Over the past month we have had the opportunity to play a remarkable and unique game that has the possibility of truly being revolutionary. That being said there are inevitable issues with MMO’s (please hold back the MMO debate) that will inevitably rear their head in due time. One of these issues surrounds the implementation of DLC’s, Expansions and itemization and their relationship with each other. When the new DLCs arrive, and expansions start to roll out for the game, players require some form of incentive to complete the tasks. One such reward which will always, undoubtedly be provided is new gear. Players must have some form of higher end gear available to encourage them to work through the new content. However this creates some issues, which has ALWAYS caused a heavily influx of rants/criticisms and whole hearted negativity to flood throughout the forums. [u]Issue 1:[/u] Players want to know why they spent so much time working for their raid sets, people want to know why they spent hours completing activities to find legendaries that matched their play style, only to find out that their gear is now worthless. That raid set you spent weeks completing VoG for? Sorry, but the blues that will drop in new content will probably be better than your hard earned legendaries. This is already showing through the VoG where it is the ONLY place in game that you can find gear that will get you to light level 30. Once you have your 3 queens wrath legendaries and an exotic from Xur you are already funneled into the VoG as the only real rewarding content, and this will most likely continue with additional raids. Next DLC will there be any reason to complete the VoG when the better gear is in the new raid? [u]Issue 2: [/u] Rewards have to be tied to the content that they are designed to encourage players to complete. This forces players to focus all of their attention on the new content as the only means to progress. Why should I play tiger strike lists if I cannot receive any gear that pushes my light level past 30, which inevitably will only be available from the new raids/content? Why should I play on Earth, Venus, Mars or the moon when (speaking in terms of when new planets are introduced) Saturn or other new planets are introduced and are the only source of the highest end gear? [u][b]Opportunity:[/b][/u] While some MMOs have gone with the usual route and failed (i.e elder scrolls online and their failed Veteran Rank System that they are removing), destiny could take a different approach. Destiny to me represents a game that allows the player to dictate how they play the game. Should you be in the mood to cruise around on the moon, you can do so. If you friend is making a new character and you want to play with them, then you are free to do so and still feel rewarded. As such I believe that future game content should focus on a more strict horizontal progression system, which focuses on build diversity rather than vertical progression. [u][b]How it would work:[/b][/u] There should be no legendaries/exotics that provide a higher Light level than others. Gear should be specifically a tool to create a more unique and specific build type to match your preferred play style. While this has already begun to show through exotics that alter supers, grenades etc, there is so much more room for improvement. For example, Vault of Glass raid gear could be altered to improve abilities for one specific subclass for each class. I.e VoG could provide a variety of upgrades for Voidwalkers, Gunslingers and Strikers. Future Raids could then focus on each classes alternate subclass and maybe a third subclass once released. As such, once you have completed a set for your sunsinger class for example, you could go do the other raid and build a Voidwalker set. Neither one would be truly “better” than the other, but both would be viable options and provide some incentive to work through that content. PvP could gear could be introduced that help PvP’ers build their characters. Introduce gear that reduced capture time, reduced revive time, improved vehicle defence/damage, or improved damage against vehicles etc. Each new patch could implement new content, and new gear abilities. DLC 1 might include gear that focuses on armour/recovery/damage reduction, DLC 2 could introduce stealth/speed/close quarters. Factions already have the embodiment of playstyle specific gear, but why not provide further customization for higher ranked players. Why not provide Dead Orbit players with gear that had different upgrade options for their grenades/melees at Rank 5, maybe give them new styles for higher ranks? A system like this would further build on the idea of destiny that I think bungie is going for. A game that allows you to pick whatever activity you choose and feel rewarded for doing it. By integrating a horizontal progression system that allows players to pick the activities they desire and focus on building a character that truly represents their play style; I believe Destiny could truly be a 10 year franchise of happy, long playing gamers. [b]TL:DR[/b] Gear in destiny at the current time, and in future DLCs should not differ in the amount of +Light they provide for Legendaries/Exotics irrelevant of where they are obtained. Gear should focus on providing characters with build options to help them discover new play styles, builds and synergies that improve their characters through whatever activities they choose. [u][/u]