Destiny 2
We are a week away from Destiny 2 getting a brand new subclass, Strandone I am particularly excited for because it really subverted expectations. We knew it was probably “green,” but Bungie went and made something wildly different than previous predictions of poison or Hive soulfire, and instead it’s…the threads the bind the entire fabric of the universe. Green threads. Anyway, it looks great.
But before Strand, there was Stasis, the ice subclass that is not technically supposed to be ice, but…it’s ice. It’s struggled a bit lately as everyone has been using crazily buffed light 3.0 subclasses instead, though some Stasis builds are still top tier for endgame content, particularly Warlocks and their endless parade of freezing turrets.
It is, however, still a subclass that sits behind a paywall. That would be the specific paywall of Beyond Light, Destiny 2’s third expansion which as of Lightfall, will be two expansions and two years ago.
A long while ago, it seemed like what Destiny 2’s plan might be for its new switch to a free-to-play model would be to slowly let old expansions go free over time. Instead…the opposite happened. Destiny 2 deleted the first two years of content that was free, and instead of making Forsaken free-to-play when the time was right, they vaulted its campaign and one of its zones, keeping the scraps to sell as a “Forsaken pack” full of exotics with a raid and dungeon.
Destiny 2
So no, Beyond Light is not on deck to become free in its entirety any time soon, unless you pick up the expansion on PS Plus this month. But even then, it’s only for that console, as Stasis itself does not transfer across platforms unless you own the expansion in every location.
I have may have lost the battle on making expansions free over time, as best we can tell, Bungie has zero plans to do that, but I do think it’s time that Stasis itself should be free and auto-unlocked for all players, especially given that now a new paid subclass is arriving, and unlocking Stasis on multiple characters remains one of the most tedious things in the game even if you do own the expansion.
I understand there are some logistical issues here, as the unlocking of Stasis is a part of the Beyond Light campaign itself, just like Strand will be part of the Lightfall campaign. But at this point, it definitely seems like two years is long enough to keep an entire subclass behind the paywall of a single expansion that was released two years ago. And since Stasis isn’t going free with Lightfall, we are headed into year 3 of Stasis being locked for many players.
I have long criticized Destiny for being broken into too many monetized bits and pieces where it just should be more streamlined, and a locked subclass certainly contributes to that problem. My ideal world would be these subclasses get a year to be paid and only attached to their expansions, and they go free after that, but I’m not holding my breath.
Making Stasis free and unlocked on all characters is popular idea, as I hear nothing but support every time I bring this up. I know Bungie has their reasons as to why it’s been kept the way it has for this long, but I think it’s time to start reconsidering that position.
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