I agree this is weird. I wondered if it's designed to slow character progression to L32 a bit after so many people hit 30 so fast on the first raid. Especially as they tweaked the loot drops in CE a bit. Now a lot of people will have the gear before they have the materials I think, not the other way round like pre-DLC. I have one new raid piece and after two weeks of the raid still haven't levelled it fully. The best I can come up with is they will allow drops from this boss on the hard mode. But if you look at the app, both normal and hard only have three loot slots compared to VoG's four, so in not sure that's right either. I will do this bit when I first reach it, but if the team disbands after a few attempts, I'll then look for a Crota cp as like you there is never a group willing to start from deathsinger. I don't think completing it affects the drops (RNG being what it is), but I do wonder if there is a hidden mechanic or chest somewhere after deathsinger / before Crota that we are missing.