6 Ways Anthem Isn’t Like Destiny
Microtransactions
Let’s address the elephant in the room right out of the gate: Destiny has loot boxes and a season pass, Anthem has neither. That said though, the differences between Destiny and Anthem’s microtransactions are more nuanced than that statement.
Since it doesn’t feature any loot boxes like Destiny, Anthem includes a cash shop full of customization options, including emotes, shaders, and armor pieces. Players can find plenty of customization options as mission rewards and loot drops, but some are bought through the cash shop.
While Destiny offers universal loot boxes at set prices that contain everything from flaming hoverbikes to holographic trombone emotes, Anthem’s cash shop offerings vary in price depending on the item. Moreover, current prices are much more reasonable than the early leaked prices, but they’re still more expensive than Destiny’s loot boxes.
Furthermore, each Destiny loot box includes several items of varying rarity, so odds are players will get something they like should they buy one.
Even though the quickest way to obtain loot boxes and cash shop items is to pay for them with real-world cash, players can still earn loot boxes in Destiny through grinding.
After gamers reach max level, the game rewards players who “level up” again with a free loot box, which means players get a shot at obtaining fancy new shaders and ships after an hour or two of dedicated enemy-killing and event-completing.
Also, any items you don’t want can be dismantled into a special currency (Bright Dust), that can be exchanged for things you do want.
Meanwhile, players can grind in-game coins to purchase Anthem’s microtransactions, but these cash shop items cost tens of thousands of coins, so players have to grind and farm for hours on end to earn enough coinage for one cash shop item.
So, while Destiny forces players to participate in digital gambling if they want certain customization options, the game’s loot boxes are cheaper and relatively painless to earn by comparison.
