I am 50 years old and have been a hard core gamer since I was 14 years old. Now that doesn’t get me a master’s degree in game design but it just might get me one in playing video games. As embarrassing as that admission may be I am hoping that it will get some of you, and hopefully someone at Bungie, to listen to some thoughts on Destiny and how it could be made better quickly. First I’d like to start this by saying that I love this game’s gameplay and some of the interesting elements Bungie put into it like Daily/weekly missions and the Raid. The moment I heard a company like Bungie was developing a game as it was advertised in the beginning I could see the potential and was dying to lay my mitts on the game. But here are some random observations and a list of what I believe needs to be corrected ASAP. Much is forgivable but a customer needs an emotional connection to what they are purchasing. If someone is emotionally connected to a thing they will fight for that thing and forgive a major defect or some annoyances. Emotional connection is easiest through a grand story and I loved most aspects of this game except the story. I can't even call the story in Destiny a train wreck because there really wasn't one. There was no character development, no backstory given, no real description of the world or the stakes that humanity is facing – nothing. There needs to be enough story that an average person, at the end of a game, has thoughts about where the story may be headed and is so lost in the story that they come back to the game again and again to relive and imagine what may happen when the next game/DLC comes out. That's exactly what drew me into halo. Even at the end of Halo 1 there were many questions without answers but at least there was some thought about the directions that the story could take. as many in these forums have said, its early and Destiny is but a single step in a 10 year journey. I say that is wrong because without backstory, character development, history in the universe, and an idea of where the story is headed then there is no first step. Because of all of those elements built into the Story of Halo I lost more sleep and spent more hours playing Halo 1 than I can count. And I loved every second of it. What the Destiny universe needs now is some serious work on a story. If it costs some serious coin to get someone to come in and jumpstart the story then so be it. Destiny will need a story to last another year. Someone needs to fill in the huge gaps in an empty storyline. Even just enough to hold us over until more game is released would but Destiny some time for more work to be done. How about some storytelling to get people engaged in the content? Quarterly DLC is fine to a point but what about every month having vendors come and go with others replacing them? Idea being that it is a dynamic universe where perhaps vendors die off once in a while. Where every month enemies gain or lose ground in the various planet maps creating a sense of jeopardy because a player never knows where those enemies might be next. Maybe once in a while an event where enemy forces attack the tower and everyone in the tower at the time has to fight to protect everything. It create a sense of newness and danger that is missing now. Plus each month a small piece of story could be released to further grab player attention. further, the story (and all other elements of gameplay) should be within the game. I have little interest in going to a website to look up grimoire cards or to use the forums to find that sixth member of a raid team. Really – there should be ways to do that within Destiny. And lastly I view the hidden ghosts as a huge missed opportunity. I would have loved it if each one you found have you a piece of history. Every time a ghost was found you would know that a guardian had died right in that spot. Each ghost holding the last moments of a fallen guardian throughout the history of Destiny. Each ghost could have held a story of what was going on at the time, what each guardian was trying to do in a mission, and how they died. The DLC is really too small at a glance. Playstation gets exclusive material which is fine but if that is the business plan then really make the DLC larger so that Playstation gets their bonus content and yet there is enough material to keep the Xbox crowd busy for a few months as well. I will continue playing Destiny because I enjoy much of it but I have 2 friends who have said they plan on skipping the DLC because of how small it seems. Without friends playing this game its going to get mighty boring. To be honest, if a first run through of the DLC takes less than 6 -7 hours of new material then Bungie should be embarrassed. I would suggest adding some noticeable changes to Destiny. Even if the changes are meaningless in the short term players will return to see what might be different next. A new booth, a new red ball to go with the purple one, different stock at the vendors, add some dialog, lord, even a piece of toilet paper hanging out from underneath the Speakers robe – something. Even if it isn’t something new to do, it will be something new to see. Although I know there are others who don't agree, in my opinion the story is as important as any other aspect of the game. The story is what breathes life into what you are doing, keeps you coming back to trying to piece together scraps of information to see if there's even more story underneath. I know many would not agree but at this point I would even pay a small amount to get some story. I need to know what the fight is about, why its important, why I am here, and what the stakes are in this fight. Right now there is no story and without that there is no emotional connection. Some other items that I have noticed myself and through others that I have been playing with. Why are there so many different forms of currency? Crucible and Vanguard marks? Glimmer? Motes? Strange Coins? –lol- . Why is there a limit on how many marks you can earn in a week? What possible reason could there be that a person can have an exotic helmet, find and exotic chest piece and because of ? you cannot wear both? Really that is a nonsense rule that needs to be explained or removed. Why is it that a person can have spare ammo but if they use it then they cannot use it again for several minutes? So in actual battle could you imagine soldiers slapping in a fresh magazine and then being forced to wait several minutes before they could use another magazine because of ? some reason? More silliness that needs removed. Remove limitations like that and just let players play. People have mentioned how little to do there is in this game. Bounties are old after a while and the same grind over and over. Would it be so expensive for Bungie to add a little variety to the Bounties? Instead of “Kill 100 bad guys with precision damage” every day, what about narrowing it down to “Kill 100 bad guys with precision headshots from a pistol or sniper rifle – or even 500 bad guys with a rocker launcher? That adds variety and yet it’s the same thing. Add missions where you work your ass off and at the end of the mission you get that gun or piece of armor that you have been drooling over for a couple of weeks. How about the speaker offering you some special difficult missions in exchange for one of his exclusive items? Speaking of which – Does Ava Lavante ever rotate her stock? –lol- other than one or two emblems her stuff has been identically “meh” since the game released. I know shaders are on the way but how about some other ways to individualize your characters? Can we have a much larger variety of public events? I will be coming back to Destiny but some of my friends and clanmates may not be. I am hoping that something is released to make them come back. [b]Orbs:[/b] Shouldn't there come a time when Green orbs should just automatically be broken down into parts? I am going to get carpal tunnel breaking down 10 - 15 green items every time I hit the tower. [b]Limitations and Force: [/b]Don't place limitations on your players - nor force them to do things they may not want to do. I noticed in many posts throughout the forums that a big portion of players have no intention of playing PVP or are severely annoyed when they do so please do not "force" those players into PVP if they should happen to want some exotic. For those players that are all about PVP and hate the PVE then give them some exclusive rewards but don't force them to play PVE. Take a vote from your community on whether those two game types should be firmly separate. Don't limit player gear. If someone has 3 exotics but can only use one then what sense is there in that? If the limit was placed so that they are not too powerful in PVP then simply downgrade the stats a little for that item for the time that they are in PVP. [b]Bill Nighy:[/b] Someone hired Bill Nighy to be a voice in this game and only have him speak a handful of lines? Oh what a waste of a truly awesome voice. If that's the case I would rather have Bill Nighy as the voice of my ghost and Peter Dinklage be the voice of the speaker. Not using Bill Nighy to the fullest is a travesty.