(Please Read if you intend to respond) Destiny 1 was better than D2 in almost every way (my opinion of course). And let me just be clear, I'm well aware that there is more content because of 3 years of DLCs. This is NOT about QUANTITY, it is about QUALITY. After a few weeks of scratching my head wondering what the point of some of these absurd changes was, searching for any improvements that justified spending 60$ on, I finally decided to throw in the old game to give me some better perspective on what I liked and didn't like. Was I just being too sensitive to change? But what I found was that I enjoyed D1 a hell of a lot more than this new confused version of the game we all loved. It's almost like they tried too hard to reinvent the wheel. Now I have to give D2 credit where credit is due; the new public events are awesome, user interface looks clean, full cutscenes were a cool addition, texture and sound design was FANTASTIC. LOVE IT. But that's all it gets from me. D2 took away our choices, the replay value of PVE, and the variety of crucible. WHO LIKES FEWER OPTIONS?? Going back to D1 I got to freely switch shaders, I got to CHOOSE my crucible playlist, I got to use UNIQUE rolls on similar weapons that all had their own feel and utility, I got to CUSTOMIZE my perk trees how I WANTED, I was allowed to PICK my strike, I could REPLAY THE STORY for crying out loud. Back in D1, movement was fast and fluid, supers felt powerful , there was value in throwing a grenade (yes sticky nades are still obnoxious, I hate them as much as the next guy), my guns were actually LETHAL, the combat felt fast-paced and GREAT. The PVE may have been a little lacking, but it lacked more quantity whereas D2 lacks quality. And NO, CUTSCENES DON'T COUNT AS QUALITY OR DEPTH. I really tried to love D2 the same way I loved and played D1, but after the last few weeks I just found myself missing that Destiny experience. Like I said, there are some good additions to be sure. But ultimately playing the 1st game just confirmed for me that we took 1 step forward and 2 HUGE steps back. Crucible is slow and dull, PVE has no replay value (or even an option as far as story goes. Yeah, Yeah I know about meditations for Ikora, 3 missions doesn't really cut it.) Endgame is a joke, customization is meh, for goodness sake even the LOOT is lame. You get a Uriel's Gift, Last Hope, Antiope-D, a Mida, merciless and any shotgun and you're basically set. Done. All the powerful choices you'll need for any encounter in the ENTIRE GAME, and you don't even have to worry about the rolls...It's just...sad. You can say what you want... but at the end of the day, D1 was a far better game experience. Plain and Simple. Go back and try it for yourselves. Take care guardians, I'm out EDIT: Holy cow we are trending... On that note let's try to keep it civil guys/gals. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. EDIT 2: Ok so I've noticed a lot of similar responses to my post so I figured I would go ahead and touch on them here rather than try to answer them a billion times. This will be a long follow up. A sort of Part 2 if you will. It will include a lot more in depth constructive criticism of the game. I love the Destiny franchise and really just want to see it succeed. It's starts with, I don't want you to NOT like D2. That is not the point of this post in the slightest. If you like it, I hope you play the crap out of it. Clear EVERYTHING. Enjoy yourself. I'm serious. I am here as a critic because I put so much time and effort into D1 that I really wanted to see this franchise blow up. It saddened me that towards the end of the first game so many people were disgruntled with the state of the game and ended up leaving. If you like it, that's awesome. You are absolutely entitled to your own opinion and I welcome you to express what you love about the new game here as well. That being said, people go to this Immediate place of comparing Vanilla D1 to Vanilla D2, and I don't think that's really fair. D1 was brand new to the gaming industry. A new title, a new world of opportunity. D2 has 3 YEARS of experience, feedback, and knowledge behind it to support it being a better game. And that is precisely where my frustration lies, because it doesn't seem that they learned a whole lot. Certain things like static rolls, 4v4, and adventures/lost sectors only seem to be compensating for areas where they couldn't nail the formula of pleasing PVE and PVP players alike. They're bandaids rather than the hard work to pin down the core issues. And other Items like Movement speed, TTK, weapon systems, and one-click playlists (strikes and PVP) went too far to try and re-invent the wheel. When you have a franchise built on certain core mechanics, you kind of give up the ability to rework how a game plays without creating a lot of backlash. If it holds the same name people expect improvement, and big changes like this aren't always perceived that way. Which I understand. There are just as many folks that like the changes as there are people who dislike them. The "Wait and See" notion. I continue to hear this statement that "oh, just be patient", "It took D1 a while to have quality moments", "Give it time". And this is one of the few times I will come right out and say that that particular opinion is a load of crap. For several reasons. First and foremost, "wait and see" means something entirely different when you have to pay money to find out. A lot of us, myself included, can only afford to invest so much in gaming. And so to throw 200~ dollars at a game in hopes that it MIGHT get better is incredibly unrealistic. First impressions matter, and the release of a new game is no different. A SEQUEL to a game no less... Expectations of initial quality has dramatically decreased in the last few years and that shouldn't be acceptable to us as players and customers. PVE I'm not a big PVE guy, not gonna lie. Strikes, Nightfalls and Raids have only ever meant as much to be as the weapons I can bring with me to fight guardians. However that does NOT mean that I do not actively participate in these activities or that I am not familiar with them . I cleared everything the 1st game had to offer multiple times if only to hang out with friends. The number of times I ran WOTM with a streamer friend of mine was borderline obscene. I completed the raid and nightfalls multiple times in D2 as well... But D2 is sorely lacking in PVE. Is there technically more? Sure. But without substance. Lots of folks like to clear campaigns both on regular and hard difficulty, which is not available. Public events are freaking awesome now in D2, they get points for that! Adventures/ Lost Sectors... not so much. They offer the exact same rewards as public events but take much longer to do. Why would I choose to put more effort in for the same loot? Here's a cheeseburger would you like to pay 10$ or 20$ for it? Strikes feel the same to me minus unique loot. Nightfalls, oh my goodness why would you boot people for the time limit? The raid felt hollow because the rewards are all sub-par gear (except armor, which looks sexy).... PVP Now this section is going to be incredibly long-winded. I am a PVP player at heart, plain and simple. I feel WAY more satisfaction shredding guardians than I ever will facing AI. And the new crucible is just AWFUL. Here's why. 1. Supers I don't care as much about supers. I think those are fine, maybe would give people an opportunity to get 2-3 a game if they are doing incredibly well but definitely not the 4-5 you could get in D1. (Give me my bubble choices back though lol).... 2. Abilities Melees don't bother me much. But grenades? Seriously? If balancing unique space explosives is too hard, then just give everyone 2 standard frag grenades per life. It's a strategy that dozens of games have utilized that you can't argue with. But there is no reason I can think of that some jackass can stand on top of a GRENADE and not die. You get a warning on your HUD when a grenade is incoming. Get the hell out of the way or die. It's as simple as that. When a grenade does 90~ damage, there's honestly no point in even throwing it. The animation takes longer than shooting them. It just doesn't make sense. 3. Weapons/ TTK If weapon A. kills in 1.2 seconds, but weapon B. kills in .9 seconds, the choice is a no brainer. Of COURSE there will be an obnoxious meta everyone will cry about. Like hello? You made gun B. kill faster? On that note the TTK is WAY too slow. And it effects how the matches play. If I pull off a great flank, I should have time to pick someone off before he alerts the entire team. For how long it takes to kill someone I might as well just go for the triple melee. It takes away from the skill gap. 4. Recovery It's so BAD. Need I say more? I have to wait extensive periods after EVERY gunfight to re-engage. If I'm really slaying I end up spending half the game hiding behind a rock 5.Score Limit/ Timer The regular people I play with and myself average about 2.0KDA and above. Even as a full fireteam, we almost NEVER hit score limit. EVER. It's annoying. My suggestion would be to increase time limits. (And add a mercy rule please) 6. Movement speed It's sooooo slloooow. This isn't halo. PLEASE put the speed back. That alone quickens the pace of the game and makes the experience much more enjoyable. In both PVP and PVE. 7. 4v4 ONLY I like 4v4 but why? 8. Picking a mode Who likes less options? CONCLUSION: I'm out of characters but hopefully that gave you better insight on my issues with D2 and something more specific for you all to build on. Much Love <3