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Bungie’s Luke Smith Denies Some Datamined Destiny Microtransaction Discoveries
Yesterday, Bungie rolled out a new currency for purchasing cosmetic items. Users have datamined the 2.0.1 patch to discover some items listed that aren’t yet available. With a note in the new Eververse Trading Company kiosk, some assumptions have been made about what else might be available for real-money purchase.
When visiting the Eververse Trading Company, you’ll notice that there is an option to return items in a brief window after purchasing. There is a note that says consumable items cannot be returned, which implies that at some point there will be consumables for sale with silver (the real money currency).
On the datamined list posted to the Bungie forums are items that increase drop rates for items and gear in the King’s Fall Raid, “starter packs” that boost characters to level 25 (similar to the free item that came with The Taken King), an item to instantly and fully unlock a subclass, and trinkets for each of the enemy types that boost XP gain for 10 minutes.
In response, Bungie’s Luke Smith took to Twitter to quell some of the concern. “We aren’t (nor are we planning) on selling consumables that buff King’s Fall drop rates for Silver,” he writes. We’ve inquired with Bungie about the other items on the list, including XP boosts, subclass unlocks, and “starter packs.”
If raid-related drop boosts do enter the mix, Smith's response would imply that they could be dropped or purchased via in-game currency (glimmer, motes of light, strange coins, or legendary marks). Smith also says that the team is looking at problems with Nightfall rewards.
“Nightfall Rewards can be underwhelming,” he writes. “Runes/low # of coins/no reputation burst/weak legendaries all feel like losing. We're gonna fix it.”
[Source: Bungie Forums, Luke Smith (1), (2)]
Our Take
Last week, Kotaku reported that Bungie’s shift toward real-money purchases was only half the story. The studio is allegedly planning a variety of content updates that won’t cost players more money.
Now, with the introduction of real money currency and (likely) some kind of cash-for-consumables system, it seems like a good idea to sketch out the plan for players. It’s a lot easier to swallow the introduction of free-to-play style boosts if the trade-off is free story content, strikes, raids, and other improvements over the next year.
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