Destiny 2 charges 15 euros for a starter pack, which you can get for free in an hour

The Destiny 2 community has been going crazy since they discovered on Steam that there was a new “Starter Pack” for the loot shooter for €15. It contains several exotic weapons, cosmetics and materials. But what sounds promising for new players is not true for long-time players a bunch of junk and the last thing the MMO needs right now.

Update from November 30th: Following feedback from the community, Bungie commented on the starter pack on Twitter/X.

The message reads: “Hello everyone, yesterday we launched the Season of Wishing and are closely following the conversations about what you liked and didn’t like. We start with the starter pack, which unfortunately doesn’t bring any joy. That’s why we took it out of stores. We’ve heard your concerns and believe there are other parts of Destiny 2 that new players should dive into first before chasing down these Exotic weapons, cosmetics and upgrade materials.”

What offer is this? Players have now discovered the starter pack for Destiny 2 on offer on Steam. It is offered there for 14.99 euros and contains a few exo-weapons, cosmetic items and materials.

  • The pack includes the Traveler’s Chosen exo-pistol, the Decayed Image exo-trace rifle, and the Sleeper Simulant exo-linear fusion rifle.
  • There are also cosmetic bonuses in the form of a Sparrow, a spaceship and an exotic spirit shell.
  • The set is rounded off by a material package consisting of 125,000 Glimmer, 1 Ascendant Fragment, 50 Improvement Cores and 1 Improvement Prism.
  • On the Destiny Reddit, player adrineitor99 posted the set and asked, “What the hell is that?”, sparking a huge discussion. Rightly so, as many people think.

    This Destiny 2 offer was equally controversial:

    Become Geralt of Rivia in Destiny 2’s Season of Wish

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    This pack is a step towards “Pay to win”

    Here’s why players find the package just terrible: The community’s criticism focuses on the fact that all of the exotics included in the starter pack can be unlocked in the game without major problems and none of them represent a significant advantage.

  • The included three exo-weapons can be easily unlocked in the game at the “Monument of Lost Lights” with a little playing time. All you need is an Exotic Code, 125,000 Glimmer and 1 Ascendant Fragment.
  • If everything goes well, you will have earned these materials after only investing about an hour of time. The exotic code can be obtained either via the weekly “Xenology” quest from Xûr. He is in play Friday through Tuesday. Or you can pull the code from the season pass to level 55.

  • In addition, all three weapons are hardly used by the Guardians in current builds.
  • In fact, the Decayed Effigy Trace Rifle has been nerfed so much that it is considered worthless in all high-level content. Additionally, without the in-game unlockable catalyst, the Sleeper Simulant Linear Fusion Rifle is quite weak and even with it remains a niche choice at best.

    That’s not worth recommending!Destiny 2 veterans like to take new players along, explain the game to them and give valuable tips. The fact that Bungie is now recommending such a poor selection of the pack to its unsuspecting New Lights makes little sense and angers the community. No one in the know would recommend this as “3 of the best exotic weapons” to a beginner, she thinks.

    This is also why, for some Guardians, this is just an ill-advised and shoddy decision on the part of the developers to raise money to somehow recoup the losses they suffered last year.

    Destiny 2 lays off 8% of its staff “due to sharp decline in popularity”

  • 8JaMMeD8 finds: “[…] This is somehow the laziest microtransaction I’ve ever seen. They didn’t even try to make it look valuable.”
  • FamGaming17 says: “This is actually a big step towards pay-to-win. Selling weapons and currency for real money is not possible.”
  • Actually not a pay-2-win: If you take it seriously, you can’t call the offer on Steam a pay-2-win. The advantage you get from this is non-existent.

    Player VeryRealCoffee still has some good advice for Bungie:

    If you want to do The Final Form right and keep players’ trust, start by stripping the shop down to the absolute minimum. If this gets worse, I don’t want to see another apology video from the developers. I’d rather have one from the finance team or the people who make these decisions.

    I’ll give Bungie credit for not being as bad as gacha games and the like, but if they want to make us happy, don’t disappoint us with something tasteless like this offering.

    VeryRealCoffee addresses Bungie on Reddit

    This is the question that now concerns the Guardians: At the moment, Bungie has to prove itself to its community and regain a lot of trust. The question that arises for some players is why would such a starter pack be introduced that not only offers little value, but also gives the impression that Bungie is trying to recoup lost money at the expense of players?

    In their opinion, such a questionable business model will only cast a further shadow over the future of Destiny 2 and Bungie’s relationship with its players.

    How do you see the offer? Do you have any problem with that because it makes it easier for new players to get started? Or is that an absolute no-go for you? Then share your opinion with us in the comments.

    This set is also controversial because it exaggerates its costs: Destiny 2: Players would like to get fancy new armor for “The Witcher”, but have 3 problems

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