For Lightfall, Destiny 2 has announced that it will be much easier to unlock the new subclass Strand. Soon, an option will also be available to access a paid character and campaign boost, which players are currently divided about.
Which boost option is it about? In the latest “This Week at Bungie” blog on February 16, Destiny 2 announced that there will be an extended “Character Boost” option for Lightfall.
This paid option allows players who play multiple characters to not only push their power level anymore. Soon, they will also be able to skip the campaign and unlock the subclass “Strand”.
These boosts are essentially nothing significantly new for Destiny players. However, it is new that one can now purchase campaign and subclass unlocks in this way and thus shortcut them.
Destiny 2 will offer these two character boosts in Lightfall:
- Lightfall Character Boost:
- Appears when players reach the soft cap with a character but have not yet completed the Lightfall campaign.
- This boost only provides the selected character with a high power level gear set and does not skip the campaign.
- Lightfall Character and Campaign Boost including Strand unlock
- Appears when players have completed the Lightfall campaign with a character. Those who buy it bypass the Lightfall campaign for the selected character and also unlock Strand for them.
- It only includes a high power level gear set if the player’s main character has reached the soft cap.
What the boost does not unlock: It is important to know that the Lightfall campaign boost does unlock Strand, but does not contain the hefty rewards (items, upgrade materials, etc.) that one would normally earn by playing through the campaign.
And those who skip the campaign have neither completed the Legendary version nor the post-campaign missions. Guardians who want to earn the associated triumphs must still play through the missions.
Unlocking Strand should become easier: For Lightfall, Bungie promised that unlocking Strand will be easier than unlocking Stasis. Eric Smith stated during an interview with MeinMMO how this will happen.
A part of this new “smoother way” seems to also allow players to unlock the subclass “Strand” for their second and third characters for a fee.
What the community says about the extended Lightfall boost
Is this good or bad? The Destiny 2 community is undecided on how to feel about it. In Bungie’s official forum, some players, like Zoidberg, did not want to hear any of it.
Paying to win? You get gear for money? No, no, no, no, no. Stop it! […] If you charge money for quality of life changes, you’re on your way to charging for better RNG, loot boxes, subscriptions, and other predatory things. [Bungie] gave us free gear to catch up in the last season. They already gifted us a free campaign skip. It’s bad to charge money for things that are not cosmetic.
comments Guardian Zoidberg in the Bungie forum
This “non-pay-to-win” opinion is opposed by many players, like Natan Rios on Twitter, who want to play with two or three characters to be flexible but do not want to play through the Lightfall campaign two or three times. They simply don’t have time for full-time games like Destiny 2. Thus, this supposedly “lazy” shortcut is, in their opinion, just right.
Many also remember the dreadfully long and complex unlocking of “Stasis” for all three characters. For some Guardians, that was still okay for the first character, but after that, many lost their desire for the repetitive grind with the then “Beyond Light” subclass Stasis.
Therefore, there will probably be some players who will make use of this new boost offer for Destiny 2: Lightfall.
However, the Twitter account Destiny-Bulletin mainly criticizes Bungie for placing this “excellent feature” behind a paywall and charging players for it.
The ability to skip the story campaign with alternative characters is an excellent feature. Charging money for it is not.
posted Destiny-Bulletin via Twitter
Boosts have never been free in Destiny: Since Destiny 1, players could push their Guardian to the soft cap for a “small” fee. And even recently in the “The Witch Queen” DLC, a character boost was possible. However, the boost has always been seen as frowned upon and as the “laziest way to play Destiny 2.”
What will the boost cost in Lightfall? Bungie has so far kept quiet about the exact costs for the boost. However, they might basically be oriented around the costs from the “The Witch Queen” DLC.
- In the “The Witch Queen” DLC, the character boost cost 2,000 Silver, which equals about 20 Euros. This price had to be paid by players for all Guardian characters they wanted to push to the soft cap.
What do you think of the announced campaign and character boost including subclass? Is that not a problem for you? Or do you think the monetization of Destiny 2 is getting out of hand? Feel free to leave us a comment with your opinion on this.
By the way, Destiny 2 is rapidly heading towards the end of the Light and Darkness saga, and our Destiny author is therefore not sure if she really wants to experience this supposed end:
I wanted to know how the story of Destiny 2 ends – But now that it’s about to happen, no longer
