A $15 Destiny 2 starter pack to aid new players navigate the murky depths of this convoluted MMOFPS sounds great, but Bungie’s execution of the idea has not been well received.
The aptly named Destiny 2 Starter Pack features exotic weapons, exotic cosmetics, and a variety of materials. On the face of it, it sounds OK for a beginner but when you break it down, it’s all just fluff.
If you’re new to Destiny 2 you could be misconstrued by the shiny weapons and cosmetics but anyone with experience with the game will tell you that you’re able to unlock these Exotics naturally on your own. Not only this, the Exotics that you are provided are not even the meta anymore, proving again that throwing $15 to add more to your arsenal will likely just be replaced in a couple of hours.
The Sparrow, ship and Ghost shell cosmetics are nice to haves but provide no real in-game benefits. The Exotic shell is obviously the best of the three as you’ll receive something tangible when playing, but these can be easily obtained from the one of a hundred other shells in the game.
The most worthwhile portion of the pack are the materials. If purchased, you would receive 125,000 Glimmer, 50 Enhancement Cores, five Enhancement Prisms, and one Ascendant Shard. These are integral to upgrading weapons, armor, and more, but again, can very easily be picked up with only a slither of play time.
Obviously fans of the franchise have been raising their pitchforks once more, throwing some firm words out there about the state of the title and how monetisation like this is really hurting the game as a whole.
What Bungie should’ve done with this pack is either bundle in more stuff such as the premium currency Silver, providing some monetary value, and maybe a boat load of additional materials to allow for some actual upgrading.
It's safe to say the company is in dire straits at the moment with a large portion of staff being laid off, poor reviews as of late, and the next big expansion The Final Shape receiving a large delay.
Hopefully Bungie can start to turn things around after a plethora of missteps but sadly it may just be that the studio that we did know has been lost in the Vex network.