I just finished reading the most recent [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Explore/Detail/News/48758]Director's Cut[/url]. While I am overall happy that Bungie is making the best efforts that they can to improve the game in all aspects, I have firm criticisms about the decision to limit the Light level of older legendary weapons to limit their effective lifespan in endgame activities (which now include the upcoming Trials, which for better or worse will be Light level enabled). I preface my criticisms by acknowledging that I know very little about the game development process, and that finding good solutions to problems like the sustainability and oversaturation of the gun ecosystem is very, very difficult. However, the non-gamedev opinion has its value because the thing that most players (who are not professional gamedevs) will ultimately judge a game for is what they subjectively experience. Below, I present a few reasons as to why forcing guns into obsolecence will only serve to detract from the overall game experience as it is. In addition, I provide two alterantive approaches to solving this problem -- ideas that I hope the people at Bungie will consider as they move forward. [b]1) Forcing guns into eventual obsolecence will only serve to devalue the experience of acquiring new ones.[/b] Each piece of good gear should have value, which in turn lends value to the activities through which one earns this gear, because each time playing through it is a step closer to getting the right rolls to finish a perfect build. Grinding loot in games as an investment into [i]future[/i] participation in it. But if a gun is guaranteed to be functionally useless in the future, then its practical value is transient at best -- and in the long run, worthless to own. Players will be less excited to get the gun, because its only value is its relevance to the present season; the game loses the excitement of getting a cool piece of gear to integrate into a player's build. The excitement of investment is gone. [b]2) Limiting the amount of time that this gear is actually useful for will also severely decrease the value of the [i]activity[/i] through which it is earned.[/b] This is not to say the gun itself is useless (b/c under this new model, it will be necessary to have it for Light level advantages to complete endgame activities), but when it is known that this gun will be all but scrapped a few months down the road, the loot-grinding activity becomes nothing more than a tedious activity players are forced to participate in if they want to keep playing the game in a meaningful way. With each new season, there will be a new pool of weapons to earn in the game...only for these weapons to become absolutely useless in endgame activities (which, for many players, are a fundamental component of playing Destiny). This cycle will become monotonous, and sooner or later players will start demanding yet another overhaul to the system. [b]3) Guns are both a tool and status symbol for the player; limiting their effectivness in future activities will only devalue them as something worth having outside of current seasonal relevance.[/b] From a player perspective, there are two reasons to value a gun: its functionality, and its prestige. "Prestige" in this context might mean the combination of its rolled perks or its limited window of availability to acquire. For example, my godroll Blast Furnace is my weapon of prestige: any player who did not invest extensively in the Black Armory season will look at my gun and be impressed in some way. This gun is an expression of my dedication to this game and one of its activities. I love this gun, I use it for (almost) everything; I love the way it feels, I love that whenever I use it I know exactly what I have to do to make it work well, it's been by my side through all the highs and lows of me playing this game. Everyone who plays with me regularly knows about my gun. Limiting the future worth of these guns also amputates this individual value and prestige from them. Eventually, I will reach a point where it is no longer feasable for me to use this gun in endgame activities, and that is extremely disappointing and disheartening to know. My hard-earned weapons are a part of me -- an "extension of my character," as the Director's Cut puts it, and I am certain that I am not the only player who feels that way about their arsenal. What's the point in working so hard for a godroll weapon that feels and looks great if it's just going to be replaced by something down the road that I might not like? We talk a lot about the "fashion endgame," and guns are a part of that. We use guns just as much as we use armor to express ourselves. It doesn't matter how flashy or smooth a new gun is: if everyone is using it b/c it's the only thing that's relevant and useful, then it detracts from the idea of acknowledging a player's dedication, veteran status, and accomplishments through their practical gear. [b]4) Limiting maximum Light on old gear does not solve the problem of those guns still existing in the game ecosystem.[/b] Force-funneling players into current seasonal activities to use current gear does not address the fact that old guns will still exist as useable items in non-Light enabled activities. If one of the problems being faced is the overpopulation of guns that need to be balanced and maintained, this problem will persist as long as guns aren't physically removed from the ecosystem. And given how many negative impacts to player experience that the current solution will already present, this seems to be a loss/loss scenario for both players and development. Even if it's only high Light endgame activities that will truly be impacted by this change, it also does not change the fact that players will now have an additional set of gear to manage on top of their old loadouts for old non-pinnacle activities. This goes against the idea presented in previous Bungie publications of allowing players to make the "perfect" build to take with them everywhere they go. [b]Suggestion #1:[/b] My first and best suggestion would be to compromise and allow players to keep infusing old gear to current Light levels at an increasing cost of materials. This will enable players to keep using their old gear and preserve their value while still incentivizing use of new seasonal gear as being more efficient to obtain. Players can decide for themselves whether to replace their old gear with new ones, or if they want to put effort into collecting materials to keep using their old gear. [b]Suggestion #2:[/b] Instead of forcing [i]all[/i] old weapons to become obselete, simply remove statistically underperforming weapons and select old random world drops entirely from the game. The value of new gear is always relative to whatever else can be earned in the game. Right now, most of that value lies in the reliability of how a specific gun is earned, its cosmetic appearace, and perhaps some novel perks or certain perk combinations that are possible on those guns. While world drops should not be eliminated entirely, their sheer number competes and congests the system when it comes to earning new guns. Limiting the kinds of guns that exist in world drops (especially guns that statistically are not used by players) will not only clear up the system for both players and devs, but also further increase the value of activity-acquired guns.