There isn't much that gets this usually calm and collected associate editor riled up, but Bungie's latest move with Destiny's The Dark Below expansion pack – which released earlier today – has everyone in the Push Square office clambering for safety from this author's outrage.
Indeed, upon booting up the sci-fi shooter just moments ago, it would appear that we're locked out of some existing content, namely the weekly Heroic Strike, and the weekly Nightfall Strike. When hovering over the icons, we're told that the aforementioned expansion is required, despite the fact that these missions are normally open for everyone.
Essentially, this means that without buying the DLC, you won't be able to participate in these activities, which are basically two of the best ways to collect rare gear and items necessary for levelling up your Guardian. And, while it would seem that these new tasks will be rotated on a weekly basis, that doesn't change the fact that existing content is being held hostage.
On top of that, it also looks like the developer has removed Cryptarch engram rewards from Strike playlists that aren't part of the expansion, meaning that it's now harder than ever to grab some half-decent loot.
Now listen: we like Destiny. We gave the game an 8/10 in our review, and we still reckon that as a co-op experience, it's one of the best on the PlayStation 4 – but this removal of existing content is an absolute smack in the face to anyone who purchased the original release. Let's hope that Bungie does something about this soon, because as it stands, you've just had your already repetitive title carved up and hidden away behind a pretty substantial paywall.
Comments 60
they need to drop price first £19.99 is too much...£10 would have been a better price, or dare i say FOC because of all the problems we had to put up with at the start (Lack of story etc)
Well I may have gotten back into Destiny down the line (I'm a level 28 currently) but this confirms that now I won't be.
Shame
This is gross. No idea how they thought they could get away with this!
Maybe i won't bother getting this after all...
Absolutely disgusting.
DLC done horribly wrong. You shouldn't get stuff taken away from you for not buying the DLC. Clearly it should just be additional content.
what a load of bull ****, still it's activision so it's to be expected, the greedy gits
I don't have the game but this sounds like an oversite. Or something they will have to fix. Can't imagine this will stand bad as it sounds. This would make sense if this was one of those free patches were games don't work unless you update 1st, those seem to happen all the time these days, but not for $20.
On a related note, got Rayman Legends in the mail on Saturday (my PS+ expired BF, time to catch up on some other games I missed) and I was most surprised to see that both weekly and Daily challenges were still running. Not only is it a year old game but I got the Wii U version so I expected it to be cut anyway. And 3 player w/ the Gamepad the game is fun as heck, finally asynchronous gameplay done right.
So glad this trash isn't on my trophy list. I wish more games had beta's…
This just in: Destiny finds new ways to annoy me!
Seriously... this is the only game I've ever regretted spending money on. Not even day 1 DriveClub felt this scummy.
RABBLE! RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE!
Badmove of the Century...
please watch the language-Tasuki-
This is just slimy, if this is intentional then I am utterly disgusted. I will never support this game and I truly hope this doesn't become standard industry practice
I have no experience at all with Destiny and reading this article felt like reading another language (lol) but it was my impression since the first time I saw an interview with the developers that Destiny was going to be an evolving game. It was never going to be a pay for it once type package. Im not defending this (as i have stated i don't have experience with the game) and certainly a big issue with this might be down to pricing but this is kinda exactly what I expected from the game Destiny. It was always sold as an evolving heavy DLC type experience.
Edit: Right, so they have actually blocked you from playing missions that you could already play and in no way relate to the new DLC I.e the mission and its content wouldn't change at all post purchase of the DLC? That is a big statement.
So glad i got rid of this poor excuse of a game like 2 weeks after purchase. Awful stuff
This is the time where gamers start voting with their wallets.
If you can't stand this BS just don't get the expansion pack or the game, I really hate when this kind of nonsense shows up. -_-
I got rid of this once I reached level 21
YOU CANT EVEN REPLAY THE FIRST MISSION! Only 2 new story missions...my god why did I pay for this crap?
sorry for caps but Bungie can eff off.
@AyeHaley im in the Same boat there...
glad i traded this junk in a while ago
Ouch. I can imagine Activision pulling this kind of stunt, but Bungie? After doing well on Halo, I can't believe they'd let this kind of thing happen.
It really just seems like a programming oversight, but.....it's Activision.
I can see how this would be a problem for those who didn't buy the expansion but the weekly strikes are a random strike and on rotation. I actually saw this weeks strike coming and it is their way promote the expansion. It's not like they removed something from the game like The Devil's Lair strike from the game. I see this happen a lot when comes to MMOs. I guess it would be too difficult to have two different weekly strikes for the ones who don't have the expansion and one for those who do. It's not like this is going to happen every week. The strikes are on rotation. If you love the game that much then why not buy the expansion. I guess I am going to have an unpopular opinion on this. Perhaps they can add other ways of obtaining shards, energy, and strange coins.
Wow, Bungie have proven to be bigger scumbags than I ever would've imagined.
@PMasterTy9 Reward engrams from regular Strikes have been removed as well, though, which is just ridiculous when you consider how many people are nowhere near high enough level to do the new Strikes and may not have the DLC.
Lol trade in time. I was going to keep it just for the crucible. This however is a disgrace. Goodbye for good.
Another bad move on top of so many other bad moves that have been made. I'm so pleased I moved on from Destiny long ago.
Please watch the language -Tasuki -
@ShogunRok I thought you only got reward engrams from the dailies and weekly strikes. Engrams from the regular strikes are random. If you can't do the weekly strikes in your early twenties then yes that is a huge problem. However, the weekly nightfalls have been lvl 28. Supposedly you can independently do the new strike at level 10. I have not played today so I haven't seen the new stuff yet.
I sold this thing a long time ago, actually made a few dollars with the discounts I got when I bought it. I don't regret it one bit. It was fun to a point but the last week I had it I could never connect, and all of the little annoyances in the game kept adding up. Now things like this make me even happier I dumped it.
by far the most horrid thing that i have heard a developer do, which is saying something because there have been some terrible things. bungie, you have lost my money forever. luckily i stopped playing destiny months ago. this was a waste of a season pass.
@PMasterTy9 Nah, in one of the bigger patches they added in Cryptarch engrams to Strike playlists. So for most players, the level 24 list was perfect because after each Strike, you got a random assortment of engrams. It just seems really dumb to remove them!
This isn't a conscious decision by bungie... I know there was a bug that relating to the dlc that only affects ps4 players. They have increased the difficulty of weekly heroic and nightfall, which means if you're not high enough you can't solo a nightly which requires lvl29/30 - sure this isn't why you can't do those strikes? They made a big issue of this dlc adding content for players who didn't buy it, not removing content. I'm sure you're mistaken somewhere, push square
Destiny is the most over hyped game I've played in a long time. Its not a bad game but nor is it the game I was hoping for. I traded my copy of Destiny around two weeks after I got it and I've never looked back since. I thought it was far to repetitive for my ongoing commitment.
I'll be getting my next space saga fix from No Mans Sky and I can't wait!
I cant download the expansion. I restored the licences, but it still says i have to pay even though i got the season pass.
@WARDIE
no man's sky indeed!!!
@ShogunRok Oh yeah...that's right. So, they removed that?? Now that's stupid!
Man, I was already disappointed in this game, but damn. I don't understand why Bungie's doing this, it's like they're actively doing everything they can to trash the once good name of the studio.
Just great
@PMasterTy9 Yeah, it doesn't make sense when the lack of loot is still a major complaint!
Sadly, I purchased the digital version. And I definitely learned my lesson. I didn't even like the game so now I can't get my money back. The game was trash, everything about it was just horrible. Looks like I'm never getting that $60 back. The video game industry has truly gone to **** and is led by greedy idiots... well some of the companies are idiots.
@get2sammyb They are locked for me even with the expansion, pretty sure you have to be level 30 to access them. And all of the vendors in the tower now have gear to get you to lvl 30, regardless of if you have the dlc or not.
@BetweenTheTrees INDEED!!!
Bought it thinking the new content would keep me going for a few hours, maybe get ride of some of that repetitiveness. Had it done in a flash. What a rip off. The price of this dlc is a joke and at £20 it's the price of half a game and you don't even get that.
@Picola
look at the picture, it's not a mistake. it says you NEED the destiny so called "expansion" (expanding nothing really) in order to play.
and it's the level 24 strike. so level has nothing to do with it
Dam never seen so many comments lol, I don't need to worry I got the 1st 2 DLC packs free with my pre order yay!! Lol.
On an Honest note, I think this is 101% Disgusting!! What about all the people that can't afford the DLC as its right on top of Christmas, to lock the game up is wrong, surely Bungie will patch this to unlock it again!! Poor goal there Bungie.. Very poor!!
@Epic
Exactly! Lets show Bungie & Activi$on that we won't put up with this crap.
I knew they would do this
Glad I never got overly hooked into this game.
This game smacked of greed from the moment it went on sale- whether it be a substantial amount of missing content and storyline, DLC that coincidentally pieces right into the gaping holes of the campaign, mandatory online for offline single-player missions, or seizing content and tiering it off with the expansion... this game was meant to bleed us like swine.
I will not support such games, no matter how high a score the critics give them.
@ShogunRok
Master Strategy
Make a full, $60 game. Piece off the last 1/3 of the game and sell it as DLC.
Take that 1/3 piece and split it into 2, and sell both as single expansions of DLC.
Remove any chance of leveling up at normal rate so it takes players 3x longer
@get2sammyb I'm with you 200% unofrtunately people are still willing to play a game when devs do things of this nature. The answer is honestly to vote with your wallets.
I'm also highly upset with the pulled content like Saturn, factions, etc. crazy how most people don't care that this had stuff removed.
@JaxonH more people need to have this mindset, and then we can get better practices from big devs like activision. I sold my copy once I found out about all the pulled content and that all content updates were going to be paid DLC.
They starved everyone from the beginning of content ripping it right out the game.
@Epic ha! just said that a little while ago and a month ago. People NEED to vote with their wallets. they pulled content like factions, and even planets like Saturn and people don't care enough to find out.
can't let companies get away with stuff like this.
@JaxonH @ShogunRok activision and bungie and robbing people with the grinding and lack of video they put out. they announced trading system, the planet saturn and even showed factions over a year ago.
guess how much of that is in the game?? none, which people need to realize is a GTA styled heist (which people are also waiting on) lol
So really we payed $60 for a trial?
Destiny as a whole has seemed to be a "we don't care what customers think we will do what we want" affair from the outset. This has been a pr disaster, and I'm pretty sure any sequel will suffer as a result. It's a shame because I really wanted to like this. It's time gamers stop giving money to rip off artists.
Is this a pathetic move by Bungie? Yes.
I would have liked to have seen the people who run/work for this site show so much anger over the mess that was the DriveClub launch though. Was very a much a sense of criticise it but not too much incase Sony stop dealing with us. Whether or not that is true I don't know - and I'm certainly not questioning anyone's integrity, so please staff don't think that - but a game being near completely broken and the developers taking the Michael with all broken promises is a lot more serious than a few things likely being blocked for a week.
@rastamadeus If I recall correctly, we wrote several articles about DriveClub's disastrous launch, and even called it DisasterClub, so that notion is ridiculous.
@rastamadeus You're not wrong @ShogunRok, we criticised DriveClub extensively:
https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2014/10/oh_no_sony_has_even_bungled_driveclubs_box
https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2014/10/disasterclub_sony_delays_driveclub_ps_plus_edition_due_to_server_issues
https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2014/10/driveclubs_servers_appear_to_be_still_smoking_like_a_burnt_out_sports_car
https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2014/10/driveclub_dev_considering_compensation_options_for_disastrous_launch
https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2014/10/you_may_be_able_to_get_a_refund_for_written_off_ps4_racer_driveclub
https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2014/10/yoshida_driveclub_ps_plus_edition_delayed_on_ps4_until_further_notice
https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2014/11/feature_whats_the_status_of_driveclub_on_ps4_a_month_after_release
Ugh I haven't fired it up in weeks as I'm no fan of online play (arenas) and because I couldn't get with people to play since those nitwits didn't include a lobby to setup parties. I'm up to Mars on the game, but man, this is a punch to the nuts leaving out stuff I paid for now that the pay DLC is out which I didn't want. I'm kind of tempted to just erase the stupid game and sell it because this is just a beginning now of years of milking with their other releases planned coming out.
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