On the issue of weapons only being unlock-able in the shop, I think that may have been some kind of UI bug in the beta. When I played with my friends, they complained when they saw the “Unlocked in Shop” tag on certain guns. When I looked at them on my end, they had regular level requirements. None of us pre-ordered anything or purchased anything. When I reached the required level in the beta, I unlocked the gun that my friends indicated was “Shop Only”
They’re squeezing whatever they can out of this game before its final whimper. The only people that would buy this $15 pack are people who don’t know anything about the game. Marketing it as a “starter pack” is so disingenuous that I can’t believe that Bungie had any other motive in mind than to con a few unaware people who are unlucky enough to pick up this game on a sale.
Maybe if they’d finally do something about the new player experience (specifically, the lack of one) this game could actually go back to its heyday. But they’re just committed to enshitifying it further with FOMO tactics, convoluted expansion/season pass/dungeon pass models.
I mean just try selling your friends on a game when you explain to them how much the upfront cost is to actually play the “real” game.