Bungie's a joke, plain and simple, but the player base is just as pathetic if not worse. Bungie wouldn't be charging $15 per armor skin if players weren't stupid enough to buy them. While I hate to admit it, the player base is more at fault here than Bungie is. We loved Bungie for their Halo days, and for the longest time we were willing to let Bungie slide on their stupid antics because they were Bungie and we'd defend them to the death simply because "they're Bungie". That is why Luke Smith thinks so little of us that he genuinely believes we'll just "throw money at our screens" for stupid emotes. If you want Festival of the Cost to end, stop buying the items. Even if you have the spare silver and think "I already have the silver, so I might as well spend it", don't. If players were actually intelligent enough to resist paying premium price for useless crap in the mtx shop, then Bungie would (would, guaranteed) lower the prices in order to draw in sales. But, as the data shows, players will cry about being ripped off with tissues in one hand while they're literally handing Bungie their money with the other. Bungie knows that, at the end of the day, many of the same players who are whining about Eververse in the forums will turn around and spend $15-20 (on silver) to get that $15 costume. Coincidentally, that's also why Bungie doesn't allow you to just purchase the amount you need and instead require you to purchase silver in bundles. For those who would argue "It's just cosmetics, it doesn't affect gameplay" that statement is actually arguably false. Players play better when they feel confident, and physical appearance both in real life and in game affects confidence. Players who think "I'm a bad@$$ @#$%ing space wizard!" will perform better than the player who thinks "I look like a space hobo...". When you're playing with friends and your friends are complimenting you on how cool you look, it boosts your confidence and you generally perform better. So while cosmetics may not inherently boost character performance, they definitely do boost player performance. Bungie, like most other game companies, understands this and that's why they charge insane amounts of money for cosmetics. The confident player will play better, and the players who play better stay longer.