I think with the Cabal invasion Bungie has an opportunity to add a new type of PvE endgame activity alongside Raids for fireteams of 1-5, [i]with Matchmaking [/i] to fill up a full fireteam of 6 players: [i][b]City Wall Defense[/b][/i]. Some people don't like Horde-based modes and I understand that. However, with the right incentive and with a structure of a Raid, it could be a success.
Consider the following example:
Waves of various types of Cabal enemies and all of a sudden a massive Goliath Tank and its Commander siege the Wall and you must work together to use landmines to disable the tank and then take down the Commander's shields of various burns. You complete the Boss Round and get City Wall Defense raid-quality gear. Superior performance results in some "token" drops between rounds that can be accrued and later turned in during Boss Rounds for additional gear drops. The armor and weapons would have special perks to assist in this game mode. Go a step further and have various wave and boss combinations, along with NF modifiers.
Prison of Elders is restricted to the SAME 4 SMAILL arenas, NO special mechanics or relevant gear, and only 3 players. This mode is far more flexible to premade casual groups of various sizes, while providing a "raid experience" for those who can't meet the normal requirements of the current Raid activity.
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It would be a boon to players who struggle to find 5 mic'd people to raid with. The beauty of this solution is that the strategy is "obvious", but still challenging to execute. This makes mic'd communication not as crucial as in Raids while still requiring the game skill to complete it.
Everybody wins with a game mode like this. "Casual" players have an endgame activity to complete each week along with their Heroic Strikes for fun. "Hardcore" players can still have their Raid, but also drop in this mode for some laid-back Horde mode with a friend or two if they can't enough of their friends on for the night to raid!
I know that Destiny II is already "out the door", but that doesn't mean that a suggestion like this can't be made a reality in one of the expansions, or in Fall 2018. Feedback is always better than staying silent just because it's "too late".
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I'd like to see something like this in d2. I've been wanting a mode that isn't a raid but allows up to 6 guardians to participate. I also have an idea for a new social event. It would require that planets have towns/space ports that everyone starts from for patrols and missions. The event starts as an enemy raid on one of the towns and the guardians must defend it. Rating is based on how far the enemy got when the timer stops. If the guardians fail and the enemy overruns the town, then the town is locked down for 30 minutes unless a the high level boss is defeated. The boss will have a ton of life and endless adds to aid him. These events are intended for at least 3 people and gives higher quality rewards.