[b]TL:DR: - Told through storylike narrative, ONE way exotic bounties / gear could be obtained more meaningfully!![/b] So here we are again. Me taking my time to once again talk to another Dev about how to create interresting and fun content for their game. Prior experiences of this in a few games so please hear me out. [b]The Exotic Looks/Identity:[/b] Exotics in Destiny look decent in most cases but none of them truly feel too interresting (with some exceptions)[i] Suros Regime[/i], [i]Ice Breaker[/i] and [i]Invective[/i] are 3 weapons that look like the weapon category they represent but that still feel different enough in mechanic and appearanc to stand out and be instantly recognizable as themselves. Those 3 weapons are in fact on the right track to warrant the title of Exotic where weapons like "[i]Patience and Time[/i]" and "[i]Thunderlord[/i]" are to anonymous in looks and feel to even be exotic. [b]The Exotic Feels:[/b] Let´s recap something that Bungie said at E3. Bungie told us that they wanted every adventure and every item we got in the game to be able to tell a story about how epic it was to get that piece of loot. Let´s be realistic and agree that every loot you recieve will not have an epic story to tell cause you found it from an engram or a simple drop off a low level enemy. This should however not be the case with Exotic weapons. Let me walk you through ONE of the MANY processes I have thought of to make Exotics feel unique and have an identity and that would give you as a game an experience that could very well be a story worth telling to someone about what could potentially be a super fun part of Destiny. [b]-Intro: [/b] You are out on your current mission doing your daily.... wait let´s make this lore like, since Bungie loves this kind of thing. Reboot, Reset, GO! You had just recieved a transmission from the speaker that you needed to go down into the Hellmouth and investigate the large disturbance below the surface of the Moon. You and your "Little Light" decide to head out, gun in hand and nerves of steel and bloodshot eyes piercing into the darkness. The Ghost shines a light on the situation only to encounter a patroll of Hive Acolytes walking your way and the light alerts them and a hectic battle ensues. You fight with all your might, hitting one Acolyte right between with your trusty Shadow Price and you are filled with a sense of irony that the shadowy figure indeed payed the price and so did the others that followed. You throw a grenade and it lands smack in the middle of the bunch that was hunkering behind a big pile of moon rock rubble, the grenade has a built in cluster mechanism and it takes out the ones that the initial blast did not. As the dust settles you walk up to the corpses to see what interresting things you can find when you suddenly see a shining fragment amongst the dead [i](visual que in the game)[/i]. You pick up the strange fragment and you can see that there is an inscription and your ghost says that it doesn´t look like it is of Hive origin but something completely different[i] (in game triggered speech from finding the object and the option to see inscription in your inventory when highlighting the found item).[/i] You abort your investigation of the Hellmouth and head back to the tower to see Ikora Rey the Warlock who is adept in mythical items and shadowy knowledge. [b]-Semi Intro:[/b] Back at the tower you visit Ikora asking her some questions[i] (Speech and text with multiple questions to select and inquire about the item and subsections that follow)[/i] which lead to more questions but a clear indication that the item is a piece of something that could very well be a weapon. Ikora sends you to talk to the Gunsmith. You and the gunsmith have a conversation [i](again same thing as above)[/i] and while he examins the object he comes to a conclusion that it indeed is part of a weapon as it has typical wear and tear resembling that of a rifle that has been fired and most likely it appears it could be of human origin as the residue left on the weapon part has gunpowder and some human DNA. Further analysis is required and your Ghost runs the DNA through the database of all guardians that have been reported missing. A match is found and the guardians last mission was to investigate a place on the moon called the Temple of Crota. The investigation continues. [b]-Primary Mission:[/b] You set out to the moon once again and head towards the temple of crota to find that the place has been fortified, to what end the security is so high is an enigma in your head. You make your way slowly trying to not alert the guards as you sneak past them [i](mission changes because you have the quest active and an alternative entrance to crota has appeared and has been highlighted to you by your ghost with speech and text. Mission objectives have also changed to a sneaking mission because of increased security and you must now enter undetected.)[/i] Well inside the temple you find yourself in unmaped/unchartered territory and you try to keep your presence unknown to the enemy stabbing the enemy in the back and using your silenced sidearm (provided specifically for this quest) to make your way further down and along the way your ghost makes interresting discoveries from the writings on the walls [i](feeding us players interresting info about the Hive and the place we are in and perhaps their origins and making an entry in our Grimoire)[/i]. Finally we come across the dead guardian, he was a friend of Shaxx. This is bad news and is sure to weigh heavy on Shaxx when we tell him "if" we return home safely, no not if. WHEN! We are not going to succumb down here in these dark smelly pits on a cold rock at the end of our solar system. These Hive will pay for this, we are going to find that rifle and we are going to use it to the end that our dead friend no longer can, freedome and justice. We continue on further down into the temple and we find what seems to be a room filled with all kinds of things, items that are both hive and not hive related. A shrine or trophy room perhaps?[i] (investigating the items gives small pieces of information and adds to grimoire progress)[/i]. Finally we see it, it´s not just any rifle. It´s THE rifle, the one awarded for being the reigning Iron Banner champion three years straight. It´s the "Show Stopper"!! (made up exotic name by myself :D ). We pick it up and the our ghost teleports it to our ship in orbit, due to my own mass my ghost can´t teleport me out just yet and I have to make my way back up. So off we go. [b]- The Fight:[/b] As we exit the room we are interrupted in our brief moment of relief as we found what we came for and did so unscaved, it´s something I´ve not witnessed before. The creature looks like a Knight but it´s so much more than that. The beast has sort of liquid metal arms or is it metal? It looks like the goop that we sludged through on our way down here but it is changing shapes all the time. It´s head is of an odd shape, almost like a scythe and the legs and feet look like they were made to crush rocks and this THING has just caught view of me and there is no way I can avoid this fight. The battle ensues and it is a grand one, the monstrosity has moves and abilites that I have not seen from any Hive thus far and I have to be extremely carefull, my ghost updates me as the battle goes on [i](ghost talks and is frantic about the monster, collecting data and battle analysis which upon completion updates to grimoire as an exotic input in the book)[/i]. I fire a rocket and the monster catches it and cuts it half with it´s blade like arms so that the blast only partly hurts it, it seems to regenerate at a very fast rate, I need to keep firing and have a stead upkeep on the damage I deal. Luckily it´s just the two of us. It´s a long fight and finally just as my ammo is just about depleted the beast goes down, not dead. Just downed. I am badly hurt myself and I can not fight if this thing gets it´s strength back and what little ammo I have left will not bring this beast to it´s fitting end. I must retreat with what little strength I have left, I make my way upwards at what seems like half capacity [i](health is permanently down at 50% for the rest of the mission.)[/i]. I encounter minor groups of enemies, as we are reaching the exit my ghost calls in backup and gets a response. It´s HER! It´s the stranger, my guardian angel or armored devil guardian, I don´t know which yet. She helps me out and leaves (small cutscene of the rescue and some dialogue). Me and my ghost head to orbit and return back to earth. - Conclusion: We report back to the gunsmith who essembles the weapon for us, it´s beutiful in it´s white, silver and gold colors. What a prize. This is the least we can do for Shaxx, I think. He should have a memory of his lost friend. As we report our finds to Shaxx, the battle hardened veteran retells a short story about his friend and what he stood for. Shaxx belives us to be the ones to carry the light furthere and bestows upon us the great honor of being the new owners of "The Show Stopper". Bada bing bada boom..... we have story, we have exploration, we have a random and better way of finding exotic bounties and the best part of all we have our own story to tell how hard we fought to find our new prize. Leave your comments below, did you like this ONE idea. Would you like to see it in the game? Would this be the way that Destiny should take? Let me know. [b]I promised I´d make a second thread and it ties into this one for additional delivery of lore and some UI changes and making use of the Grimoire. Enjoy:[/b] http://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/76701880/0/0/1 Regards Oktalz