It allows Activision to make more money, which in turn gives them less motivation to make quality content for the loyal fans that still play their game.

It affects the time i have invested into this bullshit

Because its showing that destiny is slowly inching its way toward paying for gear instead of playing the game to get it. Its the easy way to level up, so of course people are gonna spend money on it. It may not affect all level 40s since they dont need the gear it gives, but its definitely a bit of a red flag. Who knows how far it could go

I'm confused. These level 25 start ups were given to me but my characters are above 25 already. What's this about buying them?

It doesn't directly affect anyone, but if players actually buy this crap then Bungie/Activision is going to get the idea that micro-transactions are a good. They are if you're trying to make money, but not of you want to make a good game. You guys are not looking at the big picture here. I'm not worried about the instant leveling, I'm worried about the door these micro-transactions are opening.

Since I haven't used my spark of light can I trade it for $30 worth of silver? That would be nice.

See this is the problem with people who are inexperienced in gaming. They seem to think they know better than others when in reality they actually don't. Do you know why this affects you and every other player? Because Bungie is currently testing the market, and are going to continue to release item after item until the players finally say "That's enough" or "You have gone too far". Want to know how other players and I know this? Because it has happened with other games. Each every time it starts out like this. First, they start with something small (in this case emotes) it seems harmless and you want to think that it won't go any further or get any worse than that, right? Then, they begin to move onto bigger more overpriced things (in this case the level packs). This continues on and on until everything has a price tag on it. Now, every time I have seen this happen in a game guess what follows. Drop rates become worse, the currency of the world becomes more scarce, and the experience you gain is even reduced. This in turn causes three things to happen among players, either they leave the game completely, they continue to grind the day away, pretending nothing is wrong, or you get what are known as "wallet warriors" who will happily dish out any amount of money for anything the game throws their way. It also always starts the same with players as well. First, you defend the these purchases because it doesn't affect you or you just don't care. You think "Oh this can't possibly get worse ,right?", but you are mistaken, because people bought these things and let the company know they could continue on making more absurd things. You defend or ignore what the company does, until finally it's something you really actually care about, then it's an issue and should be stopped, but by that time more people have joined and outnumber you and are soon chanting the same excuses and insults back at you. Now, you have to look at something, and this is why you should be very, VERY concerned with what Bungie is doing and all you have to do is look back when this all started and how they stated that nothing will ever be required to complete a crucible match or clear a raid. Everything falls under that category including: Glimmer, Legendary Marks, Exotics, Ships, Shaders, Emblems, Sparrows, Reputation, Reputation packages, and every event within Destiny. None of the above mentioned falls under "needed to complete a raid or crucible match" category in the slightest as you need none of those things to complete them. They can put a price tag on it all, and when they do (there is no if because people continue to buy these things) suddenly the experience over all in Destiny will become much, much worse for the players. That is why you should be concerned and that is why you should not just brush this off. It has happened in the past and every time it has lead to the same results. But hey...Bungie has shown in the past with Destiny that they just want you to have the best experience right? Never did anything that would make anyone doubt them at all did they? Always the perfect model of a gaming company? Maybe I am wrong to make this judgement.

If you're still playing a game, investing time in a garbage peer to peer matchmaking based game that cannot be played offline, it's one thing. But if the developer is now going to put a cost on the time of your playing the game? What a cretin you must be to not understand how devalued our interaction with this game has outright become. [b]It affects me because now I'm not only wary of a trash company that used to be pretty great needing to fix a lot of things in their game [u]still, a solid year after release[/u] but now in addition I have to worry that they are profiting off of the trash shit content they have already produced......[/b] If you can't understand this, there is no hope for you, just remember: [i]BEAMS CAN'T STEEL FUEL JET MELT [/i]

this item is essentially parents that pay for college