Destiny's new microtransactions let you pay your way to the top

By Danny Cowan December 15, 2015

new destiny microtransactions boost characters and weapons sparrow racing guardian — Image used with permission by copyright holder

The latest batch of DLC for Bungie’s spacefaring first-person shooter Destiny allows players to skip the game’s lengthy leveling process, instantly boosting character classes and weapons with one-time purchases.

Players now have the option of starting Destiny‘s quest with a Level 25 Titan, Warlock, or Hunter, bypassing the experience-gathering process that defines the game’s initial hours. Users who purchase Destiny‘s newly released character-boosting DLC will also receive a Subclass Boost and Telemetries that increase the rate at which weapons gain levels.

Destiny‘s consumable Level 25 boosts instantly grant players access to a moderately leveled Hunter, Warlock, or Titan at the game’s outset. Each purchased boost only applies to a single character class, and boosts for additional characters of the same class must be purchased separately.

The Level 25 Boost packs, priced at $30 apiece, also include bonus in-game perks that can be applied to subclasses and weapons. Once these perks are used, players must purchase an additional Level 25 Boost in order to outfit other characters or weapons with the same perks.

Destiny‘s initial level cap is Level 40, meaning that the Level 25 Boost packs put players a little more than halfway toward reaching maximum level. After reaching the level cap, players can further boost their attributes via Light Levels.

Publisher Activision Blizzard previously experimented with character-boosting DLC in its popular MMORPG World of Warcraft. A Level 90 Character Boost in World of Warcraft allows players to skip the game’s preliminary gameplay sequences and advance to difficult quests that normally require hours of play to reach.

Data miners discovered evidence of Destiny‘s paid character boosts in October. Claiming that this data was part of a scrapped in-game event, developer Bungie explained that “the team decided that they didn’t have a place in the game, and cut them from the experience.”

Destiny‘s Level 25 Boost packs are available now on Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network.

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