The main point of this suggestion is to give functionality to some in-game elements which seem to serve little functional purpose. My feedback is centered around my desire to see some benefit to these things, as right now they are at best an afterthought for me. I would like to see these items allow for some granular playstyle customization. Things which would let me pursue and experiment, not just find "the best", but change my tactics and strategy, and go after that. It is my opinion that some changes to equipment stats, using existing game mechanics, could enable just such a kind of metagame customization. [b]Class Armor[/b] As it stands now, Class Armor's only job (faction reputation) could be handled by faction-specific shaders. In my opinion this would make more sense both cosmetically and in terms of game lore. Other than faction rep, and some very brief snippets of game lore, there is no purpose to this equipment slot. The cosmetic changes are extremely minimal, to the point that I only notice them when I'm actually looking for them. Even then I can only really see the difference between one bond/mark/cloak and another in the equipment screen. I can't remember a time I have noted another player's bond/mark/cloak in a Strike/Raid/Crucible match. So as both a game lore tool, and cosmetic item slot they fail in my opinion. Rather than emphasize the cosmetic, I would like to see the class armor server a function. Preferably something centering on your class abilities. I imagine something similar to weapon perks: small conditional bonuses, centered around unique class abilities. e.g. "When a kill is made with Energy Drain, reduce the cooldown on Nova Bomb" or "Your grenades recharge 20% faster, at a 20% penalty to [melee ability/class ability]". That way you don't have to worry about throwing off the power balance in and of itself. The main point would be to allow me to tailor my class abilities to my playstyle. I like blasting away with the nova bomb, and prefer grenades to melee. I can do some customization with Intellect, Discipline, and Strength, but more than customization I'm looking to simply get all three stats high enough to get everything loading 100% faster. It doesn't really represent a change in playstyle, just something else to min/max. However, a modification that give appreciable (and balanced) modifications to my abilities would keep the game balanced, and let me get more of what I want. An alternative would be actual ability modifications. Such as a warlock bond that lets you use the Sunsinger Fusion Grenade when you have the Voidwalker class equipped, supplanting the Voidwalker grenade. Or give a Sunsinger blink. That sort of thing. It would allow you to do a little less tweaking of the balance, since you already work to balance the existing class abilities. I will concede that this would have a huge impact on the metagame, with unforeseeable results. This could be partially ameliorated by having a high upgrade cost and/or minimum light level requirements, but is still a big deal. [b]Ghost Shells[/b] I would also like to see more (read: any) Ghost Shells, but also have them serve a non-cosmetic purpose. Again, something game-changing would be interesting, but even small bonuses would be appreciated. Again, something along the lines of the weapon perks. Extra ammo, conditional stat boosts, etc. This has the benefit of leveraging an existing mechanic, so you don't have to do as much code work, using already balanced bonuses that you know won't throw off the game balance. And have the Ghost stick around when you have a shell equipped, so you can see them. If not in combat (though it would be cool), at least in the Tower and places like that, so the cosmetic aspect is more prominent. When I first saw this slot, I was very excited to see what I could get for this, and was very disappointed to learn there is only one (valid) shell aside from the default, and it is a cosmetic-only preorder bonus. I had all kinds of thoughts about different shapes for the Ghosts, as well as the cool benefits I could get from boosting my companion's abilities. [b]Vessels[/b] Right now, the only purpose of a ship is to decorate your loading screens, and a speeder to show you different exhaust orientations. Yes I know the speeders do look different, but I don't summon my speeder, jump off, and look at its design and lines for the handful of seconds before its despawned. And really new ships/speeders are either rather expensive, require rare drops, or faction rep. That is a lot of work just to pretty up something I barely pay attention to anyways. Instead, I propose that vessels also have small benefits that do not directly affect player power, but let a player tailor their ship choice to their playstyle. Different ships could have different benefits. One ship might be bulky and kind of ugly, but give the player expanded vault space. Another might be light and fast, but it has "better sensors" that equate to slightly higher yield for crafting materials. A similar thing could be done for the speeders. Perhaps a bonus to ammo or engram drops, or even generating vanguard marks. In short, anything that gives me a reason to pursue various ship and speeder designs other than boredom and vanity. You could even give the players both form and function, giving each "class" of vessel (e.g. the Kestrel class ships) a specific kind of bonus (like the aforementioned sensor boost), and then the variations can be about getting the specific cosmetic look you want. This would expand not only the replay value of the game, but make me work harder to do one more thing. I can put time into comparing what I want, then work towards the rare/legendary faction-specific vessels. Right now, I don't care. I'll take a nice upgrade in my loading screen's appearance or a different set of exhaust ports when I blast around a planet, but I won't work for it. You will get no extra play time from me for a vanity slot item. If I could get even a small benefit though, I might work very hard indeed to get not only the benefit I want, but with an appearance I prefer. TL;DR I want my equipment to serve a purpose, not just add extra slots to my inventory. I care about equipment that serves a purpose, and will spend a lot of time working towards some desired playstyle goal, but I largely can't be bothered to go out of my way to obtain vanity items. If you want me engaged, give me meaningful options.