I kept telling myself I wasn't going to come on to post my thoughts on "The Taken King" and how pushed away I felt by the initial handling of the DLC, but I can't hold back anymore. The time has come to post my thoughts so they can promptly be ignored. I do feel a bit suckered into having dropped my $40 for "The Taken King", but I know I'll play it. I know I will most likely enjoy it. I have no problem with not having gotten the "exclusive" content, until Bungie came out and put a price tag on it for people who already have all the available DLC. $20? Are you kidding me? For some novel trinkets? Looking back, TDB and HoW both cost $20 a piece. The content was there and (for some) the price was reasonable. I felt I got my moneys worth from both expansions. But charging an extra $20 for some emotes, shaders, and XP boosting class items not only is egregious, but really cheapens the value of the DLC that has already been released. If they tacked on and extra $5 for the CE exclusives for people who already had everything, I would consider the purchase to be reasonable. $40 for "The Taken King" already felt like a bit much, but I swallowed my pride and ordered it. If the CE content that is being sold has half the value of "The Taken King", then by all means Bungie, let me know why. My next point isn't as bad, but is still a matter of much frustration. Red Bull and their exclusive quest. That wouldn't be too much of an issue. I will gladly by a can, dump the contents out on a curb for the code. $2 is chump change for me. But wait, what's that? You have to go to a 7-11 during the month of July in order to get the cans that will have codes posted on them? Once again, Bungie has found a way to push players out of the way of getting the full experience from "The Taken King". The nearest 7-11 is 350 miles and two states away from where I live. Thanks, Bungie. Way to isolate pockets of the country. I know that the quest will be available at the start of 2016 for all players. I know I could call a friend who lives near a 7-11 and request they grab a can and get me the code. That's not the point. The point is the way that they are marketing this deal. I understand that plenty of cash may have been thrown their way, but this is not the Bungie all my Xbox owning, Halo loving friends told me about. I appreciate the effort to give all the Day One vets some of their own exclusive content. Granted, all you'll see is a lot of people running around with black shaders on. I know it probably couldn't have been done within the confines of the game, but if I were given the option to make my own custom shader for my loyalty, then I would gladly forgo the black shader. But, it is a kind gesture from a studio that I don't think has much control over how they operate within the confines of a parent company that has been known to push the limits of what consumers will pay for. I really believe that if the 10 year plan for "Destiny" is to be seen through, how future content and materials are marketed and priced to consumers is going to have to start taking priority over business deals regarding the distribution of content and materials. Of course, such is the business climate where you have to balance out the money from both exclusivity deals and money from consumers. How much will you take from other businesses, while potentially losing customers, how much will you charge, while potentially losing customers, and how many customers do you intend to retain, in order to balance out the three way pendulum to make the most money? I know all the money doesn't necessarily go to Bungie as the parent company sees fit to distribute funds to balance out their business for their future projects as well. I work in the most successful division of my parent company and a majority of our funds go to support other divisions that aren't doing as well. I understand. And that is really all I've got. I still look forward to playing "The Taken King". After all, I spent my money on the DLC with missions, strikes, and a raid, and that is what I expect to get. Yet, I still can't help but feel disappointed in they way the extra content has been handled. Emotes, shaders, and class items are not worth $20. Making people wait to enjoy the full content of something they paid full price for is alienating. Yet, it's not a perfect world, and life isn't always fair. If you don't make your voice heard, what do you expect to change? High five if you read all the way through this post.