Bright Engrams -- slippery slope? (Destiny)

by nico, Wednesday, December 20, 2017, 12:13 (2612 days ago)
edited by nico, Wednesday, December 20, 2017, 12:33

I like Bright Engrams -- I think they're a cool element of the game, and if they bring money for a company I like a lot, that's all on the up and up.

I bought my first in-game stuff when SRL first shipped: SRL was a free download, and I would have gladly paid 20 bucks for that event, so I did, and got the record book and such. With each major expansion, I like to buy a little Silver, just as a way of saying "thanks Bungie, you're cool, you're making a cool game."

My personal standard is that so long as money-bought items don't provide an unfair functional advantage, then I'm fine with it.

The moment you cross the line from purely aesthetic, however, I feel you start down a slippery slope.

That line was crossed at the start D2, but it didn't feel it was a big deal.

Dig: Bright Engrams give you rare (blue) mod components, you know, get three-of-a-kind, and the Gunsmith gives you a purple +5 which gives you more recoil, faster ability recharges, etc.

Ok so, if I spend some cash with Eververse, I can get a bunch of those blue mods and immediately get all the armor / weapon mods taken care of, whereas a non-Eververse player might have to play for a few hours to get those.

With the introduction of Masterworks weapons, I feel that the "purchased" functionality bar has been set a bit higher.

Having played with a MW Positive Outlook a bit, I would say the changes are still fairly minimal, but they're nonetheless a noticeable step up from a non-MW weapon: now you're creating little orbs from double kills (so fun!), now you might get a bit more range, or stability, or a few extra bullets in your mag.

I'm sure someone can do the math, but if you buy enough Bright Engrams, you will get a lot of these blue mod components.

If you dismantle a blue mod component, you get a weapon part.

If you turn in weapon parts to the Gunsmith, you get a chance at a MW weapon.

Sure, those are a lot of "ifs," and we're not exactly talking "Eververse Exclusive: Fatebringer Legacy hand cannon," but it nevertheless caught my eye that someone with money can get a slightly better (MasterWorks) gun without ever leaving the Tower.

I'm not so much concerned with where we are, but where we might end up. What do ya'll think?