Okay, so with Year 2, we all thought everything was going to be amazing and the game would become 100x better. People believed that, even when it came out. However, shortly following the comeback of ToO, people have been leaving this game in droves. Why is this? What pattern is there? Let's look at this: By the end of HoW, there was a lot of content added over time. People hardly left because even VoG was worth running to some degree. When TTK came, everything in Year 1 was left behind (save for MOST exotics - RIP Gjally). Some got mad about this at first, but most everyone accepted it. We dove into the game, digging through the Dreadnought with the fury of Thralls. Cut to two months from now, most are done with all the content. We've tasted the great fruits of Oryx's death and seen the wonderful beauty of the Lighthouse - Many of us are 300+ light, some are even 310+. So why are the folks who are considered the 32s and 34s of today the ones leaving? [u]Look at this[/u] [b]HOW Content[/b]: VoG (hard only), Strikes, Heroic, NightFall, Crota's End Normal, Crota's End Hard, Prison of Elders 28-35, ToO, Bounties, A very thorny PvP, IB [b]TTK Content[/b]: KF Raid Normal, KF Raid Hard, Court of Oryx, Exotics Quests, Various Quests, Strikes, Heroic, NF, ToO, bounties, a considerably hand-cannonless PvP, IB While this may LOOK alright, let's view the VALUE of a few notable activities, and check them off accordingly: - [b]Nightfall[/b] in Year 1 had much more incentive: flaming head, EXP Boost, Apparent better loot [b]Minus Nightfall on Year 2[/b] - [b]Court of Oryx[/b] has little incentive; DTS (Destiny The Show Podcast) stated that the Court of Oryx should be used for Artifacts, implying that the potential to play with 6+ players at once was wasted with little incentive to do anything else with it. [b]Thus, minus Court of Oryx.[/b] - [b]Exotics/Other Quests[/b]: Other quests don't seem to be too difficult and can thus be completed quickly; anything too difficult is abandoned. As far as Exotics go, it's been said that many exotic quests aren't worth it with a few exceptions. A good example of this is the First Curse Quest, which yields a gun that, while it can be effective, just feels underwhelming. [b]Minus most quests.[/b] -[b]Prison of Elders[/b] Due to the insane easiness it was to reach level 34, only PoE level 35 gave any incentive to play because of the rewards. [b] Thus, minus PoE 28-34 on Year 1[/b] -[b]Heroic[/b]: In Year 2, while the removing strange coins proved to be of little effect (As my friend stated the other day "I'm still getting coins up the Wazoo!", it was combined with the normal strikes), every strike above level 20 was combined with the Heroic. Thus, there's only one strike that anybody at level 40 can run. [b]Minus heroic strikes in year 2[/b] -[b]Crota's end Normal[/b]: Since we're talking about HoW content, we can speak of how easily people became 32+. That being said, it can be stated that only Crota's End Hard gave any incentive to play because of the higher drop rate of sought-after guns as well as the Necrochasm. [b]Minus Crota's End Normal[/b] -[b]KF Raid Normal[/b]: Both difficulties of the KF are essentially the same thing with a few forks thrown in the road and higher level enemies for added difficulty. They aren't much more different otherwise. Minus KF Raid Normal -[b]Bounties[/b] This one isn't getting removed, but it's worth mentioning that the bounties give far less xp. This is counteracted by how the factions usually give loot more often in their package AND how we can donate for rep. [b]Nothing subtracted, still food for thought.[/b] -[b]Iron Banner[/b]: Some may argue that this isn't worth playing anymore. [b]Only subtract if you wish[/b] Now then, let's make a new list: Year 1 HOW Content: VoG (hard only), Strikes, Heroic, NightFall, Crota's End Hard, Prison of Elders 35, Trials of Osiris, Bounties, A very thorny PvP, IB Year 2 TTK Content: KF Raid Hard, Some Quests, Strikes, Trials of Osiris, Bounties, a considerably hand-cannonless PvP, IB Wow! Now there's a huge difference! TTK Content: 7 actvities HoW Content: 10 actvities 3-4 activities doesn't seem to be much but it clearly seems to make all the difference. This might be because: - Two of the activities in Year 1 were full-blown raids, while only one activity in Year 2 is. - One activity in year 1 was totally unique, that being Prison of Elders, and while many quit it a few weeks in, the PvE consumer used it a lot. After the Laurea Prima emblem was announced, even the PvP-only chumps went to beat up Skolas. - Trials of Osiris used to give elemental primaries. This made going flawless much more sought after. All in all, it seems that not only was there more content in Year 1, but also more incentive to play. I want to look into the "incentive to play" factor more, because it seems to be extremely important in making or breaking an activity.