Hi. I'm not a long-time Destiny player. I want to like Destiny. I really do. But, that is very difficult. I see the potential of the game and just can't get invested because of many of the design decisions made to curb that potential. But, here I am. Playing Destiny 2. Sort of. I've been playing on and off for about 2 weeks. I was hardcore into the game for about 3 days, and since then... dramatic fall off for me. Since the game went "free to play" is when I joined. I have to say... I've played free mobile games that have given me larger addictions than Destiny 2 does. First, here's what I find pretty good: 1. Checklists. I'm a sucker for Progression of any kind. Activities and things to do that check things off a list are great. Triumphs and Challenges are fantastic. These kept me engaged for the first 3 days. Same with the Quest System. 2. Gunplay. When it lasts longer than two seconds between any two players in PvP, it feels fantastic and amazing. Here's the bad: 1. Lack of Focus. The game has a lack of focus all around. Most of it is centered around giving you random rewards all the time with random stats and perks on them constantly. The community talks about "God Rolls", but as a new player... I have no idea what they are, why I should care, or even what a "good piece of equipment" even looks like. The game rushes to get you to 1260 Power items and then gives you nothing to work with. How do I continue making "level up" progression? No idea. I had to grab a YouTube video to figure that out. Likewise, the game isn't clear on how you unlock specific things at all. The quest to open things up just becomes available once you're "very close". How do I do a Legendary Lost Sector? No clue. How do I get to Light Level 1335 to do the Grandmaster Nightfall Strike? Dunno. What is my source of progression after getting to 1260 Power Level? Quests and Checklists? That's nice... but those things only offer me more 1260 gear. This lack of focus is likely to confuse and annoy many players trying the game for the first time. It annoys me and I know how it works now. 2. Time Gating. Relating to my first complaint, this is the second. Why is so much of this game "Time Gated"? If I want to reach 1300 Power Level, I need to grind Pinnacle and Powerful Engrams every single week in every single activity and hope I get something that actually improves my Power Level! Each one will only improve me by 1-6 too! Maybe! Likewise, playlists open and close during the "Season" and so do "Activities". Did you like Iron Banner? Oh, it's a limited event. If you don't play it when it's active, you can't play it again until it comes back. Did you like that one specific Questline? Too bad, gone forever with new season! Do you want to run the Raid? You can only do it once a week for the rewards! Look... I don't enjoy grinding all that much in Destiny 2. But, if I did, I'd rather you let me grind than lock me off from things behind a set period of time. 3. Design is incompatible with player goals. Look, there are a few reasons players want loot. The first of which is because getting rewarded feels good. Especially if what you are rewarded is immediately useful. Things rewarded to players that aren't immediately useful don't feel as good to have as a reward. The second is bragging rights. A player likes to walk into a HUB Zone and have people notice what they've got equipped and remark upon it. Or, at the very least, know immediately what that player had to do in order to get it. The last is that player wants to feel a sense of accomplishment at having obtained the reward. That is, they feel that the juice was worth the squeeze. Too much of the game is RNG. Too many rewards are massively random. The randomness produces inconsistent results. Hey, where'd you get that Exotic? Oh, I got a lucky random drop on my weekly Nightfall that I have run every week for like a year. Tell me how that satisfies ANY of those conditions for loot? Did the player feel like they earned it? Is it really a bragging right to other players? Is it always immediately useful? No. None of those things. If someone runs up to me and has Helm of Innermost Light or something and I want it, the answer to getting it shouldn't be, "I bought it from Xur" or "I got it as a random drop from a weekly activity". That doesn't inspire awe or wonder. It doesn't provide me with a goal. It just tells me, "oh, it's out of your reach unless you get lucky". This design decision of "random loot as much as possible" destroys any potential playerbase you MIGHT have if there were clear methods and rewards for how you could get equipment in the game. Likewise, your "glamour" system in the game would probably see a lot more money if things weren't dropped randomly since players would want to glamour their greatest accomplishments for wearing rather than "any random thing that looked neato". 4. Lack of Player Identity. I don't care what anyone else in the game looks like. Everyone is wearing "Generic Armor Set with Generic Shader #2401" as I play. This is VERY BAD game design. In a singleplayer experience, it's the stats that matter to a player. In a multiplayer one, the way you look matters just as much. Because you want to show off to other players. You want to look unique. Players should see what you're wearing and go, "Nice!" even if only in their own heads. If I find myself doing that for a lot of other players, it stands to reason the way I look is being remarked upon like that by other players as well. Likewise, most MMO games (and this game seems to want to be MMO Lite) focus pretty heavily on "Glamour is the endgame", which is a good thing. It is a good thing because it allows for player expression and gives players new things to chase each week beyond "more power". However, nearly every piece of armor looks identical across classes. One Warlock Robe looks exactly the same as any other. One Scout Rifle looks the same as any other. One shader isn't any more interesting than any other. One Sparrow/Ship isn't any different than any other. Destiny desperately needs a way to allow players to express themselves. Heck, you could probably make a lot of money if you had some sort of cash shop item that allowed you to design your own custom shaders. Especially if you could "unlock patterns" or "unlock colors" when you got duplicate Shaders or something. You could probably even sell animated patterns in your cash shop like other games do (especially if you could put it into a custom slot on the shaders to make you look unique!). 5. Grind without purpose. I may say that I hate grind a lot (and I do), but that's not the full story. I will engage in grind if the reward itself is worth the effort. If the reward is "random roll on loot", I don't enjoy the grind. If the grind is, on the other hand, a definite reward that I want... I'll do it all freakin' day. Let's take Final Fantasy XIV as the example. I have done an unreasonable amount of grinding in that game. Past the point of fun. What for? A Realm Reborn Relics. That is... unique looking and animated weapons from the base game that are worse than most of the gear in the game. Why? They look awesome. Not only do they look awesome, but every single player knows what I had to go through to get them. Likewise, I can also help other players with these steps if they're looking to obtain them too.