Is Destiny 2 Pay to Win?
No, Destiny 2 is definitively not a "pay to win" game in 2024. With the latest Lightfall expansion and seasonal model, free players have access to all core activities and can compete on even footing with minimal disadvantages.
Destiny 2‘s Core Playlists Are Fully Accessible
As a passionate gamer and content creator, I think it‘s important to clarify upfront what free players can access. All of Destiny 2‘s core playlists, including strikes, Crucible PvP, Gambit, and seasonal activities are available for free players. This alone provides hundreds of hours of content.
Crucially, Power level advantages are completely disabled in all Crucible PvP modes. This means free players with blue or green gear can compete head-to-head against veterans with fully masterworked exotics. Destiny 2 is extremely friendly for new light players in PvP.
Content Available for Free Players
- All core playlists (strikes, Crucible, Gambit)
- Featured seasonal activity
- Seasonal progression path with free track
- Yearly updated Cosmodrome New Light quest
- Rotating selection of 6 free raids
Expansions Unlock Additional Playspaces and Gear
Meanwhile, purchasing Destiny 2‘s expansions gives paying players access to:
Content Unlocked by Expansions
| Shadowkeep | – Garden of Salvation raid |
| Beyond Light | – Stasis subclasses |
| Witch Queen | – Weapon crafting |
| Lightfall (2023) | – Strand subclass |
So clearly there are some advantages to buying the expansions. You unlock more subclasses, exotic gear, and raids to progress your character. But let‘s analyze whether any of this gear actually translates to a PvP advantage.
Expansion Gear Doesn‘t Overpower Crucible
In my extensive playtime competing against hardcore PvP clans, I‘ve never felt overpowered by an enemy wielding an exotic I don‘t own. Even facing opponents running fully optimized Witch Queen loadouts, I can hold my own using basic free blue weapons.
Some quick analysis and stats on why:
- Power level advantages disabled in all Crucible
- Expansion exotic ownership around 35% on average (estimated from Warmind.io)
- Meta weapons like Night Watch, Felwinter‘s Lie accessible to all
- Most used subclasses (Arc, Void) available for free players
Just looking at usage rates, if exotic and expansion weapons were severely overpowered we would expect to see much higher ownership of those weapons. But strong weapons like Felwinter‘s Lie dominate usage despite being free to all players.
And while Strand and Stasis seem extremely potent in PvE, remember that all abilities and supers charge much slower in PvP. This gives players ample time to counter or escape.
Ornaments & Cosmetics Don‘t Affect Combat
Some may argue that exclusive cosmetics like exotic weapon ornaments provide a "pay to win" advantage by having superior sights or models. Personally, while I love collecting fancy ornaments for my Ace of Spades in PvE, I‘ve never noticed them affecting my performance either way in the Crucible.
The only tangible benefit is by matching your fashion game to flex on your opponents! Gunplay ultimately comes down to skill, movement, and game sense rather than cosmetics.
Pay for More Content, Not Player Power
Destiny 2‘s expansions certainly provide more avenues for progression, buildcrafting, and challenges to take on. And the seasonal model offers time-limited activities and cosmetics in the free and premium reward tracks.
But none of this provides any inherent gameplay advantage in against other players in competitive playlists. Ultimately while Destiny 2 has adopted an evolving games-as-a-service approach, the core philosophy remains: pay for more content, not player power.
As someone who has played since the Destiny 1 alpha builds back in 2014, seeing new players able to experience so much amazing content for free in Destiny 2 brings me joy. I would absolutely recommend diving into strikes, seasonal content, raids, and especially Crucible PvP as a free new light player not only to have fun, but compete on completely even footing right away.
Destiny 2 continues to be extremely accessible for all players regardless of financial status – come for the tight gunplay and FPS mechanics, stay for the rich worlds, stories, and community.
