The heart of this issue, IMO... (Destiny)

by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Monday, November 27, 2017, 15:07 (2349 days ago) @ CyberKN

Others have brought this up, but I think the real crux of this situation comes down to a question of intent.

People can argue back and forth about how big or small a deal this is, how much or how little the cosmetic items matter, and how many or how few players are effected by it. But in my view, those are all artifacts of the real question: Did Bungie implement this system on purpose, and if so, why?

Many people are defending Bungie by saying that none of this matters that much, that it only relates to cosmetics and the 1% of players who are grinding for them, etc. I don't disagree with any of those comments.

But I think those comments inherently skip over the issue of "well if it is so unimportant, than why did Bungie take the time to put it in the game?" Because logically speaking, if they took the time to implement it, then it must be important to them. And that's where things get a little concerning.

Bungie's response certainly makes it sound as if this XP-throttling was done on purpose, so I'm working from that point until we're told differently. So if it was in fact a feature and not a bug, then what possible reason could there be for clamping down on XP gains that do nothing but earn cosmetic drops, and hiding it from the player? It's not like the loot cave... players aren't getting legendary engrams. Nothing is happening that changes the in-game player power dynamics in any way.

I can only think of 2 possible reasons for Bungie to clamp down on XP gains. It could be that Bungie thought that grinding Public Events would get players up to level 20 too quickly... but if that's the case, I would ask 2 things:
a) Really?
and b) then why hide the fact that XP gains were being reduced? Why not be transparent about it?

The other explanation I can think of does not look so good for Bungie. And that's the possibility that they didn't want players earning Bright Engrams so quickly that they'd never feel the need to buy any. So they artificially slowed down the progression towards earning them, and hid it from the player.

Does this particular situation impact my day-to-day playtime with Destiny 2? Not in the least. Practically speaking, I couldn't care less. But if Bungie intentionally misrepresented player progress specifically to increase the sales of in-game items, then that is yet another blow to my already shaky trust in their integrity as a game developer. And lest that statement be blown way out of proportion, I don't need to trust a studio at all to buy and enjoy their games (I just bought Battlefront 2, for crying out loud ;p). It just means that I am less likely to take Bungie at their word with regards to... well... anything, really. And that's ok. It's not bad to approach any relationship with a business that way. It's just disappointing on an emotional level.