A representative for Bungie, the developer of Destiny 2, has confirmed that the dungeons for the upcoming expansion The Witch Queen will cost extra, angering many fans of the series in the process. The franchise has proven quite popular in the years since its release, and players have logged a total of nearly 10 billion hours over both Destiny titles. However, the games have faced extensive criticism in the past for the high cost to purchase all of the content locked behind expansions and season passes.
Destiny 2 in particular has been denounced for its monetization practices since the game has become free-to-play. With five expansions and fifteen seasons since 2017, the total cost of Destiny 2 for players who started when it released has become prohibitive. A further source of criticism came when the expansion Beyond Light released and much of the game's earlier content — including its base campaign, two expansions, and several seasons — was removed from the game entirely, and became inaccessible even to players who had already purchased the content. Bungie has confirmed that when The Witch Queen releases, much of the content from the Year Four seasons, along with the Forsaken expansion, will be removed.
Anger toward Destiny 2's developers intensified when Cozmo23, Bungie's Community Manager, commented on a post to confirm that players will need to buy the Digital Deluxe Edition of The Witch Queen to access the expansion's dungeons. The Standard Edition will not allow access to the dungeons, although there will be a separate way to purchase the dungeons alone later on. The comment has already amassed over 2,000 downvotes, with other users expressing their dissatisfaction with the change in the thread.
Along with the new dungeons in the upcoming expansion, Destiny 2 will also see old raids and dungeons return from the Content Vault and the first Destiny with a legacy raid system launching in December. As these activities make up a large portion of the endgame content for Destiny 2, they play a large part in keeping the game fresh for players who have already experienced everything Destiny 2 has to offer. Bringing back old dungeons will help, but for many fans it won't make up for locking the new dungeons behind an increased paywall.
Destiny 2 has been alternately praised and condemned by its fanbase since the game's release. Expansions like Forsaken earned near-universal acclaim for their content and story, while the introduction of the Content Vault in Beyond Light caused outrage. The Witch Queen appears to be earning more of the latter reaction during its pre-release so far. Between vaulting a beloved expansion, charging more for its dungeons, and even using uncredited fan art in one of its trailers, the The Witch Queen faces an uphill challenge to make fans forget the anger these recent announcements have caused.
Destiny 2: The Witch Queen will release on 22 February 2022, available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Google Stadia, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
Source: Cozmo23/Reddit