Personally, I loved the random NPC affinity results in the first game. Then again, I always wind up with the Queen as my beloved and not like… a child, or the blacksmith.

It is crazy that it has become this much of a problem and it feels like it is on almost no one’s radar. Is this even reversible at this point? I assume not, but that it can definitely get worse.

This was my thought as well. Pretty sure I already have all of that turned off but I would have done that as part of the install and brief customizing of the UI. Can’t say I ever used a guide or anything, or even considered it unusual for modern software.

Ah, that likely explains it. I know when installing I hit “no” on anything that sounds remotely marketing related and I turned off search and weather because they just don’t add any value and I like a clean screen. So I think the only ads I get are the small, unobtrusive ones on the lock screen, which I can’t say I’m bothered by in the slightest. I barely even notice them since it isn’t like I stare at the lock screen.

I’m so confused by the ads thing. I don’t think I’ve noticed any since upgrading to Win 11. Are they only on certain editions or something?

I think the worst part about this starter pack is that, not only is it mostly useless garbage, new players (who this targets) have no idea this is mostly useless garbage. They surely don’t even know you can only equip one of these weapons at a time, let alone that they are far from meta.

D2 is just the absolute most miserable experience for new players and Bungie consistently makes it worse. It’s baffling. Meanwhile, they try to milk their veteran players more and more every season by offering more for money, less for free, and making the game more of a grind.

The best part about Destiny 2 is it has personally put me on a hard line against any kind of live service game for the foreseeable future.