Hello Deej and Bungie, I am relatively certain this won't be read, and the feedback will be discarded. Even though I wish it wasn't, and I wish I could still believe in you. However the recent patches have quite frankly proven my worst fear, that the real issues such as the useless exotics, complete lacklustre story, stability issues, loss of sound in the raid, and completely luck based level system (29-30) etc... will not be tackled and Bungie rather fix ways of obtaining loot slightly easier that fixing the inherent core problem with the loot system itself. [b]A little bit about myself:[/b] I loved Bungie games and played them religiously. Destiny was no different. I now have nearly 300h played. I was lvl 20 on my Warlock (the best class in the game, aka the master race), within the first few hours of the game release, and afterwards I laughed at the email I received from Bungie that I should start playing the game as it had been released. I enjoyed Destiny, in fact I played it like crazy, dinging lvl 28 just after the first weekly reset (bought all my gear using strange coins, vanguard and crucible marks), as I wasn't blessed with drop luck such as others around me, which was fine, I was able to EARN my gear. I swiftly lvled a Titan and a Hunter, so I could enjoy the game's (honestly very scarce content) many times over. I didn't really mind doing everything again and again. I didn't mind the unimaginative story and the clear evidence that the game had been ripped to pieces shortly before release. I wished it were different, but I was willing to play the game anyway, without a story, without a real reason to go out there and fight for earth. As a hardcore raider within various MMOs (some with 500days+ played time on the clock) and an avid FPS player, I loved the idea of raiding in a FPS universe. Surely I gathered my friends and we easily cleared the raid in the first attempt, we didn't really get any loot but that was fine, the experience counted. However I still remember the moment after Atheon died, where I asked (some what rhetorically, and in disbelief): "This is it? This was the entire raid?" Consequently I cleared the raid on all 3 characters, week in week out, mostly on HM and Normal mode, until recently were I just focus on HM as the normal mode "loot slots" are incorporated into the HM kills anyway. So far I have cleared the raid 32 times (both HM and Normal mode), these were full clears, not "throw Atheon of the platform" clears. Which seems like a reasonable amount. 32 clears are roughly 160 "Loot Slots" (considering each boss has the chance to drop 1 item, besides Atheon who can drop 2). [b]The Loot Issue[/b](One of many, yet I'd like to focus on this one) Of my 3 characters, not one is lvl 30. I have gotten a total of 4 raid set armor pieces that I can use, (Boots, chest on my hunter / Boots on my Warlock / Chest on my Titan), next to that I have received 9 Raid Sniper rifles, 8 or 9 ships (reskinned loading screen essentially, 7 Sparrows, countless chatterwhite shaders and an array of different weapons that I already have on each character (vision of confluence etc...). As I raid with the same people every week we know what items everyone needs and what kind of luck everyone has had lately. Every week when we kill Atheon HM, I don't get the helmet I want for my beloved warlock, and instead get a shit and a few ascended materials, while others that already have 5 helmets, get another 2, making them feel bad for me, and making even more frustrated than I already was with the items I got, and the item I did not get. This quite frankly makes them and me regret playing, and hate the system that is behind loot. Don't get me wrong, I am very patient with loot, having had many streaks of bad luck in all the games I have played. However Destiny has managed to ascend to a level of frustration which I have never seen in any video game, and the game yet seems to be able to give you another kick to the teeth. First you don't get the item you have been farming for each week, time after time. Then someone that wishes they could give their spares to you, gets another pair, while you get shards and a ship, every week. You then go and do the raid on you other characters, the same thing might happen in reverse, while you also get 2 of the items you want on your previous char for the char you didn't want it on, and so on. At the same time someone that does the raid for the first or second time, gets decked out in a full set, during a single run, and you begin to question yourself, why am I still playing, why do I invest countless days into this game, if even in a few years I might still not have gotten this item, because statistically it is possible. The time invested into the game does not get rewarded. Everything seems to be pure and utter luck. To the point where it hurts, and people just want to leave and play something else, even those that have the necessary luck, because the game's loot system just completely ruins the experience for everyone. Sure there are those that say its all fine, but really those are the people that have not been punished by it since day one, across a huge amount of play time. While also providing no way around it, you can't earn lvl 30 with time, you can't do something incurably hard to get any closer, the only way to get there is through a random loot generator, and some of us are just not blessed by dice luck as others. Deej, I know I want this game to be the best, I am sure everyone else does as well and I know you want the same. However, this can only be done by listening to the community and fixing the real issues rather than destroying ways the community is playing the game. After all we are the people that spend the most time within this world. You said yourself that "you are excited to see how the players play your game and what they do to the world", then please let us do that, and make sure you design a world that we can do that in, within the bounds that you imagined, but don't alter the world months after and leave the most glaring issues untouched. [b]Some solutions: [/b] Was it not an option to just leave the raid untouched and make sure the next raid has no such issues? Is it not a top priority to change the systems that make this game painful and frustrating and replace or mend them? -A basic trading system such as Diablo 3 has successfully employed right now, play with your friends, complete the greatest challenges you can throw at us in a team, and if something drops that you don't want or someone else in your party really desires, let us trade the item for a set amount of time, because we conquered the content together, and we want to make our team stronger, to tackle the next thing you throw at us. -Allow us to earn gear, if we weren't blessed by RNG, through raid marks or similar items, so that we will eventually get lucky, possibly let us trade in unwanted raid items (9 sniper rifles, ships, sparrows and chatterwhites anyone?), possibly to the according vendor in the tower, and in turn receive a currency that we can trade in for items we want. -Why do helmets only drop from Atheon? Opposed to all other items dropping for most bosses? Especially as Warlocks for instance are not blessed with great helmets such as Titans and Hunters, which makes the raid helmet essential for anyone that wants to have a decent warlock pve set up. -Change loot tables, a ship, sparrow or shader are in no way comparable to items that define how you play, or give you levels which make you able to conquer more advanced content. level 30 matters, no matter what some say. -Give before you take, stop taking away, and start adding to an already scarce game. Why does every patch entail a nerf, or removal of one popular method of obtaining loot after another, rather than giving us something that we enjoy? We all know that the reviews and the community feedback has been rather negative (the business side obviously looks somewhat different), so why worsen the situation by further frustrating the community, with patches that take away, and not delivering on promises made in early weekly updates (exotic buffs?), not to mention the promises and statements that were made prior to release. (Sadly at this point I deleted a lot of my post, as the copy paste failed, therefore I will end it here) Bungie remember we are the ones that spend countless days in this game, we know what it is like and what works and doesn't work, and if we are still here we care. We give you feedback because we care. We want this game to be the best, and thats the same you want. Instead of going against what we want, at least as a majority, please listen to us. Stop taking away, and start giving. Every patch includes some nerf, or making some method of acquiring loot obsolete. Try giving something back, exotic weapon buffs, fixing the loot system and so much more, real issues that frustrate players, not some raid boss that likes walking of a cliff, or a cave that is a prime hunting ground. Let us fix the problems this game, together, as a team. In your own words, we can forge a legend, and Destiny can still become the game it was (at some point maybe) and the came it could become. We believe in this game, and thats why we try and change things, the worst punishment one can inflict is stopping to communicate and allow errors to be made repeatedly. A team, bungie and the community, together rather than separated through frustrating patches and constant patches that take away rather than improve the game where it matters. If you read this, my sincerest thanks. Eyes up Guardian....start looking, understanding and doing what really matters.