Hey guys! I think we have a new singing star arising from the Destiny community!

Take a look at Paul Thrall at his new original song, "The Destiny Taken King Pricing Controversy Song".

At 30+ thousand views at the time of this post, this song is bound to make some waves!

But don't take it from me, take a look at all of these reviews!

Check it out! The single will be available on iTunes and Spotify Soon(TM)!

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Okay, on a more serious note. I hope this video helped take a breather for a minute and calm down. Things have been pretty crazy lately.

I disagree with some of it, and other parts are a little out of date. But the rhymes are solid, it's funny, and really channels that old school Adam Sandler style.

What exactly people are upset about with the pricing model?
I agree the RedBull thing is horrendous, but I think I must have missed something with how the pricing model for the Collectors edition is so bad.
Is it just because in order to get the emotes and class items you need to buy the collectors edition? I feel like it must be more than that I just haven't noticed.

What exactly people are upset about with the pricing model?
I agree the RedBull thing is horrendous, but I think I must have missed something with how the pricing model for the Collectors edition is so bad.
Is it just because in order to get the emotes and class items you need to buy the collectors edition? I feel like it must be more than that I just haven't noticed.

Well, both the digital and physical collector's editions are the same price, despite the fact you don't get all the stuff like the book and the coin. So, I'd say that right there is a problem. You're literally paying the same for less.

You could buy the emotes and stuff for 20 bucks plus the regular digital for 40 bucks, making 60 total, which is really what should have been in the digital collector's edition, and how it should have been priced, in the first place.

What exactly people are upset about with the pricing model?
I agree the RedBull thing is horrendous, but I think I must have missed something with how the pricing model for the Collectors edition is so bad.
Is it just because in order to get the emotes and class items you need to buy the collectors edition? I feel like it must be more than that I just haven't noticed.

So the only thing that bothers me at this point is that the physical Collector's Edition costs the same as the digital Collector's Edition. The actual, physical goodies should be worth a LITTLE more than the digital goodies thrown into each box.

Beyond that, though, the pricing for the digital extras was pretty much set in stone by the pricing of the original items (the stuff that was described first, before the digital extras were made available on their own). $20 might be too much for the 9 items you get in that package - but at least you can choose between buying just those and NOT buying them (as opposed to having to stomach paying for stuff you already own just to get them).

It's all good now. Bungie apologized by telling people they can pay the same price as an expansion for emotes and shaders. :P

This schtick of yours was old years ago. Grow up.

I'm ever so sorry. Although Bungie is still getting my money, and although I fully intend on purchasing The Taken King, it is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that I find Activision's pricing models, dare I say, quite humorous and yet, oddly enough, hostile to the consumer. If the "schtick" [sic] is old to you, might I suggest finding a new form of entertainment fit for modern times? Might I suggest "The Destiny Taken King Pricing Controversy Song"? The production quality is exquisite!

I think they had to charge $20 or change the price of other packages they'd already sold. Your opinion on this is not what bothers me. What does bother me is your negativity, sarcasm, and sneering condescension to your inferiors, the fans who might congregate at sites such as this one. That is what I meant by schtick [not sic]. Just wasn't in the mood for it yesterday.

Shtik is Yiddish. It comes from stück, (pronounced sh, then the work took) a German word for piece.

The entry for shtik in the OED hasn't been updated since 1986, so it's dated, but it lists alternate forms as shtick and schtick. The citations appear to not favour one or the other, though modern corpus searches show the variant "shtick" to be winning. Since the word is new, basically only entering English at large in the sixties, it makes sense that the spelling hasn't yet been settled, though a direct transliteration is shtik, a largely unused variant spelling today, but the one it's in the OED as. Schtick appears to be an acknowledgment of the Germanic roots of the word, using the common letter combinations sch and ck that appear in German (a great example of hyperforeignism) whereas shtick is an entirely Anglicized version using English spelling conventions.

Kermit has been using it as a word for an act or persona put on by a person. This is a newer use for even a new word. It originally entered the English lexicon as a phrase used in comedy. Comedians have a bit, piece, gag, or shtik. Evolving from this meaning, a whole set or a whole act could become a shtik. It then evolved to be an entire character. Recently, it has been used to describe a put on personality or act by a person not in comedy, and also a behaviour for which a person is known, how it was used here.

Shtik is Yiddish. It comes from stück, (pronounced sh, then the work took) a German word for piece.

The entry for shtik in the OED hasn't been updated since 1986, so it's dated, but it lists alternate forms as shtick and schtick. The citations appear to not favour one or the other, though modern corpus searches show the variant "shtick" to be winning. Since the word is new, basically only entering English at large in the sixties, it makes sense that the spelling hasn't yet been settled, though a direct transliteration is shtik, a largely unused variant spelling today, but the one it's in the OED as. Schtick appears to be an acknowledgment of the Germanic roots of the word, using the common letter combinations sch and ck that appear in German (a great example of hyperforeignism) whereas shtick is an entirely Anglicized version using English spelling conventions.

Kermit has been using it as a word for an act or persona put on by a person. This is a newer use for even a new word. It originally entered the English lexicon as a phrase used in comedy. Comedians have a bit, piece, gag, or shtik. Evolving from this meaning, a whole set or a whole act could become a shtik. It then evolved to be an entire character. Recently, it has been used to describe a put on personality or act by a person not in comedy, and also a behaviour for which a person is known, how it was used here.

My years spent taking German probably influenced my spelling preference.

I got to thinking about pricing models this morning and did some comparisons:

Halo 3 - Released Sept 25, 2007 - Base Price ~$60
Heroic Map Pack (3 maps) - Released December 11, 2007 (~3 months later) - Initial Price ~$10.00
Legendary Map Pack (3 Maps + Forge Filters) - Released April 15, 2008 (~4 months later) - Initial Price ~$10.00
Mythic Map Pack I (3 Maps) - Released With Halo Wars March 3rd, Standalone April 9, 2009 (~1 year later) - Initial Price ~$10.00
Mythic Map Pack II (3 Maps) - Released with ODST Sept 22nd, 2009 or Standalone Feb 2, 2010 (~10 months later) - ~$10.00

Halo Reach - Released Sept 14, 2010 - Base Price ~$60
Noble Map Pack (3 maps) - Released Nov 30, 2010 (~2 months later) - Initial Price ~$10.00
Defiant Map Pack (3 maps) - Released March 15, 2011(~4 months later) - Initial Price ~$10.00
Anniversary Map Pack (6 maps( - Released Nov 15, 2011 (~8 months later) - Initial Price ~$15.00

Destiny - Released Sept 9, 2014 - Base Price ~$60
The Dark Below - Released Dec 9, 2014 (~3 months later) - Initial Price ~$20 ($15 if bought together)
House of Wolves - Released May 19, 2015 (~5 months later) - Initial Price ~$20 ($15 if bought together)
The Taken King - Sept 15, 2015 (~4 months later) - Initial Price ~$40 ($60 with all in-game content included)

As it stands now, you would have paid something around $100 for all of Destiny's DLC all of which was released within eight months of launch. That $100 would include the base game, six new Crucible maps, multiple new story missions and quests, a pair of new strikes, a new raid, and a new game type (PoE) and something like 30 smaller patches that included everything from minor bug fixes to balance changes to new features like expanded voice chat or color blind options. In that same eight month time period following the release of either Halo 3 or Reach you would have paid around $80, gotten six new multiplayer maps, no new single player content, and only a few bug fixes for Halo 3.

It would appear to me that Destiny's DLC isn't that badly priced when compared to the past Halo map packs, and Destiny as a whole is actually very fairly priced so far when considering the far greater amount of post launch support Bungie has done vs any of the Halo games. Yes, the $20 for the shaders, emotes, and class items is high, but there is also significant context to that price that deserves to be considered. The Taken King is unlike any DLC Halo ever had, adding in what seems to be a significant amount of new content of every flavor for a price that seems fairly comparable to that of Halo's map packs.

I guess I'm just not seeing how your cynical, sarcastic hilarity makes any sense anymore as it does not appear Destiny's DLC is priced significantly out of line with regards to what Halo DLC map packs sold for. I suppose you could make the case that all modern Bungie DLC has been overpriced, but in my opinion that's about the only leg you'd have to stand on upon a closer look at the facts.

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Didn't list it because it was free. But so are The Dark Below Crucible maps now too so it kinda balances... in Destiny's favor. If the House of Wolves maps similarly go free with The Taken King (something that is by no means for sure) then the balance will be significantly in Destiny's favor! :)

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Ugh, had a whole thing typed and lost it. Summary: Halo pricing models that fit the market at the time (even CoD had $10 DLC for maps until Activision bumped it to $15 during MW2) do not compare to this current time. I've never even implied it. The market was different back then. Activision set a funky pricing scheme for Destiny, and within that pricing scheme has worked itself into a corner. Blizzard releases a base game for $60, and then releases an expansion for $40 that's just as big if not bigger than the base game. TBD on the next expansion. And I've already made the Halo 3 vs. ODST pricing comparison.

So within Activision's own pricing scheme, set up by Activision, expansions cost $20. A lot of the irritation felt at DBO on many occasions, as well as throughout other Destiny communities, is how it feels like the base game did not include a lot of content (subjective), and that a lot of content was either cut or held back purposely for DLC (subjective, or maybe a mix of true and false depending on whatever changed during production). Then the Collector's Edition pricing comes out, people get mad. Then Luke's interview. Even angrier. Then an apology that throws out a price point that matches the cost of an entire expansion for nothing more than emotes and shaders. You may not like the cynicism, but it's hardly unique to myself or the megathreads here at DBO.

Does that mean I'm right or that others are right? Not necessarily. Does it mean you are? Not necessarily. The pricing scheme definitely appears hostile to the consumer. At this point, it's so sad that it's gotten funny. What's next from Activision?

Either way, they have my Taken King money guaranteed. I've thoroughly enjoyed Destiny, even with my problems with it. Doesn't mean for a second that I enjoy Activision. I wonder how much Bungie's enjoying them. I bet they thought they were finally free once they escaped Microsoft. I guess potentially not as much as they'd hoped with Activision. :P

I think they had to charge $20 or change the price of other packages they'd already sold. Your opinion on this is not what bothers me. What does bother me is your negativity, sarcasm, and sneering condescension to your inferiors, the fans who might congregate at sites such as this one. That is what I meant by schtick [not sic]. Just wasn't in the mood for it yesterday.

lol get over yourself. Sneering condescension to inferiors. Considering that I don't consider anyone here to be an inferior (well, maybe that car dude because I'm still convinced he's straight up trolling at all times), that's sure amusing I guess. I am a fan. Taken King excites the living daylights out of me. My money is guaranteed for it. My Sunbreaker shirt just arrived in the mail (and all for $5 more than a few shaders and emotes :D). I've pretty much only been trying to have a serious conversation on the economics surrounding a lot of this. Finally do a sarcastic post, gasp. Like you said, it's not unheard of for me to mock a thing that looks ridiculous. My reply to Monochron, if condescending, showed condescension directed toward Activision's pricing. Oh no, I'm mocking and being condescending toward corporate America! Here I am arguing in favor of the consumer and the fans, but that's somehow me viewing the fans as inferior. Consumer advocacy and chivalry, so dead.

My posts have been pretty clear on the pricing of it all. If you want to warp that into some sort of attack on fans and inferiors who are fans and blah blah, well you keep doing your thing there I guess.

Ugh, had a whole thing typed and lost it. Summary: Halo pricing models that fit the market at the time (even CoD had $10 DLC for maps until Activision bumped it to $15 during MW2) do not compare to this current time. I've never even implied it. The market was different back then. Activision set a funky pricing scheme for Destiny, and within that pricing scheme has worked itself into a corner. Blizzard releases a base game for $60, and then releases an expansion for $40 that's just as big if not bigger than the base game. TBD on the next expansion. And I've already made the Halo 3 vs. ODST pricing comparison.

The pricing models do compare because they are very similar. $10 during the Halo era got you three multiplayer maps and nothing else. $20 ($15 if you bought the season pass) during the Destiny era gets you three multiplayer maps plus new single player content. The pricing scheme isn't funky. It is largely in line with the pricing DLC schemes Bungie has used for nearly a decade.

So within Activision's own pricing scheme, set up by Activision, expansions cost $20. A lot of the irritation felt at DBO on many occasions, as well as throughout other Destiny communities, is how it feels like the base game did not include a lot of content (subjective), and that a lot of content was either cut or held back purposely for DLC (subjective, or maybe a mix of true and false depending on whatever changed during production). Then the Collector's Edition pricing comes out, people get mad. Then Luke's interview. Even angrier. Then an apology that throws out a price point that matches the cost of an entire expansion for nothing more than emotes and shaders. You may not like the cynicism, but it's hardly unique to myself or the megathreads here at DBO.

Sometimes people get mad at things they shouldn't. I think this is one of those times. Destiny's DLC prices are not outrageous, for the most part. Even the collectors edition upgrade (the thing with the emotes), which we both think is priced too high, has some solid, defendable reasons for being priced the way it is. The problem I'm seeing with you is you're all cynicisms and sarcasm and negativity when it is not warranted. Certainly not to the degree you express it.

Does that mean I'm right or that others are right? Not necessarily. Does it mean you are? Not necessarily. The pricing scheme definitely appears hostile to the consumer. At this point, it's so sad that it's gotten funny. What's next from Activision?

No, the pricing scheme, for the most part, is not hostile to the consumer. We are paying more for the DLC these days than in the past, but we are also getting more for our money. Are we getting enough above and beyond the "standard" three multiplayer maps to justify the extra $10 cost? Maybe, maybe not. I think so, you might not. But I don't think reddit going ballistic over this is nearly enough proof that Activision or Bungie is being hostile to the consumer. Lower the DLC prices to $15 (what most people probably actually paid for them thanks to the season pass) and Destiny's DLC prices at least approach the realm of fairness.

Either way, they have my Taken King money guaranteed. I've thoroughly enjoyed Destiny, even with my problems with it. Doesn't mean for a second that I enjoy Activision. I wonder how much Bungie's enjoying them. I bet they thought they were finally free once they escaped Microsoft. I guess potentially not as much as they'd hoped with Activision. :P

Based on the Bungie DLC prices over roughly the last decade, I simply do not understand where all your negativity is coming from. I think if you'd do the math and look at things rationally you'd see that things are more or less how they have always been.

You keep comparing to the past, which is fine. Your points are valid, though not so much in comparison to Activision's own pricing model. The fact that you're refusing to see the problem in the comparison between paying $20, aka the price for an expansion, and the same $20 for emotes and shaders, is baffling to me. But hey, agree to disagree.

In their defense, they were pretty much forced to sell those. If it wasn't for the community backlash, I'm pretty sure those would've been exclusive to the Collector's Editions.

Now, you could argue that they could definitely sell for lower, but I think they fear it would undermine the physical edition too much.

Refuse to see the problem? I said "Even the collectors edition upgrade (the thing with the emotes), which we both think is priced too high..." Then I (tried to) reference our previous exchanges where I had given you some reasons that the $20 price tag can be seen as something other than hostile. That it being split off was a direct response to the fan base who accomplished something with their complaints. That it being priced where it is represents a $20 price drop. That it was originally meant to be exclusive collectors content and perhaps the high price is an alternate way of keeping it more exclusive than if they were giving it to us for free or selling it for $1. That lowering the price further might undercut the prices of the other editions which are much more fair.

So yes, I agree that three shaders, three emotes, and three class items are not worth $20 if new voice acting and modeling and mission scripting and entire Crucible maps is. But, I also am adamant that there's a lot more going on here than evil Activision being anti-consumer.