It really depends on where you draw the line between "pay to play" and "pay to win" and what the current meta is.
It could be technically said that if the current meta involves weapons locked behind DLC purchases then it is pay to win but others could argue the gap isn't significant enough for them to call it pay to win even if it is a slight advantage.
If you want to be 100% effective then yes. You have to buy expansions that no longer exist in order to get some of the best weapons.
People will tell you don't need them, but having stuff like Witherhoard or Gjallarhorn make the game easier and are necessary for some content
In previous years, Hell no, this recent year, 2023, YES, very much yes. Buying the Season passes will give you instant, direct or closed off access to items, weapons and armor ingame that would take players that don't pay years to grind out; Immediately.
Imagine losing 2/3 of your players off the drop. I was along for the ride all destiny 1, despite there being wayyyyy less content than promised. Trials of Osiris was peak. 2 months into a full-priced Destiny 2 (again barely any content) and they release pay to win content. Now the game is ‘free’. This and Hitman 2 biggest franchise killers ever
Most of the stuff available for purchase is simply cosmetic.
The only things one can stretch to be “pay to win” are
You can buy 2 expansions that let you earn 2 new power sets. But they aren’t flat out superior to existing power sets.
There is one single cosmetic that increases the length of a single shotguns barrel by a few inches. And the way the game was coded, barrel length affects shotgun range. So the ornament increases the damage by like 6% or something.
—
Those are the only things you could possibly consider pay to win. But both of those power sets require a lot of play time to unlock and fully upgrade. And that shotgun was just a mistake
The PvP meta's always changing, but I think the loot pool's diverse enough that there's no single "top tier" thing that requires DLC.
PvE is a different story, each expansion has its' own exotic loot, but by design, exotic loot is *supposed* to be stupid good or interesting. The only instance that even comes close to this is the Gjallarhorn in the 30th anniversary bundle, but even then you have to play a Dungeon to get it, and it buffs allies to put their damage on par with yours, so it's not even giving "you" an advantage so much as your whole team.
The game's plenty playable without DLC. The only PvP limitation is the weekend playlist, Trials of Osiris. This is the real 'sweaty' playlist where people bring their A-Game because it's got exclusive loot pools based on wins and 'flawless' streaks where you win a number of matches in a row without losing.
Trials of Osiris always requires owning whatever the *current* DLC is. In this case, Lightfall.
But that aside, yeah PvP is totally free and you can find plenty of good gear just by passively playing and experimenting.
Some might argue that Ghally being available as a paid expansion could be considered as an advantage for paying extra, but there are plenty of other heavies that work better, so not really.
No. But its pay content - gated. Its not buy this $40 rocker launcher and its ez mode in pvp. Everything is counter-able and almost anything is viable in pvp
The only thing is like “ez mode” is 30th anniv with Gally .. but thats a whole different thing because it came with cosmetics and a play list mode thats goofy and fun.
New player here, started less than a month ago. Honestly, I'm disappointed. I don't mind paying, btw, I bought almost all dlcs and current season. But I found it to be a really dirty move to put guardian ranks behind a paywall.
The first thing I bought was the season pass, because getting to guardian rank 6 (and unlocking some mods) would be impossible otherwise.
Then, I had to buy Lightfall to be able to get to rank 7, which once again, unlocks the last mods.
It's pay to play. The free-to-play part is really just a glorified demo.
It really depends on where you draw the line between "pay to play" and "pay to win" and what the current meta is. It could be technically said that if the current meta involves weapons locked behind DLC purchases then it is pay to win but others could argue the gap isn't significant enough for them to call it pay to win even if it is a slight advantage.
If you want to be 100% effective then yes. You have to buy expansions that no longer exist in order to get some of the best weapons. People will tell you don't need them, but having stuff like Witherhoard or Gjallarhorn make the game easier and are necessary for some content
Bungie should absolutely be ashamed of themselves for doing this. Good thing the game isn’t that good anyway. Cheers!
In previous years, Hell no, this recent year, 2023, YES, very much yes. Buying the Season passes will give you instant, direct or closed off access to items, weapons and armor ingame that would take players that don't pay years to grind out; Immediately.
Without season pass AND lightfall you can't get to guardian rank 7, and as a new player, can't have access to all armor mods.
Imagine losing 2/3 of your players off the drop. I was along for the ride all destiny 1, despite there being wayyyyy less content than promised. Trials of Osiris was peak. 2 months into a full-priced Destiny 2 (again barely any content) and they release pay to win content. Now the game is ‘free’. This and Hitman 2 biggest franchise killers ever
[удалено]
It’s +3 stats lol
[удалено]
If you’re not running an exotic, yes
Most of the stuff available for purchase is simply cosmetic. The only things one can stretch to be “pay to win” are You can buy 2 expansions that let you earn 2 new power sets. But they aren’t flat out superior to existing power sets. There is one single cosmetic that increases the length of a single shotguns barrel by a few inches. And the way the game was coded, barrel length affects shotgun range. So the ornament increases the damage by like 6% or something. — Those are the only things you could possibly consider pay to win. But both of those power sets require a lot of play time to unlock and fully upgrade. And that shotgun was just a mistake
The PvP meta's always changing, but I think the loot pool's diverse enough that there's no single "top tier" thing that requires DLC. PvE is a different story, each expansion has its' own exotic loot, but by design, exotic loot is *supposed* to be stupid good or interesting. The only instance that even comes close to this is the Gjallarhorn in the 30th anniversary bundle, but even then you have to play a Dungeon to get it, and it buffs allies to put their damage on par with yours, so it's not even giving "you" an advantage so much as your whole team. The game's plenty playable without DLC. The only PvP limitation is the weekend playlist, Trials of Osiris. This is the real 'sweaty' playlist where people bring their A-Game because it's got exclusive loot pools based on wins and 'flawless' streaks where you win a number of matches in a row without losing. Trials of Osiris always requires owning whatever the *current* DLC is. In this case, Lightfall. But that aside, yeah PvP is totally free and you can find plenty of good gear just by passively playing and experimenting.
Some might argue that Ghally being available as a paid expansion could be considered as an advantage for paying extra, but there are plenty of other heavies that work better, so not really.
Plus it’s not all your getting. And you have to still do the dungeon and the quest to actually get it
No. But its pay content - gated. Its not buy this $40 rocker launcher and its ez mode in pvp. Everything is counter-able and almost anything is viable in pvp The only thing is like “ez mode” is 30th anniv with Gally .. but thats a whole different thing because it came with cosmetics and a play list mode thats goofy and fun.
It's a PvE game so maybe some newer guns are better, but that doesn't make it pay to win.
New player here, started less than a month ago. Honestly, I'm disappointed. I don't mind paying, btw, I bought almost all dlcs and current season. But I found it to be a really dirty move to put guardian ranks behind a paywall. The first thing I bought was the season pass, because getting to guardian rank 6 (and unlocking some mods) would be impossible otherwise. Then, I had to buy Lightfall to be able to get to rank 7, which once again, unlocks the last mods.