Three months was all Bungie needed to destroy their reputation, nearly two decades old worth, and told the Destiny community what they 'really' thought of them. (insert piggy bank gif at your leisure) and manufactured a full-scale mutiny on a sinking ship. The players tried to keep Destiny 2 and Bungie afloat, but as they dumped one bucket of water out, Bungie dumped two back in. Now, this isn't completely Bungie's fault. People have failed to mention the "Big Bad" of this story enough. Activision. So, let's start at the beginning. We all heard about the massive, elephant in the room, contract between Activision and Bungie. An organic and evolving 10 years with a price tag of 500 million dollars, marketing aside. Destiny came out the gate strong. An excellent marketing campaign backed by Bungie's name, sent droves of gamers to the tower daily, but something was amiss. The game didn't feel complete, and honestly, it wasn't. But that's another story. Two DLC's in and people were panicking. Activision surely was unimpressed, but Bungie had kept an ace up its sleeve. TTK. And it was a homerun. The expansion added more story, missions, context, multi-faceted exotic missions. It had it all, and Rise of Iron showed that Bungie had finally hit its stride. The SIGNS were there already, a foreshadowing of what was to come, but we were all lost in a world of shiny engrams. The way Destiny 1 handled its DLC and the TTK was just the beginning. People paying for DLC twice, charging nearly the cost of a full price game for an expansion left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouth, but we overlooked it because of one thing. Trust. Bungie had our trust. Something that can't be bought, only earned. But the signs were there. Eververse was tacked on at the end of Destiny 1 life cycle as if it were a last-minute add-on. It wasn't. This was an experiment, or rather, testing the water of sorts for a complete takeover by microtransactions. But, why you and I wonder. Well, it is simple. Activision. They became nervous when Destiny 1 floundered, although it was saved by an excellent expansion, it was a little too close for comfort for Activision. They couldn't simply sit around and let this happen again. What if Bungie doesn't have another ace up their sleeve. The long-term business model of 10 years or more had to be ditched in favor of a model that was more generous to their fiscal year. So, he we are. Destiny 2 has been a PR train wreck. Players have left by the millions. The ones who are sticking it out or genuinely enjoy this game have become a target. XP throttling. This wasn't a mistake. The mistake was they didn't hide it better. They got caught. That was the mistake. What about all the people that paid money to eververse any order to acquire bright dust to purchase fireteam medallions that are supposed to give you more XP for every kill and event completed? Surely, the XP Throttle System affected this as well. Any refunds offered to them? The Osiris DLC wasn’t worth the price of admission, but it wasn't complete either, I'm willing to concede. The community had tasted all Destiny 2 had to offer, and Bungie couldn't risk more player falloff, so they shipped the DLC early to get players who had left as reason to return and players who had stay, the illusion there is so much more to do. The final insult: THE DAWNING: This entire event was pre-planned. Bungie will offer excuses, promises, standard comments that they are listening to our feedback. This isn't true. The event was released as a microtransaction driven cash grab, and the timing of its release was done on purpose as well, because the holidays are here, and it won't be until after the first of the year before Bungie jumps back into marketing mode and by then the fires will have died down. The anger over this will be hopefully gone. The holidays and the new year and all the extravagance that comes with it is being used to mull the community into a sense of new beginning for this game, but you best prepare yourself for more of the same.