Right now, the Prison of Elders faces complaints all around: it’s not a raid, it's repetitive, there's too much attrition/bullet sponges, there’s no matchmaking, Skolas is too challenging, and the rewards aren’t worth it. These are not specifically my complaints, but those are some things I see people talk about. While I could try to tackle them all right here, I’d rather focus on the main reason we play the mode at all, and my main complaint: THE REWARDS. Note: look to Edit 6 for a proposed drop table that includes these new rewards. [b]PERKS [/b] The Prison isn’t a raid, but some of its rewards say otherwise. The armor and weapons feature bonus perks that are either anti-Fallen, or assist in a portion of the Prison. Well, bonus on armor. The weapons only have the special perk as their secondary perk, rather than having it as a third like all raid-tier gear before. This is one of the reasons that several people see these weapons as inferior. Another reason? The perks themselves. Dreg, Shank, and Vandal Burn are all incredibly useless given that those enemies go down the easiest, in one shot depending on the weapon. I say remove them, in favor of making better perks. Mutineer (Chance to Suppress Captain Abilities), Disciplinarian (Small amount of bonus damage to Fallen), and Demotion (Chance to Stun Captains) are fine perks, but could use a slight buff. Mutineer and Demotion should affect Servitors as well. Mutineer would stop Servitors from teleporting and healing other enemies. Now both perks would be much more valuable against Fallen, as there is nothing really designed to deal with those big purple bastards. Disciplinarian should also add [i]slightly[/i] more bonus damage. I propose the addition of new perks as well: Spyglass (Moderate bonus damage to invisible Fallen), and Prison Riot (Small amount of bonus damage to all enemies in the Prison of Elders, including objectives). Now each perk has value, and a specific role to play. But we’re not done yet, there’s still the matter of the actual weapons—important side note, there needs to be a Prison of Elders Legendary Sidearm*. You just can’t pretend like no one noticed. Even though we have Vestian Dynasty (opted with Mutineer AND Disciplinarian), it would be nice to have something with varying stats and different perks. Moving on—not having A. Elements on primaries B. Three perks, and C. a locked down special perk. I’ll fix that now. [spoiler][b]Six Dreg Pride II[/b], Hand Cannon: (Arc, Army of One, Luck in the Chamber, Mutineer) [b]Wolves’ Leash II[/b], Scout Rifle: (Void, Triple Tap, Outlaw, Disciplinarian) [b]Aegis of the Kell II[/b], Pulse Rifle: (Solar, Rangefinder, Headseeker, Spyglass) [b]Wolfslayer’s Claw II[/b], Auto Rifle: (Arc, Crowd Control, Glass Half Full, Demotion) [b]Shadow of Veils II[/b], Sniper Rifle: (Arc, Replenish, Firefly, Spyglass) [b]Wolves' Pit II[/b], Sidearm*: (Solar, Crowd Control, Hip Fire, Prison Riot) [b]Wolfborne Oath II[/b], Shotgun: (Arc, Close and/or Personal, Grave Robber, Demotion) [b]Servant of Aksor II[/b], Fusion Rifle: (Arc, Hidden Hand, Rangefinder, Mutineer) [b]The Last Rebellion II[/b], Rocket Launcher: (Void, Clown Cartridge, MIRV Mini, Prison Riot) [b]Chain of Orbiks-Fel II[/b], Machine Gun: (Void, Counterbalance, Feeding Frenzy, Disciplinarian) [/spoiler] ----------------------------------------- [b]DROPS/PURCHASE [/b] [i]But Quincy, the perks are random! Why even have Variks rotate stock if it’s the same thing?[/i] That’s the thing! Variks will continue to sell his current depowered stock ([b][u][i]Six Dreg Pride[/i][/u][/b], vs. the new Six Dreg Pride II) with random special perks (no elements on primaries) for weapon cores. Those will also have a chance to drop from level 28, 32, and 34 bosses and big chests, and the level 35 big chest. The ones I’ve listed will only have a chance to drop from Skolas (high chance) and the 35 big chest (medium chance). [i]But Quincy, I don’t like the special perks to you put down! I want a Six Dreg Pride with Prison Riot![/i] I get that, and I planned for it: Variks himself can reroll the weapons from his stock for a new special perk, which would cost you a Weapon Core each time. You cannot re-roll the revamped "II" ones, just as you cannot re-roll VoG or Crota weapons. [i]But Quincy, where will I get Queen’s Wrath weapons? [/i] Queen’s Wrath gear will be moved to Petra Venj’s stock and made purchasable with Vanguard Marks at varying tiers. The old Queen's Wrath Legendary armor (I know you still have those models, Bungie) should also be available. The Royal Amethyst can be turned in to the Cryptarch for Glimmer, or now to Petra for Reputation. One last thing to motivate people to run the Prison—Etheric Light is added as a reward to the lv 32 Prison. As it stands right now, the stuff is really way too rare for some people, mostly lower leveled players, and gates a lot of people off from actually getting to try the harder content that the DLC has to offer. Putting it down as a reward for level 32 will allow more people to access more content. It’s good for everyone. --------------------------------- That's about it really. Someone could tackle the mechanics of the Prison, like how to make fights more dynamic, or how to add some exploration or unpredictability, or how to re-scale difficulty, sure, but I feel that this change alone would make the prison feel more "worth it" to run, you feel me? Edit 1: also, buff the rate at which these weapons drop. The ciphers can stay rare, but the time-wall is unnecessary as well. Edit 2: The chance for Mutineer and Demotion to activate should be increased. Edit 3: Changed the acquisition standard for "II" gear. Only drops from Skolas and his big chest. Edit 4: with the removal of Queen weapons from the prison, random legendaries will be added to the chests. Having an item drop from a boss is hard, with the lowest drop rates being in lv 28 and lv 35 Prison encounters, albeit being for two different kinds of weapon. Edit 5: On Armor-- Armor pieces should also have a chance to drop from bosses and chests. Gloves on all levels, boots from 32 up, Helms and Chests from 34 up. Random pieces will still be available from Variks, but this time he will only sell random stat (and perk, if gauntlets) boots and gauntlets. With etheric light more available, this is fair because more people will be able to hit level 34, even without Prison armor or exotics. More on armor perks: [spoiler]Rerhaps it would be best if the perks for each piece of armor (save for gauntlets), was rolled into just one non-discriminatory perk: Arbiter, Rampart, and Stalker. I think to reconcile with that, the efficacy of the perks would have to be tiered by round, Round 1: 10% Perk strength Round 2: 10% Perk strength Round 3: 33% Perk strength Round 4: 66% Perk strength Round 5: 100% Perk strength That way, you don't automatically get huge buffs right away, but it makes the armor useful for the entire fight, rather than just one segment, which may not even be the boss. The gauntlets can and should keep the Ether Claw/Needle/Bomb random perks. Just like Prison Riot is for the Prison only, Ether shouldbe for Fallen only. Also, all strength? The stat rolls should be random, just like EVERY OTHER PIECE IN THE GAME. For shame, yo.[/spoiler] Edit 6: [b]Proposed drop tables[/b] for bosses and big chests: [spoiler] [b]28[/b] Boss: Basic Prison Weapons, Prison Gloves [b]28[/b] Chest: Basic Prison Weapons, Prison Gloves, Legendary Engrams, Exotic Gear, Royal Amethyst [b]32[/b] Boss: Basic Prison Weapons, Prison Gloves, Prison Boots [b]32[/b] Chest: Basic Prison Weapons, Prison Gloves, Prison Boots, Legendary Engrams, Exotic Gear [b]34[/b] Boss: Basic Prison Weapons, All Prison Armor, Elder Ciphers [b]34[/b] Chest: Basic Prison Weapons, All Prison Armor, Legendary Engrams, Exotic Gear, Royal Amethyst [b]35[/b] Skolas: "II" Prison Weapons, All Prison Armor, Exotic Weapons, Exotic Armor, Elder Ciphers [b]35[/b] Mini-boss: Royal Amethyst, Motes of Light, Strange Coins [b]35[/b] Chest: Basic Prison Weapons, "II" Prison Weapons, All Prison Armor, Legendary Engrams, Exotic Gear, Royal Amethyst, Etheric Light [/spoiler]