[quote]TL;DR: The idea is that you can join the Alien side once you reach a high level, but there's lots of consequences and it basically turns into Mythic difficulty mode.[/quote] So we pretty much know that we, as Guardians of the City in Destiny, will have a choice between one of the five different factions. Everyone is uniting together to unselfishly defend their homeplanet from the eeeevil aliens. Nationalism and patriotism at its finest, the people of the City and Earth are all united together against a common enemy. Except, that wouldn't really happen, would it? Rather, wouldn't there likely be ones who would "welcome our new alien overlords"? There would most definitely be defections to the side of our new (forced) neighbors, and the aliens would most likely welcome people who knew the inner workings of the City, the Guardian military, any given faction, or even an expert on human society (which is pretty much anyone who lives in it). Well, why not allow us, the players to experience this sort of betrayal on a more personal level. If I'm fighting humans who're NPCs, I won't care that much. I've done it before. I do it in every other shooter. However, if it were possible to fight, in a legitimate, noncompetitive, totally real sense against another human, player-character, it's much more meaningful. The vast majority of people I encounter will be on my side, fighting with me against the aliens. But whenever I encounter someone fighting with the NPCs that is actually a player-character, it'd be jarring. Especially since, when it's an NPC, there's only so many character designs I'll run into from the "Human Enemy Defector" library loaded onto the disc, while running into a player-character enemy would be different every time. Now, you many be wondering how this idea would work. Well, I was thinking it could be like end-game stuff. Once you reach a certain very high level, or achieved some end-game-esque milestone, you would be given the option to either continue to progress your abilities on the side of the Guardians, or move over to the Alien side and join an enemy faction. Along with this, you'd lose all your levels and go back to level 1 to restart. Your abilities would be minimalized but your skill would be just as high as it was before (obviously). This way, people could never complain about the opposition being too easy because, at some point, maybe 3-4 months after launch, you'd start to face other player-characters in situations where you would normally fight Aliens. In addition, you would be able to, reach a higher level ultimately should you choose to side with the Aliens, but, as I said, would have to start from square one. Sort of like a CoD prestige, but only once. Finally, you'd probably not be able to access "the City" as your hub anymore, and would have to go to some Alien outpost. Though that'd require them to make that Alien outpost, too. Whatever. Do it, Bungie. Stop being so lazy. Just do it. So, in an easily read, hyphenated and numbered list: [quote]-Once you reach an as-yet-undetermined high level or high-level milestone, you would be given the option to join the enemy side -- defect. -When you joined that side, you would participate on the side of the Aliens during any of the raids, PVE situations, or even as an "against everyone" role in 'Faction Wars'. -[b][u]Cons of Switching[/u][/b]:   [b]1)[/b] Every time you play anything, your team is made of NPCs and the other team is all player-characters.   [b]2)[/b] You have to go back to square one as far as abilities and levels are concerned.   [b]3)[/b] You can't be in human factions anymore, and if you participate in Faction Wars, you get inserted into a game where you're the enemy of anyone but other Defecters.   [b]4)[/b] You can't access the sprawling metropolis of the City. You're not relegated to a small Alien outpost.   [b]5)[/b] Perhaps the most damning of all, you can't use the Traveler's magic anymore because you're not longer fighting on its side or in its name. You are only one class in the Alien military, and it's probably a mix between Hunter and Defender (ie general infantry class).   [b]6)[/b] LOLJK this one is the worst: you can't play non-simulation things with your friends anymore. You can play simulated custom game type things, but, logically speaking, you can't do raids, or Faction Wars, or racing (if it's present) with them because they're liable to want to kill you for one reason or another.   [b]7)[/b] You lose any gear in some way tied directly to Space Magic (a helmet with a special force field or a gun that shoots space lightning), as you no longer have any. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -[b][u]Pros of Switching[/u][/b]:   [b]1)[/b] Harder difficulty for those who want a challenge.   [b]2)[/b] Though you're initially sent back to square one with abilities, you can now, ultimately, attain a level of ability higher than people who've chosen to stay with the Guardians.   [b]3)[/b] Seriously it's going to be hard as shit.   [b]4)[/b] Access to alien weaponry.   [b]5)[/b] You retain any gear that isn't in some way tied directly to Space Magic (see above) , as anyone would if they switched to the other side.[/quote] e: well, shit... e2: was it because I said shit so much? because i can take out the shits. the shits can be removed.