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Destiny 2 will keep some of its best content locked behind an expensive DLC

Want to play some of the best content in Destiny 2’s upcoming expansion? Better open those wallets.

Destiny 2 witch queen characeters
Image: Bungie

It’s not uncommon to wake up and check the pulse of the Destiny 2 community and find they are upset about something. When Bungie added the Stasis subclass? Upset. When they toned it down? Upset. When the company changed how the highly competitive Trials of Osiris worked every week? Upset.

This time though, the frustration is warranted, because Bungie is making the same bad decisions at a time they really shouldn’t be. The plan is to monetize their dungeons going forward. You know, one of the better things featured in the game.

The information itself isn’t new. The announcement was revealed in September but the info about the dungeons was glossed over with one throwaway question. I’d like to think the lack of clarification was unintended, that Bungie just assumed that clarifying the content difference would take away from their announcement or they just didn’t realize the info failed to land.

However, we are in the video game industry here and shadier things have been done. Unfortunately, Bungie also has a habit of not clarifying info that is incorrectly received until zero hour.

If you play Destiny 2, you are already familiar with its paid content structure – If you aren’t, here’s a messy overview

Destiny 2
Image: Bungie

After a fairly glowing review, I stopped playing because of a lack of content to keep me engaged. Destiny 2 started using a season system to supplement the content on top of their expansions, which usually happened about once a year.

Each expansion was about $39.99 and usually included new areas to explore, a dungeon, and a raid. Between expansions, Destiny 2’s seasons kept the story moving and added new activities and gear to go after, and in one case, the $10 season cost included one dungeon. The last raid they added didn’t cost a thing.

As you can see, up to this point dungeons were supplemental content included in existing purchases. Now, in February, the next expansion, The Witch Queen is launching. Since the current season is the longest in Destiny 2 history, there is also some additional content launching in December.

This Bungie 30th Anniversary celebration will cost about $25 and includes a dungeon that contains the Gjallarhorn and the old Destiny 1 meme, the Loot Cave. Obviously, this is more or less a nightcap to Destiny 2’s last expansion and exists to keep active players busy, but the writing was on the wall.

When you bought an expansion, the general rule was that you could buy the standard or the deluxe version. The deluxe included additional seasons and was required for the previous dungeon if you missed the season.

The Witch Queen’s standard edition will not include the new dungeons going forward and they will not be included in the individual season purchases, either. In order to get the new dungeons, players will need to buy the deluxe version or make another purchase on top of buying the quarterly season.

The Witch Queen Deluxe Edition will cost players $80 and includes four seasons and the dungeons. There is also an additional version that includes the 30th Anniversary content for $100. Most players that play regularly probably are going to drop $100 if they can afford it, but if they can’t spend all of that at once, they will be shelling out a lot more in the long run.

Roughly speaking, if a player had to buy all the content separately over the next year, they could be looking at easily $150. If someone can afford $100, awesome! Unfortunately, that isn’t the case for everyone.

I came back to Destiny 2 at the start of the year, only to learn the latest expansion removed some fatty content from the game. When The Witch Queen launches, the Forsaken campaign and story will be removed as well. I’m not necessarily against it, as you can’t replay those story beats, but Bungie seems to be taking more than it gives.

For a game that has been on life support a few times but seemed to be hitting another “Golden Age,” the dungeon news is the worst type at the wrong time.

Activision and Bungie’s split has been seen as a good thing, but I hope they aren’t doing bad financially. Bungie ultimately needs to be more clear and concise with their communication.

I’ve heard a few times from people buying The Witch Queen that they were excited about dungeons. I hope they are also getting that deluxe version. If they aren’t filtering through info, they may find out the hard and expensive way. If that’s the case, The Witch Queen could literally be the beginning of the end for Destiny 2.

Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Longtime games journalist and Florida resident. I'm a Guinness World Record holder, wordsmith extraordinaire, MOBA fan, devoted dad and husband. I'm here to spread the gospel of video games.

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