Hey Bungie, fellow guardians, and occasional forum lurkers like me, This post is meant to provide constructive criticism, and I hope this is something that Bungie can learn from and other gamers can rally behind. I want to stress that these opinions are solely my own, though I'm sure many of you share my sentiments. You might not agree with my gripes and likes, but please respect them as my own, and let's just agree to disagree on some stuff (respectfully). So, without further ado, Deej and Bungie, please take note: I am a hardcore Destiny player. I have logged over 13 days in this game between my three alts (Warlock, Hunter, and Titan). I have beaten Atheon and Crota on Hard, and cleared every challenge available in this game. Bungie, I have played this game more than any other game I've ever owned (going all the way back to the SNES), so I want to start by saying, "thank you". Destiny is tremendously fun much of the time, and I have absolutely gotten every cent of value back for what I paid months ago. I say all of the above to try and lend some credibility to my critiques for the game, as I am not a forum belligerent, internet troll, or vitriolic monster. I am a gamer, a fan of your previous games, and definitely a fan of Destiny, and I desperately want to communicate some of the things wrong in Destiny that drive me bonkers, so that you guys can fix it, and make the entire 10 year series better (beginning with fixing this game). First, The story. Guys, I can't imagine how much work went into making Destiny, I'm sure making a compelling story that fits this MMO-RPG-FPS system has unique challenges, but what shipped in Destiny is unacceptably thin, confusing, and just plain bad. This game needs compelling cut scenes, narrative, and characters like the savannah needs rain. The art in this game is gorgeous, the characters are interesting from a distance, and the moment to moment gameplay is spectacular, but the story in Destiny is the albatross that hangs around your game's neck. I want to care about why I'm running through the Vault of Glass, I want to care about the story missions, I want to be a part of fighting some grand threat (a nebulous "darkness" doesn't count), and I want to be able to recommend Destiny to my gamer friends without having to give a caveat first. (Also, grimoire cards housed outside of the game do not count) A friend of mine just started Destiny after Christmas, and some of us ran a story mission with him just so we could laugh when the cut scene dropped and he asked us, "What the heck just happened?" All of us, including my friend, love Destiny, but stuff like this is jarring in comparison to the rest of the package. You can do better Bungie, I've played your other games, PLEASE bring this one up to par. Second, The loot. My goodness do I love getting loot in this game. I love new armor, new weapons, and new shaders. I am definitely hooked on the loot drug, but its a desperately frustrating addiction. I am sick of feeling like I am being shoved through a bottleneck to try to get radiant shards and energy, separate from ascendant shards and energy, just so I can level up my best gear. The raid is the only place to get those (radiant) materials, and I can only do the raid for loot once per week, so I am forced to sit, week after week, waiting to get enough stuff RANDOMLY, to level up all my characters. I can play 30 hours more per week than other gamers, and not have appreciably better rewards for it, all because I didn't get the right RNG in one of the Raids. Don't even get me started on the new vendor gear. In one fell swoop, you punished every single player who ran the VoG repeatedly, by making all of the gear we battled for worthless in PVE and close to that in Iron Banner. I want to be able to wear my VoG armor without feeling like I am intentionally ruining my stats. I also can't fathom how it makes sense to have the new vendor gear hit 31 without at least making similar upgrades to VoG drops (no, exotics don't exonerate this decision, though it is a nice start). You could have completely re-invigorated the value of running the VoG by making all the gear earned post update in the raid have 33 light, and all the weapons have 331 damage. Yes, that would have pissed off the guardians, myself included, but at least then we would have something else to do with our time, and have a way to maintain the viability of the weapons and armor we love from that raid, and you would still have a way for newbies to get up to speed using the vendors. The problem, as I see it, is that you decided to make a game built upon loot rather than XP, specifically loot from high level PVE and PVP situations. That's fine. But then you did not build any way for players to have their loot future-proofed (i.e. the ability to level it further post updates), or at least to have a way to change our armor appearance without slaying our character's stats or level. The bottom line is that the loot system is incredibly unfair to your long term players, who had to grind for weeks and weeks to get great gear (a grind that doesn't need to be so punitive), all so that you could make their weapons and armor worthless. Then, you set them on a new grind that's even more restrictive, and forced them to wear Crota armor just so they can keep their character at max level. Third, The glitches in the raids. Let me just say that the raids are the GREATEST TEAM BASED EXPERIENCE I'VE EVER HAD IN A VIDEO GAME. I applaud all of Bungie for their ingenuity, challenge, and mostly outstanding design. But I am also sick of the glitches. I understand completely that any time you have a massive event (for a console FPS), with six different connections trying to fight finite bandwidth, that sometimes glitches will occur. But VoG is still so broken. My clan wipes at least once on almost every VoG run (we have flawless raider, we aren't scrubs) because of some stupid glitch or another that ruins all of our hard work. You're worried about cheesers getting gear too easily? I'm worried that we're six months post launch and VoG is so broken that we have been forced to develop strategies for some of the glitches (like how to avoid being killed by splash damage while we're in the relic bubble, etc). It's just unacceptable. Crota on hard difficulty is a worthy challenge too, and it is admittedly less buggy than Atheon, but there are still two to five times my squad has wiped because of connection issues at peak times, mystifying glitches (the sword disappearing instantly), and Crota deciding simultaneous Gjallahorn 2.0s, being fired by 4 lvl 32s, can only drop him after he's finished an animation or two (like slashing the player carrying the sword). This is so frustrating that it makes us want to quit playing some times. What's the point of hours upon hours of grinding gear and materials and weapons, plus developing strategies for defeating Crota, only to have a glitch fell half of the team in an instant? It makes me want to quit trying (I won't...because loot drug). Finally, The crucible. The crucible is really fun. I love that armor and weapons persist across PVE and PVP. Each guardian has a style and an identity, and that doesn't change when you roll into PVP. But Crucible is still the most bare-bones multiplayer suite that Bungie has ever shipped. We don't have capture the flag, or even something like domination. We still don't have private matches, six months from launch. We can't vote on maps. There are more "can'ts" surrounding basic multiplayer elements of Crucible than there are "cans". The bones of a great PVP game are all right there, but there isn't nearly enough content to put flesh on them. Bungie, I hope you take these critiques for what they are: a plea for you to make Destiny all that it can be. I wanted to provide a concise and well-mannered voice to this process. I know I don't speak for everyone, but I hope you listen, as I believe I represent much of the core gamer base for hardcore games. You are on the precipice of true video gaming greatness with Destiny, and I love a lot of what is already there. Unfortunately, my current emotions regarding this game are kind of equivalent to dating a woman with model quality looks and a great personality, but she has crippling baggage; it doesn't matter how fantastic the good times are, if the baggage involved remains persistent and pervasive, eventually being in the relationship becomes a chore.