Also just for the record (Destiny)

by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Saturday, April 02, 2016, 18:21 (3395 days ago) @ Ragashingo

Mass Effect 3 is a really interesting case.

I hear lots of press complain about the F2P-style monetization... but only from those who didn't really play the game. Everyone I talk to who actually spent time with ME3's multiplayer seems to love the way BioWare handled their support of the game, myself included. Yet the buzz around Destiny is constantly negative or at least contentious. I think you already nailed one of the reasons: Many players felt let down by Destiny (even some of those who ultimately love the game). ME3's multiplayer was a happy surprise for the fan base. Most people didn't expect it to be any good, yet it ended up being one of the highlights of the game. But I don't think that is the only reason for the differences in perception.

BioWare never charged a dime for any of the follow-up Multiplayer content. And yet, it was all really good despite being free. Bungie has had more mixed results with the content they've added to Destiny, both paid and free. TTK was the only update that seems to have made the majority of the community happy, at that cost $40-$60 (not that any of the ME3 MP content was anywhere close to the scale of TTK, but you get my point).

There is also the common perception that Destiny is a bit stingy when it comes to giving out loot to the player. We've got people playing thousands of games of Iron Banner reporting a 1%-2% drop rate for IB gear, and that's just 1 of many examples. So I get why some people feel their blood pressure rising at the very suggestion of paying extra money for any kind of loot, cosmetic or not. ME3 didn't have that problem. New gear came easily and often, even without buying the packs. Plus, there wasn't nearly as much gear to acquire in ME3, which I think worked to the game's advantage. Even though the drops were RNG based, the loot pool was small enough that you could get all the gear in the game without spending ludicrous amounts of time grinding. Finally, ME3 had no PvP component... it was purely co-operative. I think any game with a competitive mode will come under extra scrutiny when any whiff of a "pay to win" scenario comes along.

Like you, I spent a decent chunk of money on ME3 microtransactions, but I was getting so much fun and so many hours of enjoyment from it that I was more than happy to throw some love at the developers. I never cared what specific characters or items I got from the packages, because I knew I'd have them all within a month or so.