People who understand will agree with you and people who don’t understand never will. They don’t understand how valuable events like Iron Banner and SRL were to folks like us who found enjoyment from progressing and earning good rewards without venturing into LFG sites to read post after post of things like “don’t suck and have 500 clears.” And when we did find cool people the experience was still excruciating because it’s not something we enjoy. Anyway, hopefully people at least understand that D1 worked for you, and your opinion is that D2 is failing where D1 used to succeed. That alone should stop them from saying that Destiny is a social game and that you should leave, but it won’t.

Through all the banter, all the negative replies, all the positive ones, the trolly ones just looking for a spotlight, etc...I think what the OP is asking for, without realizing it, is that there be more "matchmaking" options for these events - Nightfalls, Raids, Trials, Escalation Protocol. Which I can't deny, would be a [u]really positive[/u] thing for this game. I'm honestly not sure why this feature is not available. It's not like it would tread on the toes of any Clans, but it would allow more solo/introverted players an avenue for attempting these events. The obvious downside is that your chances of success will be less, since you're not on a coordinated team of friends - but that's the risk you'd accept and take in order to try these events as a solo player. You might get teamed with a few morons who can't play and wipe several times. It happens when I run Heroic Strikes without my clan all the time (especially lately) but at least you have that "option" to play the event. The "option-to" I think is what this really boils down to. I see zero problem with matchmaking for Nightfalls, Raids, Trials, and Escalation Protocol, and I do hope the dev's consider it very soon. There's really no reason not to. Allowing matchmaking for these activities only expands interest in them with more than just a "portion" of your player base. It's a smart business move for this game, for all intents and purposes.

it does come across as sincere. its attracting immature trolls who are so pathetic they have to abuse anyone who suggests a change that they fear will mean they 'exclusive' content might become more easy so more can play it. they need it to feel good about themselves. one can only assume their lives are such failures they feel no choice but to denigrate others to feel better about themselves. leaving that aside, i didnt play D1 because im on pc. im glad this game came out on pc; its still head and shoulders above any other shooter, no matter what claims they make about call of duty or fortnight. halo reach is pretty good but that was a solo player campaign perpective and guess what? it was bungies last halo game before microsoft destroyed the series. the issue is those very trolls. they WANT the raid to be exclusive to them so they can brag about it like it means anything in real life. it doesnt. well thats not true; it means they take a game far too seriously. but since they are the loudest, and unlike adults they try to drown or flood out genuine feedback and requests with multiple posts about crucible or recently, escalation when those at least work (unlike my hunter's mars adventures). that leads to skewed choices in favor of loudmouth bullies. hence the toxic player base. those toxic players either dont realise that not enough want to raid or do heroic strikes in a group BECAUSE of their behavior being unnacceptable in decent society OR they revel in being trolls (which btw is a crime here) in order to stop anyone else doing raids - so they can make like its a proof of their superiority. due to my working background, i have suspicion and due to my experience with the same kind of elitist snobs in world of warcraft, i also am too suspicious, having seen this community (or rather the loud minority who post the most here and abuse others) there is no way bungie can force ME to raid to make progress, or even do heroic strikes in a group. they COULD force me, by pandering to the 'dont need max light if you dont raid' lobby and stopping any other ways of progressing. an example of that is exotic engrams which now are dropping for me at same level as legendaries. so whats the point of 3 of coins? i dont need them, i dont need exotic engrams. i can level up (if i get them) my gear with legendaries from cayde for example. right now with all the exotics im going to get, and all the cats i will get minus those for activities i cannot solo, there is no need for exotics to be in game and i only need to buy from xur to spend the parts i otherwise would build a hoard of. fortunately i did manage to break the 346/347 when i got my clan engrams auto opened by leaving them (because hawthorne is bugged to 340). but i nearly stopped playing last week. why? because i made ZERO progress once finished the warmind story. i did the 3 catalysts i got, found my hunter has got the adventures on mars broken so i cannot buy them (says active) and cannot start because the markers just arent there. i wasnt getting exotics at 341 for things that were not already higher than that, legendaries were identical level to the gear i had, and the blues were down at 338/339 and useless. i also found out the sleeper nodes grind only gives an emblem. there are 3 from the memory fragments (and one called wormslayer) which i will never have because they never turned up, not in vault or postmaster that i can find. and the level progress not being there means i was never going to be able to try completing nascent dawn. nor complete the ikelos. nor find escalation anything other than a patrol stopper delay or waste of ammunition. now i am making a little progress, thankfully. but i came so close to just playing skyrim until the next dlc. so i completely understand where you come from. raids and the toxic player wall for too much content might please those toxic players but it wont. they are never satisfied. they got harder content and whine about it. they got the grind they want and now its too grindy, that they dont have that much time. a lot of content is locked behind groups and they complain about getting 'noobs' and people who dont know what they are doing in the raids... and they asked for all that. says a lot about them.

Completely agree with you on this one. I don't Raid or do Trials and I'm OK with that because I know my limits. You are 100% on with the issues in D2 for solo players (or duo in your case). I bought the digital edition with both DLC's. I have seen the same increasing push to pre-made team play. D1 was heading that way and during the last year they finally started to make it more inclusive of solo players. Now it's like they lost their foundation and jumped completely the opposite direction. In game matchmaking and reasonable progression options is all I need. I don't want free gear or Trials / Raid stuff without playing them. Just let me progress playing how I want. In D2 the message is clear. "Bring a Team with you or you wasted your time and money. But thanks for the cash...suckers". I started D1 on PS3 in day 7 after launch. I upgraded to PS4 and bought the game again. Got my son interested when he was on Xbox. Later I bought him a PS4 and the game again.  I bought both of us D2 with both expansions. I've been a dedicated fan, but this may be the last investment for me. I'm on the fence for Sept and if they don't make a meaningful course correction  soon it won't be a difficult choice.

Hi, I'm the founder of a clan called Axiomatica. I'd like to invite you join, all the details can be found in the link below but I'll give a brief description. Basically Axiomatica is a clan for people who don't want or need to team up with strangers. You will not be required to play through any activity you don't want to. The only requirements are that you regularly contribute to the clan rank and be nice to everyone. I'd encourage anyone interested to follow the link and get all the details before applying. If interested act soon, there is limited space and we tend to fill up fast. https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/245536507

For me, at least, it comes off sincere. Bungie has had issues with knee jerk reactions with D2 stuff but not when it comes to weapons. [spoiler]Unless it is broken it seems[/spoiler]. I am a solo player in D2. I don't fully care about the raids in D2. I kinda want to but eh. Nothing pulls me to it. No friends to play with. No true desire for weapons in the raid. Just happy they make a quest location to put the quest for that shotgun in so it wasn't taking up a heavy slot. D1, that is a different story. Enjoyed the raids, the weapons for the most part. Never got Vex. Never got Outbreak Prime. [quote]ultimate loot of friendship[/quote] This right here is the sad part really. A lot of people don't have friends to play with. It almost felt like Bungie basically said, hey either have friends already or don't. With the gaming population dropping, the number of potiental friends drop with it and we end up with the haves and the have nots basically. What some people don't understand either apparently or never has happened to them is getting yelled at for missing a knight on KF. Or missing a jump on Oryx. Or just messing up in whatever, getting yelled at. That is stressful and takes the fun completely away from the game. Those toxic people drive people, who are already introverts, more into their shell.

It is not as if Bungie did not know this was the case. Only about 20% of players have ever completed a raid. Bungie did not do this to lock out solo players and introverts. They did it because they are desperate to drive people in to more social behavior. They believe that if you develop relationships with other players, you will be more likely to stick around, even when the game is barely worth playing. I am sure they have seen the posts here where players admit that the game is dull and boring, but they enjoy coming back and playing with their friends. They are trying to force the rest of us into doing that as well. But it is a strategy is 100% destined to fail. You can not force people to behave in a manner that is contrary to their core personality. And just like every other bone-headed decision, I can almost guarantee that they will be reversing it by the next DLC. But by that time, I'm not sure it will even matter. I think the damage has already been done. I think a majority of players have passed the point of no return when it comes to tolerating Bungie's never ending incompetence and unprofessional behavior.

Hats off to you fellow solo players

I'm introverted...and I am also Autistic. I play in a clan and just don't join the party chat. its too loud for me and theres too much swearing which, whilst I am not a prude, gets bit wearing after a while. I play much of the game solo and just team up for an hour or two to do something specific eg Nightfall or play a bit of banner. I rarely speak on mic because it makes me uncomfortable. Nothing wrong with being an introvert but yep, its very hard to progress without a bit of communication to fall back on. Happy gaming to you both and good luck.

Ignore the trolls, you and your husband, and your sentiments are shared more fervently, and by sooooo many more people than you could possibly know. D2 has shattered my heart, it’s embarrassing to admit how much it actually hurts. But you are not alone

If anyone fellow introverts in this thread would like to form a fire team on PSN for nightfalls/strikes/EP and raids then please look me up; no pressure to chat, no pressure to be a specific power level etc just a chilled space to do some multiplayer D2 activities. Anyone would be warmly welcomed to join my fire team. I'm introverted too and can relate many of the experiences here in this thread; I distinctly remembering feeling dread during the day before the first ever Raid I did, worried that I would be the one that would ruin it for everyone else. It turned out fine though, but man did I sweat buckets for a couple of hours and was practically a gibbering wreck at the end of Kings Fall...

Two prevailing theories. One of which believes that a group should never be formed it can't be 'proofed' or looked into. LFG crowd mainly here. Groups should be efficient and composed of people of checkable standing, otherwise the group is pointless. The other group thinks groups should be easy to make, regardless of the quality. Matchmaking, que systems, and random people are fine as long as they want the same activity completed (ergo, they go into the que in the first place). The baffling part to me is that people just think 'LFG so better, much skillz, large completions'. To an extent this is true, and it is harkened to the 'better groups' you can proof and make. However, as a very experienced LFG person myself, I can tell you that LFG is easily overhyped. It's amazing how many people nearly cry when they [b][u]finally[/u][/b] get a team that breezes through the raid amidst all the 'we're so good, join us if you're good' groups. LFG is more manageable, yes of course, but I would honestly conclude that there is just as much failure in LFG as there will be in a random matchmaking system. Why? Because... no matter how much stat control you have... that doesn't make people reliable or good. I'll admit, it's fantastic when it works. It really is. But when it doesn't... and it can not work consistently... it's just cancerous to the point I don't even want to raid. I'm not talking about the 'help a friend groups' either, with obvious noobs, but rather experienced 'we want this done fast' groups where everyone is 'supposed' to be up to speed. It just happens enough to be annoying no matter the effort done to weed out the team. -- Let's ask a very basic question... do we really think that the people that actually want random matchmaking are wanting it because they want the best group possible? No. Of course not. And that's what some people simply can't comprehend. They need [u]a group[/u] in a timely manner. [u]That's it[/u]. Random matchmaking has always been about [u]speed and ease of access[/u] and that's [u]all it will ever be[/u] because that's [u]all that it ever needs to be[/u]. Now, the response here is usually 'well, I would never work with a group that I didn't know that can hold their weight'. Random person... that's great. Fantastic. If YOU want to never use random MM, please, never use it. Go use LFG. But you don't get that... if you already use LFG with confidence... then you need to realize they're not making random MM for you in the first place. At all. You're not the target here. Why? Because you already have a system in place. In the end, it's providing choice. You either want a team you can manage and trim to be 'the best', or a quick team you can run with for an quicker start (wow, it's almost like how quickplay and competitive are different in concept... imagine that! It's like it's not a rare phenomenon at all. Magicial.) It's funny that Bungie can make game modes that favor 'casual or hardcore' but they can't make matchmaking systems based on 'casual and hardcore'... Random MM will not affect LFG people. Guys, you won't use it anyway, we know this and that's okay. But to those that don't want to use LFG, this should be implemented to at least a viable degree. FFS, at least the nightfall if absolutely nothing else. It can only positively help solo players, that again, aren't using random MM to find the best group. They just need a group. They know what they have to do to get the 'best group'. If they were so inclined... they would have used LFG already. No amount of 'your lazy' or 'use what you got' comments is going to change that. -- [spoiler]Notice, I will be using casual gamer in terms of time commitment available to the game and experience, not as an insult. Just fyi.[/spoiler] And... contrary to popular belief... you really don't need a 5-star group to do [u]anything[/u] in Destiny 2 at all. To do it fast? Yes, it helps to have a 5-star group. But the idea that you can't have success with random MM is ridiculous and always will be. Again, with LFG, it's sooooooooo good, right? Yet, all I hear consistently in groups is horror stories of people who constantly go for the '15+ completion groups' or 'must be experienced, know what you're doing groups' and find incompetence, egomaniacs, and booting for not following a failing strategy. It's just not. The sooner we accept that two styles of systems will better benefit the two groups of people, the quicker all of this get resolved. I don't blame a more casual gamer for not wanting to risk that experience (especially due to their likely lack of experience in the activity in the first place). Why should they? They're, by default, likely not as invested as the more dedicated players anyway. Thus, they're not going to go through the same troubles that a die hard destiny player is going to go through to get a raid done. To assume otherwise it just silly. -- Yes, Bungie, people that form groups tend to stay longer. I can attest to this. But... You know what kills a team game in the eyes of a time constrained player faster than your next DLC? Not being able to find a group within the game... and relying on outside resources. I find it hilarious that this is a game undeniably tailored for a more casual gaming experience than the first one... yet [u]thee most recognized casual systems ever are not present in the game whatsoever[/u]. That is... some form of random matchmaking for slightly higher tier activities. No casual player was going to look up the grimoire on a website. Likewise, no casual player is going to go online, looking for a 3rd party place to find a group, and then hope that the people who join (or hop into) are also like minded casual friendly gamers. It just doesn't work for the casual side of the game. The side that a lot of this game was made to accommodate in all ways except [u]actually including those gamers[/u]. So, you can do one of two things. You can go all the way and stop trying to make people do things that they're [u]never going to ever do[/u]. [spoiler]Why is that? Because they'll move on to another game that isn't forcing them into doing something they don't want to do. That's what those people do, whether they want to drop the game or not, they just aren't going to change unless they magically get a lot more time to play games (or magically change personalities). It's that simple.[/spoiler] Or you can drop that side entirely, flat out admit that it's a team only game, and just focus on that so the hardcore experience is as good as possible. But honestly, no one even wants that at this point. It might've worked in the D1 dedicated population numbers, not in D2 now. -- There is a balance to be had between teams and solo players. I think, honestly, the levels and difficulties of the present activities are in a pretty good place for the most part. They don't take bone breaking coordination that excludes most skill levels, but some offer a very nice challenge worthy of teams. But, clearly, there is little to no balance between the matchmaking and leveling paths of teams and solo players. Notice, I don't care [u]how fast[/u] either go since teams will always go faster. I'm talking stuff that is available to do, or easy to hop into, as a solo player. Between the LL wall (hopefully the engrams from strikes helps out enough, which was a good change I guess), lack of ease of access through matchmaking, and time constraints, I don't see a lot of balance in looking at the solo side of things. You don't need to take away anything from teams. Literally, don't take anything away at all. Nothing has to change in a team regard. Just... make a path that solo players can follow that leads to the higher activities. Be in random matchmaking, a more sophisticated form of matchmaking (basically, LFG in the game... but you know.. [u]actually in the game[/u] which is the important part), or more solo or 3/under fireteam activites that offer challenges that are worthy of teams of three. Frankly, that's why I loved PoE so much. Because I could play with my brother and sister (not the best at the game) and juts mess around. We even killed Skolas eventually.

It's probably too late, but you didn't have to buy another subscription and game(unless you own the physical copy) with xbox's sharing system, it's for people in the same house hold, so you can save money on games and subscription.

Do what I do. Create a new character n grab the powerful engrams from curse of Osiris, there's around 12 drops. It keeps me busy, I'm 381 n haven't touched raids or trials n done everything totally solo.