Destiny players who purchased the DLC “The Darkness Rises” are also unhappy with how often the DLC Strikes or story missions are in rotation. Many are also annoyed with Xur’s offerings.
When the first DLC “The Darkness Rises” for Destiny was released on December 9, there were already complaints from players who had not purchased the DLC: The new Strike “Will of Crota” was chosen (probably not by coincidence) for the weekly Nightfall Strike and the weekly heroic Strike. And access to “Will of Crota” was only available with the DLC.
Three times Omnigul so far
Without the DLC “The Darkness Rises”, players were unable to attempt a Nightfall Strike this week. This caused frustration: Players felt restricted. They were stripped of content that had been available to them just a week prior. Many gaming magazines also criticized this issue. It would be fair to offer “non-DLC” buyers alternative “classic” Strikes.
Bungie acknowledged the problem but did not address it significantly. They only stated that “non-DLC” Strikes would come around again.
Now, the DLC Strike is in the weekly rotation for the third time (three out of a possible eight times) and is frustrating players who purchased the DLC due to its “too frequent” occurrence. They can no longer see it. The same applies to the new story missions. Some complain that they also occur too often.
The heart of the problem is Xur
The core of the problem is Xur, the Agent of the Nine. He appears every Friday in Destiny and sells exotic weapons and armor. Initially perceived as a “random merchant,” Xur strongly favors the “new” DLC items.
Since he only has 4 exotic items available each week, this favoritism towards DLC is quite pronounced.
Twice No Land Outside, twice Dragon’s Breath in six weeks
With the DLC, only 2 new exotic weapons were introduced that he can sell. In contrast, he has 12 “old” Exotics among the weapons.
These include highly sought-after pieces like the Gjallarhorn, Thunderlord, or Suros Regime. All weapons that rank highly in polls on quality.
The two new exotic weapons that he has for sale, the rocket launcher “Dragon’s Breath” and the sniper rifle “No Land Outside“, are rather positioned at the lower spectrum: Dragon’s Breath struggles to be in the middle, with “No Land Outside” even at the bottom of the scale.
However, these two weapons have appeared double in his offerings over the last six weeks. Of the 14 possible weapons, over 6 weeks the same 4 occurred. And both of these are DLC weapons.
12 out of 15 times DLC armor in the last 5 weeks
One might still speak of coincidence here, but it is similarly arranged with the armors. Here too, the DLC armors are much more strongly represented in his offerings compared to the “pre”-DLC armors, especially since the turn of the year.
In the last 5 weeks, he filled the slot with DLC armor pieces 12 times out of 15 opportunities. Here, the selection is also limited: In the last 5 weeks, Titans received DLC boots “Type 44 on the sidelines” three times, Warlocks received the DLC chest piece “Starfire Protocol” four times, and Hunters at least twice the gloves “Don’t Touch Me.” The other three he brought, so to speak, were “uniques”: Obsidian Mind, Glasshouse, and the Radiant Dance Boots.
There were already “streaks of bad luck” for individual classes in Destiny at Xur. For Titans, the chest “Healer Armor” repeatedly appeared, while Warlocks faced bad luck with both the “Sunbreakers” and the “Empty Fang Tooth Armor”.
However, at that time it was thought that these were just streaks of bad luck generated randomly. Now, the situation looks different. When in 4 out of 5 cases a DLC item is offered, even though there are much fewer to choose from than the “old” Exotics, that stands out significantly.
And daily the Xurmeltier greets
This week it is particularly evident because Xur’s offer this weekend (on the 30th.) exactly matches what he had on January 2. Back then he also had “Dragon’s Breath”, “Type 44 on the sidelines”, “Starfire Protocol”, and “Don’t Touch Me”. And back then, as now, “Will of Crota” was the Nightfall.
DLC policy annoys not only “non-buyers” but also buyers
As a result, there is currently resistance against this supposed policy by Bungie. Players see the statistical preference for “DLC content” as Bungie’s intention to sell the DLC. This is understandable in itself. However, Bungie has, many complain, gone overboard and now diminishes the enjoyment of buyers regarding this DLC.
There is no comment from Bungie regarding how the “rotation” in the game, whether with Xur or the various Strikes, is selected. But it seems obvious that parameters have been adjusted here.
In a few weeks, in March, the next DLC “House of Wolves” is expected, which could further exacerbate the problem.
