When pressed by Eurogamer to explain how they can justify selling The Taken King expansion for $40 while omitting content that players could only get if they re-purchased the entire game again, Bungie's Luke Wilson gave the PR equivalent of "because fuck you, give me money."
Eurogamer: So it may seem like a small thing but you're adding exclusive content to the game - three new dance emotes - that players can't get unless they rebuy the main game and the two existing DLCs. Is that right?

Luke Smith:
"There is no way right now for you to get the new dance emotes without doing that. Those are Collector's Edition exclusive. We've set some stuff aside for that edition specifically to really make it appeal to fans who have engaged with the game already and also to people that will enter the game this autumn.

Can you see that some fans are confused that you're asking them to buy stuff they already own?

LS:
"Yeah, I can totally empathise with those people. But the Collector's Edition is a pretty cool package for people who want to pursue that stuff. Otherwise, surely what you're saying is that you would want to buy them separately, right?"

Well, yeah. I would rather do that - pay a few pounds or dollars or whatever - than spend money on things I already own.

LS:
"Well, we have nothing more to talk about regarding your opportunity to spend extra money in Destiny, other than The Taken King and the three versions we've announced."(...)

Taken King costs £39.99, which is almost same as base game. Does its content justify that?

LS:
"I'm going to use American dollars, because British pounds are just foreign to me..."

Literally foreign.

LS:
"Indeed, an ocean away. So, purchasers get a big, rich campaign. Fully voiced cinematics and the story of what happens when an angry alien god wages war on a solar system, all with a satisfying conclusion. You also have a new subclass to pursue and unlock. We also have a bunch of new strikes - we're not yet talking about how many - and a new raid. We're showing two new PVP modes and four PVP maps this week, and it's a fairly safe bet we're not done yet showing things off. So I'm fairly excited about the value proposition. We're calling this a major expansion because it is. We're giving people a whole new place to go, that new destination..."

I get that it is big but it is also the same price as the base game. That had four areas rather than one and more missions than the Taken King. Why is it the same price?

LS:
"All I can do is answer that with the same thing I just gave you... We're really comfortable with the value we're giving to players this autumn. I believe that once we begin to share more, players will be even more excited. And for existing players it also comes with the Founder's pack with a new Sparrow, shader and emblem."(...)

Final question on prices -

LS:
Is it also the final question on the emotes?

I'm not going to mention them again. I can't get them.

LS:
But you can if you buy the Collector's Edition.

I'm not going to buy the game and the two DLCs all over again.

LS:
Okay, but first I want to poke at you on this a little bit.

Poke at me?

LS:
You're feeling anxious because you want this exclusive content but you don't know yet how much you want it. The notion of spending this money is making you anxious, I can see it -

I do want them. I would buy them -

LS:
If I fired up a video right now and showed you the emotes you would throw money at the screen.

What I'm saying is that fan frustration is not because they don't understand the proposition. It comes regardless of how cool the exclusive content is. The frustration - and mine as a fan - is that the method of acquiring it requires me to re-buy content I bought a year ago.

LS:
(Long pause) It's about value. The player's assessment of the value of the content.

These are flat out disgusting responses to the questions asked. The responses given by Smith did next to nothing to actually answer the questions and often came off as arrogant and flippant. In fact, he makes a very good argument on why current owners should not purchase any of the new content.