It has been a while since I’ve written one of these, but given the current state of Destiny 2, it feels necessary. My Previous Radical Solutions: - [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/264987532]A Radical Solution to Currencies[/url] - [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/264983250]A Radical Solution to Power Grind[/url] - [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/265038194]A Radical Solution to the New Light Experience[/url] Today’s topic: [b]Gear Grinding.[/b] --- [b]The Core Problem[/b] Destiny 2’s gear ecosystem has become fragmented. We currently have: - Gear with tiers - Gear without tiers - Gear with color rarity - Gear with “illegal” stat distributions - Gear with set bonuses - Gear with origin traits - Gear without origin traits - Gear that is obtainable - Gear that is sunset/unobtainable - Gear with archetypes - Gear without archetypes For veteran players, this is navigable. For New Lights and returning players, it is overwhelming. More importantly: The grind often feels binary. You either get the drop you need… Or you reset to zero. --- [b]The Sisyphus Problem[/b] Let’s examine armor acquisition. A Guardian chasing one specific armor piece faces: - RNG Gate #1 - Armor instead of weapon - RNG Gate #2 - Correct slot (helmet, gloves, etc.) - RNG Gate #3 - Correct archetype - RNG Gate #4 - Correct tier and stat total - RNG Gate #5 - Correct tertiary placement If any critical gate fails, progression resets. This is not iterative progression. This is restart-based progression. The unintended result: Players disengage from the grind once they get something “good enough,” because chasing perfect feels futile. --- [b]The Design Principle: ABP[/b] [i]Always Be Progressing.[/i] At no point during a gear chase should a player feel like their effort was erased. The Praxic Blade demonstrated this. When chasing Praxic Blade components, every drop moved the player forward. Even small upgrades were permanent progress toward the ideal configuration. There was no: “I got another Blade, but it rolled wrong - dismantle and restart.” There was only accumulation. That psychological shift is critical. --- [b]Praxic-ifying Armor[/b] What would ABP look like for armor? Instead of armor being a fully RNG-complete object, armor becomes a modular shell. Armor would include: - Standard mod sockets (current system) - Set Bonus Slot - Archetype Slot - Tertiary Slot - Shader Slot - Ornament Slot Guardians would grind for unlockable modules, not full armor replacements. [i]The benefits:[/i] For Players: - Progress is additive. - Unlocks accumulate. - No total resets. - One helmet can evolve over time. For Developers: - Set bonuses can be introduced without releasing entirely new armor sets. - Archetypes can expand without bloating the loot pool. - Transmog becomes evergreen. - New grind vectors open without multiplying drop complexity. - Armor becomes a platform, not a lottery ticket. --- [b]Praxic-ifying Weapons[/b] Weapons follow the same ABP principle. Instead of farming identical copies of the same gun hoping for perk combinations: - Weapons drop as base frames. - Perks drop as unlockable modules. - Perks are socketed once earned. This draws inspiration from: - D1’s Weapon XP system - D2’s Crafting system But avoids their friction points by tying progression directly to accumulation rather than leveling thresholds alone. A weapon you love grows with you. You are not storing five copies of the same weapon in your vault. You are investing in one. --- [b]Simplifying Rarity[/b] With perk/modular progression in place, rarity regains meaning. [i]White:[/i] - No Column 3/4 perks unlocked. [i]Green:[/i] - Columns 3/4 unlocked. [i]Blue:[/i] - Origin Trait unlocked. - Enhanced perks for Columns 3/4 eligible. [i]Purple:[/i] - Full enhanced access. Rarity becomes a progression ladder, not cosmetic confusion. Weapons can still drop at higher rarity in the wild, allowing players to skip steps if fortunate. But investment guarantees advancement. ABP. --- [b]Endgame and Casual Content Health[/b] The system enables clear reward lanes: - Best-in-slot perks → Raids & Dungeons. - Experimental or utility perks → Patrols, Strikes, Major Update content. - Cosmetic upgrades → Anywhere. This re-energizes: - Endgame chase. - Patrol relevance. - Vault management. - Long-term investment. Grinding becomes forward motion, not reroll roulette. --- [b]Why This Matters[/b] The issue is not that Destiny lacks loot. The issue is that Destiny’s loot systems do not consistently reinforce progress. Players disengage when effort feels resettable. ABP ensures: Every session moves a Guardian closer to their goal. Always.