Gear Diversity: I actually take back the things I’ve said about this during the alpha, beta and first two weeks of Destiny. There is actually a respectable variety of gear in Destiny at the moment. Now the problems are that A) you may never get to see it due to RNG B) everything becomes obsolete when you are FORCED to wear a very narrow selection of gear to raise a light level, culminating in a single set for those wanting to reach level 30 (the raid gear). This is a funnel, it is very bad, which Lord of the Rings online learned the hard way, just tell me if any of this sounds familiar: Also the legendary gear that the vanguard sells looks atrocious and tacky. My warlock had to sacrifice his majestic, regal blue-rarity trench coat for some tattered, gaudy piece of shit that makes me look like a magical hobo, just to level up. I can at least see the point of having jagged rectangular shoulders when I need to hit enemies with a shoulder charge, but unless Atheon is in desperate need of shaving his armpits, I think the STUPID razor blade on top of my hideous helmet really just needs to go and get lost forever in the timestream. Also where in the hell are the playstation exclusive gear sets and why are they only blue rarity when they look like what Legendary gear ought to be. In fact, what is up with the rarity levels in general? Blue and sometimes even green gear looks like they should be rare and legendary. Most legendary gear looks like it should be in the quickly discarded green level dustbin. Xbox players can rest at ease knowing they aren’t missing anything because by the time someone actually manages to get a full set of the exclusives it will be both obsolete and out on xbox. (which I have no problems with since I think ‘timed’ exclusives are scams). Also AESTHETIC CUSTOMIZATION! This entails being able to choose which parts of my apparel have what colour or pattern to them and being able to use the armour I have possessed in the past as a skin for the armour which I am presently wearing. Look at GW2 if you want to see how this is done, just don’t pull any crap like the transmutation charges. Fighting my kneejerk reaction to say -blam!- crucible, I’ll just add that if you intend to keep the light system, no one will ever mistake the gear you are wearing with that which you are showing for the following reasons: A) You can only get past level 20 with light gear B) The enemy is trying to kill you, not give you fashion advice C) Everything is supposedly ‘normalised’ so the gear you are wearing should not matter in PvP PvP vs. PvE Allow me to give you a brief history lesson: Here we go, the flamewar cometh. Since the inception of the MMO genre the developers of its most popular titles have struggled with what I like to call the “Chosen one” paradox. Basically the story labels you, the player as THE chosen one, but does this for everyone in the game. In PvE it is relatively easy to make this work because computer controlled enemies don’t get to complain about fairness. This is why developers can include ridiculous, over the top weapons and abilities that would be hopelessly unbalanced in a competitive scenario, because FUN is all that matters. In PvE everyone can be special once they work enough to reach the ‘end game content’ otherwise known as having their cake and eating it. Given the farcical nature of our age rating system’s regulatory methods and the priority of games publishers to sell as many copies a possible, many children at least 6 years too young to play a title, play it. These individuals are what is known as ‘special snowflakes’ and the concept of not being THE chosen one is foreign to them. If they die in what is called PvP, they will scream bloody murder and demand justice against the cretin whom violated their power fantasy. Note that though this is extremely prevalent amongst this age group, it is not exclusive to them, some adults truly are not worthy of the name. The problem then is balance in PvP, the more mechanics and moving parts there are, the more variables. This is why counter strike has always been heralded as the epitome of skill based, hardcore shooting. It is so barebones and focused on core mechanics that these have been polished to near perfection. Games like Call of Duty and Battlefield excel in the variety they offer players, which is what makes them so popular However, when you have dozens of guns, vehicles, attachments and environmental effects these all complicate things greatly. Especially since the human brain will always gravitate towards that which is most effective in a competitive scenario. If one gun reigns supreme, guess which gun people will use? The nerf hammer is not something that should be wielded lightly and is more likely to crush like a weapon than repair as a tool. Especially when wielded agains PvE where feeling OP after working for it IS THE POINT. This is the source of the outrage on the forums from PvE players, fundamentally it is the PvP where everything needs to be barebones and homogenized to provide a level playing field which caters to skill. PvE is the playground that caters to dedication and power fantasies. From a marketing standpoint having seamless transition between the two is amazing but from a practical standpoint it is a nightmare. Especially since Destiny is essentially RNG: the game right now and there is no way to guarantee that everyone has access to the current ‘god gun’ as the moniker goes. MMO players break things: Being the cheeky, curious little fiends they are, MMO players can be counted upon to do things with and to your game that you could never have dreamed of. The worst possible response is to take away their toys. They really are quite like children in that positive reinforcement > Negative reinforcement. Tell an MMO player “if you don’t do this you will get better results” will see them do what you want. Telling them “we don’t want you to do this and will kill you if you try” well…you can see what that results in on the forums, Ye olde nerd rage (justified in my opinion) Please for the love of dear, sweet tap dancing RNGeesus stop trying to fight us, we are legion and outnumber you at least 10,000 : 1. There will always be loot caves, there will always be cheesy strategies for bosses but only ‘fixing’ creative approaches into oblivion will only result in there not always being players. A marketing blitz only gets you so far and only lasts so long. Keep this up and the amount of new players won’t balance out the amount of people moving on to newer and better things. Incentivise players to play the way you want them too instead of punishing them for playing in ways that frighten you. This is the only way, ask any MMO developer still in business (even your elder Steph brother Blizzard.) Speaking of Blizzard, ask for their roadmap on the loot system which they implemented in Diablo III. It will save us all so very much time, effort and frustration. Since this post is already obscenely long, I’ll just stop now, but please take the time to read it, as it contains the collective opinions and views of dozens of threads I have read, not just my own views.