive to Year 1 players. And Bungie keeps putting their foot in their mouth about it.
Destiny's biggest problem in my opinion hasn't been Bungie listening to us. It's obvious that they do. They're on GAF. They're on reddit. They've made big changes. Destiny's biggest problem is Bungie communicating with us.
- Why do we have to wait for the weekly update for them to address this when it's obviously hurting them?
- Why did Luke have to come on GAF on a Saturday night and explain why raid drops were messed up?
- Why did it take months and months to explain the heavy ammo bug?
I disagree the only things we know 100% are new patrol area and new subtypes. There's no confirmation on amount of missions, strikes or anything else.
it sucks and should be corrected to be more in line but there's not much that can be done. I live in Canada and prices here suck to.
It sucks but honestly there's nothing that can be said from our side that would make a difference, the game is priced at 40 which is why the number is quoted since it's accurate for North America.
krypt0nian
Banned
OK so people are upset and you have Luke come out and pull faces and make fun of it? Good call.
MrGreencastle
Member
Fixed. But yeah, the currency conversion thing is disgusting, even for the digital release.
DomsPlaying
Member
I normally like Luke Smith as he's candid with the media and lead design on Vault of Glass raid in particular, but this interview here is condescending as hell. Especially this:
I can guarantee you that emotes are not worth buying the game and prior DLC all over again. And this is from an avid Destiny addict.
DeeJ announced recently a "special announcement" in this week's update from Bungie, so will have to wait and see if they make up for this at all.
I can guarantee you that emotes are not worth buying the game and prior DLC all over again. And this is from an avid Destiny addict.
DeeJ announced recently a "special announcement" in this week's update from Bungie, so will have to wait and see if they make up for this at all.
Lalalandia
Member
I can see that but for me as a primarily PvE player without a regular raid group the very thin content wore out a while ago and the constant see sawing of the 'yay crafting is less grindy now' to 'oh no ANOTHER new currency??!!!!???' has gotten too much.
Naively I had thought Bungie would recognise that they were making players suffer through their growing pains in meta design would realise 'hey maybe we can't price this like we know what we're doing?' I mean there's been 2 complete overhauls in the item upgrade systems, it's literally every new piece of content. In TDB encounter design was largely warmed over areas of the map we'd been to and the new areas were circular arena fights, 4 of them. I've enjoyed the HoW stuff far more but again 2:00 of largely recycled content does not an expansion make (oh oracles, oh venus backwards, etc ).
I've lost most of the group I played with on a regular basis as these constant item overhauls have left most of my friends in the paradoxical situation that the best time to start again is 'the next DLC' always and forever like a smoker who promises to quit 'tomorrow'. Combined with a lack of new places to explore they've largely fallen off, Bungie promised a space adventure with a side of loot what they delivered was a paper route to the point where even after 4 months absence I could tell 'oh look it's X backwards' for half the 'new' HoW content.
At €30 I may have been able to persuade them on a 'hey I know the last €30 was a bust but hey this time there's actual new content I swear' but to pay more when the last DLC packs were so poor?
I think this is their biggest weakness, their PR planning is appalling either they or Acti need to change the way they're doing this fast. Perhaps this pack does have all the content that justifies $40 US/$45 EU/$65 UK but right now it's hard to say that it is.
Couldn't agree more with everything you said, and I'm also worried that this giant wave of outrage will scare Bungie even further in the opposite direction, leading them to shut down interviews and funnel literally everything through those smarmy weekly updates. It's incredible how much goodwill they could earn if they just communicated with players better.
I'm not sure how that has anything to do with my comment on how apparently $40 = £40 now.
Ethical Hedonism
Banned
Yeah, reading between the lines I got the feeling that they would implement micro-transactions on the game at some point this year.
I really hope I'm wrong since I won't be buying TTK if that happens.
I really hope I'm wrong since I won't be buying TTK if that happens.
This Luke Smith character comes across as tone deaf and inconsiderate to Destiny's most ardent fans. The fact that he may be a "boisterous, often-sarcastic toned" individual does not excuse how he came across in the Eurogamer interview. When pressed and questioned again by Tom Phillips he was adamant and did not relent.
Now Bungie and Deej have to go into damage control because of this one interview.
100% agreed. We all remember this guy don't we?
Here's the problem with the extensions on existing locations: you can only access them during Strikes/Missions. I want access to them when I'm just on a planet's surface. Yes, even Omnigul's broom closet. How is this hard to pull off? Somebody doesn't have the DLC, they watch me disappear into a wall, big whoop. It just doesn't feel like an extension when the only way I can get to these places is by running missions I only needed to run 3 times before. I have ZERO reason to run the mission in HoW that takes me to King's Watch now, so why not just open that area up for patrol bounties?
EL CUCO
Member
Nonsense *grabs flame thrower *
JohnOfMars
Banned
I think honestly Bungie has been really scared for the past year. They only share the minimum amount, and only when they have to. Compared to Blizz, who share philosophy on every patch note, have public test realms where they try stuff and then even reverse decisions and explain it all. That's what I want from Bungie. And the crazy thing is, it's free! It just take some bravery.
The Luke Smith interview is exactly like this DeeJ tweet:
A little goodwill and a benefit of the doubt would show that these comments aren't nearly as bad as they appear on the surface. But they're revealing for just how little goodwill that players and the wider gaming audience have for Destiny/Bungie. This much anger after the improvements in House of Wolves shows just how much Bungie is up against.
I hope they are brave, even with all this anger. Destiny's community is one of the best I've ever seen for a game. People are angry because they want to like Destiny, just sometimes it's hard.
Haunted
Member
1UP Yours-era Luke Smith would have done so except if the game was made by Bungie.
TheRedSnifit
Member
We get the Freedom Discount.
Lalalandia
Member
Yeah this may be an artefact of cross-gen though with the 360/PS3 being already maxed out RAM wise. Of course that still means that despite the two expansions there have been no new generally accessible areas for patrol since launch (excluding the Reef social space that has no weapon/gear vendors because?).
I struggle with the idea that Bungie are that timid! I'd hope they know that letting a few points of contact speak freely and regularly to the community is a good thing? They're intelligent people, surely?? It can't be a resourcing issue when they're backed by such a gigantic corporation like Activision and greater community engagement would boost sales.
I think the weekly update issue speaks to a wider point. Bungie keep trying to funnel so much through channels they prescribe, whether it's updates, lore, matchmaking...all of which are counter intuitive, unworldly and confusing for players. I'm just baffled why this is being done. Is it to increase traffic to Bungie.net at the expense of player sanity? To get us to use the app as a social network? I love Destiny but it's in spite of itself.
CyclopsRock
Member
Yeah, I agree. IMO they don't really need to justify anything - just put it out there. If it doesn't sell any, I'm sure the price will come down. If it does then, well, that's up to the people spending their moolah.
Xzilerate1690
Banned
Glad I said fuck you to Bungie and Destiny months ago. The original game wasn't even worth $60 and now they have the balls to charge $40 for DLC that likely won't even have 2/3 of the content of the base game? Fuck off. Oh and to make matters worse they completely screw over people who bought the the first CE by keeping extras locked behind the DLC CE, which means if they want them then they have to buy the game again despite the fact that they already paid that much and more the first time. If that isn't the biggest fuck you to loyal fans then I don't know what is.