Destiny 2 is my favorite game of all time, and simultaneously, I absolutely hate it. This is a sentiment that is shared by many across the game’s community, and understandably so. The core of Destiny is just as fun as it has always been. Secret missions, raids, gunplay, art design, and sound leave very little room to complain about, yet it falls well short of the best monetization models - it is shockingly bad to the point many new players don’t want to engage with Destiny 2.
What Does Destiny 2’s Monetization Look Like in 2023?
For our readers who have never played the game, and older Destiny 2 players who no longer play the game, here is a summary of everything that you need to pay for.
Expansions: You need to purchase Shadowkeep, Beyond, Light, Witch Queen, and Lightfall to get full access to whatever Bungie has to offer. You also need to purchase the Forsaken Pack and a 30th Anniversary pack which are not expansions, but give you access to gear that is otherwise not obtainable. Due to strong regional pricing where I leave, it does not leave a huge dent in my wallet. But fellow Guardians who have to purchase all of these expansions in a country without regional pricing can expect $100 USD or more.
Season Passes: Okay, so getting all the expansions should give you access to all of the content, right? Wrong. You also need to purchase the Season Passes if you want to access some of the Seasonal content. You can either purchase the Passes separately or go for the Digital Deluxe edition of the latest expansion (currently Lightfall) to gain access to four Season Passes.
Dungeon Keys: If you don’t buy the Digital Deluxe Edition of the latest expansion, it’s not just Season Passes that you lose out on. You need to buy the dungeon keys for the two annual dungeons that come out. It costs a staggering 2000 Silver (around $15 USD in my region) for each key so you need 4000 Silver to get access to the dungeons.
Event Cards: Bungie introduced Event Cards as a way to earn “extra’ cosmetic rewards. They are battle passes on top of battle passes. While most of the rewards are free and you can earn the event Title for free. The decision to introduce the Passes is just weird and seeks to gouge players as much as possible.
Eververse: Armor sets can cost anything between $15 to $20 USD and individual armor pieces cost around $6 USD. I have often overlooked cosmetics in Destiny 2 because of how players can obtain most of the cosmetics using an earnable currency called Bright Dust if they wait long enough. The problem is that Bungie nerfed Bright Dust farming quite some time ago and it’s slower to earn the currency right now. The problem is that Bungie is deploying several monetization methods at once, and the greed does not end.
Is Destiny 2 Pay-to-Win?
While the monetization methods we discussed earlier either lock content or offer cosmetics, they are not inherently pay-to-win. They make Destiny 2 an expensive game. Where Bungie crossed the line is with its decision to include weapons in pre-order bonuses. You can also get Level 100 Season Passes for $100 USD fairly early in the season, which is something that was not accessible in the past. Season Passes often contain Upgrade Modules, Ascendant Shards, and other upgrade materials. While these materials can be farmed by playing the game, it does give paying players easier access to these resources.
Deepsight Activation is a mechanic that allows you to change the perks of your weapon and get that perfect god-roll weapon you are looking for. The materials you need can be purchased directly with Silver and the only other way to get them is by completing the Season Pass. The resources are available in limited quantities for the paid and free tracks of the game.
Let me make this clear. Destiny 2 is not a free-to-play game anymore. There is so little you can do in the game without buying expansions that it is not even worth trying. Prior to Bungie’s decision to vault content, there was a fair amount of content including the Red War campaign, Curse of Osiris, and Warmind. You could do three different raids, Escalation Protocol, and a bunch of other content for absolutely free and it would definitely give you a good idea of what to expect from the game. If you want to “try” Destiny 2, you need to get the expansions to get an understanding of what to expect.
If you can pay your way to better loot, it most definitely counts as pay-to-win in my eyes. Even though someone having access to better loot does not negatively affect your experience in PVE, it does make a difference in PVP. Having to wait six months to get an exotic weapon just because you didn’t preorder the most expensive edition of the newest expansion is just wrong. Bungie is unlikely to improve its monetization for the better so we need to accept that this is how Destiny 2 will be right now.
Do I Recommend Playing Destiny 2?
Paul Tassi from Forbes recently pointed out that Destiny 2 might have the most microtransactions seen in any mainstream game and that might be true. The game itself is fantastic and worth jumping into, especially if you have a group of friends to experience the endgame content with. But the game’s aggressive microtransactions make me want to second guess when recommending the game to others.
The quality of the game itself is unquestionably good if you are into looter shooters but you should only get into it when the game is on sale and picking up an older expansion like Witch Queen might be a good way to dip your toes into the game to see if it’s something you enjoy. To keep up with the game you can expect to pay around $80-90 USD per year and access to all of the older content will cost around $60 USD if you get all of them on sale.
