Token of appreciation from Bungie coming later this week

[markopolo]

Jan 7, 2015 12:15:36 GMT -5 iw5000 said:

www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2015/01/07/bungie-gives-out-free-legendary-weapons-players-complain-on-twitter.aspx?utm_content=buffer34915&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Fucking douchebags.

Break it down and move on... no need to tweet to the world and embarass yourself

[tooros]

Jan 7, 2015 11:41:08 GMT -5 hebbnh said:

Jan 7, 2015 11:29:07 GMT -5 malgato said:

Per character, or just one per account?

Reddit says one per account.

Ah well. I still need a decent legendary for my 2nd character.

There are NO auto's I'm interested in buying/gaining.
I don't want to run Hand Cannons on everything.
Finger's crossed for a scout rifle freebie.

[mannon]

Yeah I've been running hand cannon primaries for AGES now because they were originally the only decent blues I had, and now the only purples I have. RNG really wants me to have hand cannons.

In beta I rocked scout rifle almost exclusively and hated every hand cannon I tried.

[wittyscorpion]

To be fair: some players (like me, if I am to complain ) are not complaining about getting a not-so-great gift, but the lack of excitement behind the game idea itself.

Bungie went a great length to "advertise" this gift, and the result is disappointing. They should have done one of the following things if the gift can't be awesome:

1) make the gift a surprise;
2) make the gift a novelty item, similar to the Holloween pumpkin head;
3) make the gift useful to everybody, say an exotic shard;

[mannon]

They did say it was a small gift. It's honestly, EXACTLY what I was expecting. I just didn't know if it would all be the same one or not, but random makes a lot more sense.

Something much cooler would have been nice. Like mebbe a token for a free item reroll. Or something else unique. But, whateves...

Hell why not go so far as to give us a special event? Maybe the speaker sends us on special missions for prizes and gifts similar to the Queen's thing, only smaller.

[markopolo]

Jan 7, 2015 12:57:28 GMT -5 wittyscorpion said:

To be fair: some players (like me, if I am to complain ) are not complaining about getting a not-so-great gift, but the lack of excitement behind the game idea itself.

Bungie went a great length to "advertise" this gift, and the result is disappointing. They should have done one of the following things if the gift can't be awesome:

1) make the gift a surprise;
2) make the gift a novelty item, similar to the Holloween pumpkin head;
3) make the gift useful to everybody, say an exotic shard;

They did not advertise it at any length, shape or form... it was simple foot note that russled everyone jibblies. And if this was their attempt at going to a great length to advertise something, their entire staff should be fired out of cannon, punched in their respective junks, and forced to go back to community college to learn advertising 101 and marketing 101.

DeeJ said this:

Before we kick off, we should note that you should be on the lookout for some small stocking stuffers sometime after the Holidays have come and gone – a small token of our gratitude.

The only thing they reneged on, was that DeeJ pluralized it... some small stocking stufferS. Anyone who was expecting anything more than that should only blame themselves. Or reevaluate their definition of what a small token of appreciation is.

Besides, let's flip it around: if Destiny was dropping Icebreakers, Gjalls, Suros's and all sorts of end game mats like horny 19 year olds drop 1 dollar bills at strip clubs... wouldn't then everyone be bitching that everyone was getting uber leet stuff for free, when the hardcore gamers had to run raids and earn it? Wouldn't you be mad that you worked so hard to run VoG after VoG after VoG to get a item you wanted... then bang, you see a scrub like me who's never stepped foot in the VoG get it as a gift from the postmaster?

It was a small token of appreciation... break it down, get the mats, get the glimmer, and move on.

[markopolo]

Here's what they could have done: tiered the gifts

Done lots of raids and high end content: tier 1 more awesome gifts
Done a raid or two: tier 2 cool gift
Never raided but are a higher level: tier 3 gift as encouragement to go raid
Scrub like me: shader and some glimmer and a slap in the left nut

[mannon]

I dunno. I don't like the idea of screwing the scrubs and lowbies. That's why I like the idea of a reroll token or something that could always be saved and used later. I feel like we should have maybe gotten a shader or something cool but aesthetic in addition to the weapon as well. Or even a rep chit and mark chit you could redeem at your NPC of choice for some free rep and marks (marks not applied to your cap). Lots of things could have been pretty cool, but weren't offered. I guess Bungie wanted to just phone this in and keep it simple...

[wings]

I got TDYD but at least I can benefit from Luck in the Chamber and Field Scout.

[wittyscorpion]

@marko: you have to understand that Bungie's weekly update is a BIG deal to fans. It started back in the days of Halo, and it has been a tradition of fans to scrutinize every words in the weekly update. Bungie knows it, actually, they have been encouraging it by frequently dropping clues to hype things up. It's one of their ways to tease the community.

In that sense, it is an advertisement to great length.

Again, as I mentioned earlier the disappointment is more about the lack of excitement of the gift. Very few people had the expectations to get an exotic piece as a gift, but people did expect something that they won't normally get otherwise, even if it is just a cosmetic items like a ghost shell or ship. A plain legendary weapon that anybody can get by ranking up on vanguard/crucible/faction is NOT worth being "advertised" in the weekly update. Just make it a small pleasant surprise unannounced and follow up with a mention after it becomes available.

[hebbnh]

There is one truth to all of this: No matter what they gifted, people would've bitched about it anyway, either because it wasn't enough (current situation), it was kind of cool but ultimately pointless (sparrow, ghost shell, ship, etc.), or because it was too much (free Gjallarhorns). I'm not really sure why Bungie even bothers, honestly.

[mannon]

I wouldn't say the weekly constitutes advertising to great length. Between that and whatever Deej said and the tweet that went out they made a few comments that they knew and intended to make good penetration into the community and be spread around. But they never said the gift would be epic. In fact they called it small. That should have been a BIG hint. If Bungie were really up to something big they'd have dropped more hints.

Hell Deej coming on and saying lots of people would dismantle it right away pretty much told me exactly what it would be. This was 100% the most likely thing given the hints dropped.

I will say that I can understand being diappointed in the gift it-self from the standpoint of it not being unique in any way unlike the Halloween package. I've still got one of those Jackolantern things in fact. Sure it's purely cosmetic, but why skimp on Christmas?

Honestly, I wonder if the shutdown could have affected their plans in some way or if this is what it was going to be all along. I dunno. If you're comparing to Halloween this one is less unique, but more useful. If comparing to what they could have done this is pretty weak. But if comparing to what they said... I think they delivered EXACTLY what they hinted at. *shrug* You can't always manage people's expectations. People will expect what they will.

And we were already joking about the gift being the tiniest little insignificant thing... Who the heck was expecting some huge gift with all those jokes floating around? Clearly a lot of us had very low expectations. I for one am pleasantly surprised that it's probably something I can use.

[markopolo]

Jan 7, 2015 14:16:03 GMT -5 wittyscorpion said:

@marko: you have to understand that Bungie's weekly update is a BIG deal to fans. It started back in the days of Halo, and it has been a tradition of fans to scrutinize every words in the weekly update. Bungie knows it, actually, they have been encouraging it by frequently dropping clues to hype things up. It's one of their ways to tease the community.

In that sense, it is an advertisement to great length.

But sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar. And when it is just a cigar... people shouldn't complain that what they were told, turns out to be what they were told.

Jan 7, 2015 14:16:03 GMT -5 wittyscorpion said:

Again, as I mentioned earlier the disappointment is more about the lack of excitement of the gift. Very few people had the expectations to get an exotic piece as a gift, but people did expect something that they won't normally get otherwise, even if it is just a cosmetic items like a ghost shell or ship. A plain legendary weapon that anybody can get by ranking up on vanguard/crucible/faction is NOT worth being "advertised" in the weekly update. Just make it a small pleasant surprise unannounced and follow up with a mention after it becomes available.

For those who are like you who collect exotics and know everything about anything destiny related... absolutely.

For the unwashed, noob masses like myself, no... if Destiny gave me the vanquisher VIII for free so I didn't have to do the crucible for hours on end and have to convert rep to New Monarchy rep wearing that fuggly warlock bond... sweet jeebuz and Mother of Kanye, I'd be happier than getting an exotic bonbon!!!

This is just a case of the hype blowing things out of proportion. It's the same thing that happens every week with Xur; remember back at the end of november when everyone thought Xur was going to have a "Black Friday" sale... and it was the same old $hit at the same old prices? One or two websites or voices on the internet start dreaming and scheming and soon, the whole internet is abuzz and everyone is jerking it.

As soon as people know that a cigar is just a cigar, instead of believing that there is no spoon... this stupidity can stop. Small tokens of generosity are just that, small tokens of generosity: Nothing special, unique, or awesome gifts... but special, awesome, and unique in that act that they were given.

[markopolo]

Jan 7, 2015 14:29:10 GMT -5 hebbnh said:

There is one truth to all of this: No matter what they gifted, people would've bitched about it anyway, either because it wasn't enough (current situation), it was kind of cool but ultimately pointless (sparrow, ghost shell, ship, etc.), or because it was too much (free Gjallarhorns). I'm not really sure why Bungie even bothers, honestly.

They bother because then people complain that they aren't appreciated.

They did the smart thing: they did a nice act. It's not their fault people are greedy, ungrateful, or misinterpret things.

Haters gonna hate.

[wittyscorpion]

I am not against the gifts. I am fine if it is just 1 glimmer, as long as it is free

My main issue is how they hyped it. As a bungie fan who read weekly update down to every word, I have greater than usual expectations on anything mentioned in it. I maintain my position that the Weekly Update is a hype machine. They should either just plainly say what the gift is (a random legendary weapon, not so hard to say, is it? ) and be done with it, or if they are in tease mood then it needs to be something worth of teasing.

[wings]

Complain? I don't even have time to complain why I don't have time to complain.

[markopolo]

Jan 7, 2015 16:19:21 GMT -5 wings said:

Complain? I don't even have time to complain why I don't have time to complain.

Stop complaining

[mannon]

I have to digress. Yes the Bungie weekly thing is a long standing tradition and gets lots of readership. Having said that, I don't think that the size of your audience implies anything about the size of the gift. Bungie can and does tease whatever they please, and many things have been minor or major, and treated about the same. They're coy like that. On top of that Bungie themselves said that the weekly blog has traditionally not been quite the major hype machine that it has more or less become with Destiny. It is quite simply, the Bungie blog. Sometimes it contains vast troves of information and other times it is pretty dull. For Destiny they have stepped it up quite a bit and mostly keep to Destiny related news instead of general Bungie stuff, but it is still at it's heart, just a blog.

I think you and all those other disappointed people just read far too much into it while the rest of us were knowingly making jokes about how pathetic the "gift" might well be. Frankly, I'm surprised they went with items that are useful, but not too useful, but also not unique. I guess maybe they wanted to compare this to the butthurt they probably got for the "useless" stuff from Halloween. ;3

Personally I think they should do both. We should get something unique for the season, and something useful, (but not terribly useful). They could be the same item or even different items. So say, give us the weapon and a red & green shader, for example. Or something even more unique like my other suggestions. Hell, give us expendables that make us temporarily wear seasonal hats similar to the jackolantern things, or whateves. I think it was a tad lazy, but I don't agree that they overhyped it. The comunity overhyped themselves... as usual.

In fact in general I would say it's everyone's own responsibility to manage their own expectations. When it comes to games or movies or whatever so often the communication sent our way is full of marketing influence which is always intended to influence us in a positive way towards the product. You have to approach things with some cynicism from the get go or you are going to be constantly disappointed. I'm always hopeful, but I try to keep an eye out for the downsides of things and not get my hopes up without some real evidence that I should. For example, I'm cautiously optimistic about the new Star Wars, but not jumping on board the hype train. It could still be a steaming pile... I dunno for sure. Mad Max: Fury Road, on the other hand... my gawd those trailers are beautiful! Sure, the trailers could be way better than the movie. It happens... but I'm guessing the movie is going to at least look really good. Plot could be terrible, but I won't care as long as it looks like the trailers do.

[wittyscorpion]

To be clear if it is not clear already: unlike most of the other complainers, I am not disappointed about the usefulness of the gift, I am disappointed by Bungie's lack of creativity in making the gift , especially after making a formal announcement through the most important channel they use to communicate to fans, several days in advance.

As a Bungie fan, I am holding them to higher standard that other game developers. Gift with such mediocrity should just emerge as a complete surprise: no advanced announcement, just show up at the Post Office on Christmas Day, with a "thank you for playing" note.

To make an analogy: one holiday gift I received is a music CD of something I don't care about. It is mediocre, but still a pleasant surprise because it is coming from somebody I did not expect to get gift from. Had the person sent me a letter 2 weeks in advance telling me something is coming my way to let me expect it, I would have been disappointed instead

[mannon]

Oh... FFS!

So I log into Destiny and get my gift. I don't have very many legendary weapons so I'm really eager to open this up. I can't wait. I've been grinding New Monarchy just so I can buy a decent AR for ages and now I could even get one.

So...

Moment of truth...

What do I get to finally supplement my arsenal of legendary primaries that consists wholly of The Devil You Know, and Red Hand IX? Why none other than The Devil You Don't. -_-

Srsly Bungie... *slow clap* Rahool is still the troll we always knew him to be...


Maybe it wasn't totally random... maybe it was based on our usage stats or something, which unfortunately for me highly favors hand cannons... because the game only seems to want to give me hand cannons... lesigh

[tooros]

Heavy Machine Gun - MG18A Harm's Way - Void.
Counter Balance and Grenadier as the main perks. 54 mag.
Spinmetal as the upgrade material.

I actually want and need it.

No complaint here. (Well - one for each character would've been nicer.... )

[hebbnh]

I got Secret Handshake (shotgun) with void damage while I already had Swordbreaker (raid shotgun, also void damage, and generally better stats) equipped. Trollololol -- insta-shard. I could've really used something like the Harm's Way or a void fusion rifle, but alas, it was not meant to be.

[iw5000]

I got a high RoF 331 Auto Rifle 'Up for Anything'...I already have one that is leveled up. Insta-shard for me.

[markopolo]

I got a Plug One.1 .... a void fusion rifle.

Which is a great fusion rifle; charges a bit slow, but when it hits, it hits hard. I'd keep it... if I didn't have it maxed out to the last tier already. This new one had a different 2nd last perk, but nothing that made me keep it.

Broke it down: 3 ascendant mats!

[wings]

And the silly thing is that this special package is picked up from the Postmaster instead of Tess, who does the special orders. What is the point of her being around?

[mannon]

That's actually fairly standard. Tess is mostly there to hang on to things so you can repurchase them without having to store them all in your vault. Most of the things Tess has for me I also got a copy at the postmaster.

[wings]

Yes but the Postmaster might as well do Tess' jobs as well since Tess dies not do much, apart from call you over because she is bored.

[markopolo]

Jan 8, 2015 9:39:06 GMT -5 wings said:

And the silly thing is that this special package is picked up from the Postmaster instead of Tess, who does the special orders. What is the point of her being around?

I've wondered that too..

according to the destinypedia:

Tess gives players promotional items such as pre-order exclusives, emblems, and shaders. For example, everyone who participated in the Beta can pick up a Beta emblem

[malgato]

Harm's Way LMG, Arc. I already had one, but in void. Not bad. I'll keep it, so I have a LMG with each element type.

[thebb22]

I got the Harm's Way as well...solar...which I already had, of course. Wouldn't have minded a void or arc one but whatever. One of the perks is the same, the other is slightly better on the new one, so I broke down the old one. Probably won't ever use it anyway cuz Gjallarhorn.