I think I land somewhere in the middle (Destiny)

by MacAddictXIV , Seattle WA, Monday, July 20, 2015, 18:19 (3494 days ago) @ CruelLEGACEY

Most wouldn't think twice about $40 for a dinner out with friends. When you hang out you don't still sit around in the WalMart parking lot at midnight sharing a 2 liter of Royal Crown cola, you go to the bar, buy a couple beers, get food, pay for gasoline, etc. This is fine. This is the cost of having friends.

For $40, I get to play with guys I would never get to see as much as I want whenever I want. Most raids are just shooting the shit anyway, so who cares? However, you do need SOMETHING new to do, or you won't bother with your friends anymore.

The cost of Destiny is a friend service fee. As a bonus, it is, in my opinion, the best PLAYING game I have ever experienced.

On one level, I completely agree. Playing Destiny with friends is pretty much the extent of my social life these days, so paying $80-$100 per year isn't at all bad on that level.

But at the same time, since HoW came out I've often caught myself thinking "what did I just pay for?". Missions that reuse locations (or allow access to locations that have always been there), 3 multiplayer maps, and a half-baked, poorly implemented arena mode?

When The Dark Below came out, many of us were quick to defend Bungie: "they had to rush this one out but they're putting more work in to House of Wolves". Then HoW comes out and delivers even less, and now it's "well most of the studio is clearly working on The Taken King, so THAT will be great". Where does it stop?

Then I step back and remember that I paid $15 for 3 Titanfall maps, 3 times over. So little content, but I was happy. Why?
I think it's because I bought 3 maps and was totally happy with them. They were beautifully designed. With Destiny, I feel like both expansions include more than enough content to justify the price... It's just that most of the new content feels sub par. TDB had the raid, HoW has Trials... for me, the rest has been largely disappointing.

I also think our standard for what we expect $40 dollars worth of content is worth is much higher than it was 5 years ago. And also, I feel like most people base their expectations on a raid, and to me personally, I don't think Destiny is all about raiding. It's great, but it's not everything.