My problem with is that there is no progression throughout the 7 stages. Either you’re high enough level to complete all 7 stages going into it or you’re not. It’s very alienating to people not in an active clan or without an active friends list. I think they made a mistake scaling back the difficulty of the final stages, should’ve been the other way around. Rounds 1-3 should’ve been scaled back 5 levels each. The final stages difficulty was fine. It was a strange decision. Escalation protocol is arguably the most enjoyable activity in the entirety of D2, with the best rewards,I just think more people should be able to experience it.

As a solo player, i already gave up on EP. By the time i have the necessary lvl to run it, nobody will be playing it anymore.

Court of Oryx and Archon's Forge were just nice distractions. Once you got above a certain level nobody bothered doing then. Escalation Protocol is intended as endgame. It's meant to be done by a team of high level Guardians, but allows for randoms to join in. Frankly I miss that kind of stuff from back in the Vault of Glass. The issue here is accessibility. As endgame it may he too high level for most people to complete. What I suggest is creating tiered rewards. Keep the best stuff at the end, but make the level 3 and 5 rewards more meaningful. That way even if lower level players can't finish EP, they can still participate by clearing the lower waves and get rewarded for their time. Accordingly of course.

If matchmaking isn't added for more content (not raid/trials) and they don't fix progression with the next dlc I'm out for good. Tired of logging in to slog through what milestones I can on 3 characters to get a gain of +2 if I'm lucky and still not be proper level for escalation protocol. I had all 3 characters at 335 before warmind, my friend who plays much much less had an opportunity to do a few raids and he has surpassed me, just like that. I guess if you don't raid or do trials your time doesn't mean anything to bungie, I'm starting to think that "solo" players need to speak with their wallets. It's suppose to be about loot damnit, why are they making power level such a grind. Makes no sense to me, I see this game as a fps version of diablo. Leveling should just introduce you to mechanics, make sure you're ready. Then you start taking on harder tasks and looking for rare items. Tired of logging in for little gain.

The game is one terrible choice after the other since its story got choped to pieces and was glued together into an incoherent mess. PvE weapons in PvP? Bad decission. No dedicated servers. Terrible decission. Story for ten year old retards? Arrggh. Ana Bray a lesbo? Who gives a shit? What has that to do with destiny? Just brings the alt-right against SJW wars to this game. SMfH Bungie got forsaken by all good ideas and creativity.

They wanted to make raid completion special. That should have done that through gear and wespons. Instead they've unbalanced the public space and put the hardest activity there.

This is bad game design...and why I think that part of why this game has the problems it has is because Bungie has expanded as company too fast....and has SERIOUS internal communication problems. The decision to ratchet down on vertical (power level) progression is DISSONANT (works at cross purposes) with the design of the DLC. In fact the slowing of vertical progression was SO severe that it basically broke the game for two weeks. They basically destroyed the "mid-game"....and unless you part of the raiding or Trials communities with in the game....you had NO reliable way to progress from 345 to 370. Which is why Bungie had to go scrambling to patch the Heroic strike list in order to get it to function that way. I call it bad game design because this was clearly done without any thought to what impact it would have on the unfurling of the DLCs content. (Not enough to do for the weeks and weeks it will take the average player to level up to max power)....and what impact it will have on the average player. [b]IOW, what you're seeing is not only EXACTLY what I expected would happen.....it WAS PREDICTABLE. [/b] EVERY time a game developer tries to artificially slow down the progression of the the game's hardcore players you get the same result. The changes are never more than inconvenience or a speed bump to the hardcore. Since they have an wealth of time and energy to dedicate to circumventning the blockade. But those same changes wind up being a brick wall....or a snare....to your average or casual player. Who suddenly feels (mixed metaphor) like they've been put on a hamster wheel or a treadmill that goes nowhere....and they get frustrated and quit. So content like EP winds up being undermined. Because you've created this gulf between the hardcore players who are now within a week or two of getting the stuff that they want from the content....and probably abandoning the open world part of the game. ....and the average player who may be another MONTH or more before they reach the level where completion of the content becomes a realistic possibility.... ...and now there aren't any enough people in the public space to do the content. Because interest in it has fallen off. Which is why trying to extend playability by SLOWING vertical progression is a bad game design idea...and one that usually backfires on the developer. HORIZONTAL progression (the part of the game they are adding BACK in the fall, is what reliably keeps peole in the game....and is the carrot that people chase. Not this.

Was thinking about this to. For those that don't raid, it'll months before they can do it with the way progression is. Odd choice.

Most people are low level as they are mainly solo players, you know, the guys the game wasn't made for according to some people. Bungie needs to make this game more accessible for everyone or else they are going to start to lose people again due to boredom. Making the only way to progress at a reasonable rate through raids and trials was the wrong decision, I agree that the end game activities should offer the best rewards but they have slowed the rest far too much.

My warlock milestones this week have me 3 swords and 3 grenade launchers

Honestly, they swung way to hard the other way. Yes I was one of those that reached the previous max light level without raiding or doing many nightfalls. Is that "right?" I don't know. But their solution was too heavy handed. They pushed the grind way too far the other direction. But the progression grind is exacerbated by a shallow loot pool. And yes Im one of those people who want random rolls back. In d1 during progression plataues we had something to chase. I seriously don't mind the grind as long as there is something there for me to chase; a certain piece of armor, a weapon somthing worthwhile and USEFUL. Bungie squeezing the progression curve futher highlights all the other problems. Somewhere in the middle is a happy medium of progression vs grind. But I doubt they will see it.

To be honest it shocked me to see them push progression back now instead of in September but I think it was needed. It keeps people coming back each week and it makes doing milestones somewhat fun when you have a few guardians all doing the same stuff together.

On the road map for September it says power matters for iron banner With this slowdown in progression what’s the point in this , as those who raid will benefit over the rest of us , are is bungie going to change it back to what it was ? Why change it and slow us down just to put it back again in a few months time ? Progression needs to be fixed for everyone if power matters in September

I haven't raided, but completeled the rest of the milestones except trials. And all my characters are about 365 or so and hoping to hit 370 soon. If a casual wants to level up, you gotta grind harder than sweaties hahahah

The progression slow-down is just plain stupid. If you raid and do Trials with 3 characters you could get to 380+ within a couple of weeks anyway. Whereas, everyone else gets progression nerfed across the board. They may as well have left all the clan engrams and exotics powerful. I occassionally raid and am not in a huge hurry to level up - my 3 guardians are roughly 370+ - but I see no logic in what Bungo has done. They’ve simple widened the gap between the haves and have-nots.

[quote]Anyways, EP is 3 guns and a suit of armor. Why the hell is it so important to lock people out of it?[/quote] Well said.

Good post with good points. Im 365 becouse i dont raid (friends dont play anymore) and i dont want to use lfg becouse im from Slovenia and dont want to bother with foreign language in raids. Elitists that play this game a lot must know that they need us casuals players becouse without us the game will be dead.