Almost every MMO style game has requirements for partaking in various events. You want to do this quest? Do this other quest first and be a certain level. Want to run a dungeon? Sorry, you've got to have beaten this lower leveled dungeon to gain access. Destiny's progression system is kind of broken, there's no doubt about that. It would have worked decently but they made one major error. The Progression [i]should[/i] have gone like this: (Note: this is PvE Centric and doesn't take events such as Iron Banner or Trials of Osiris into account.) [b][u]Base Game[/u][/b] Play the Story mode: Reach [b]~Level 18-20[/b] at this point. Do Strikes and PvP and Bounties to reach [b]Level 20[/b] if you're not already there. Continue doing Strikes and PvP: Work towards obtaining some Vendor/Faction gear through drops or purchases with a max light stat of [b]27[/b]. By the Time you have a cumulative Light stat of 76 Light, you are [b]Light Level 26[/b]. This can currently be done with Rare gear alone or a mixture of Rare and Legendary. Perhaps some players are even lucky enough to land an Exotic. Personally, I believe Legendary Vendor gear should only be able to get players to [b]Level 26[/b]. Having Vendor armor cap out at [b]Level 26[/b] forces players to start looking towards raids. In particular, The Vault of Glass. Normal mode begins at [b]Level 26[/b]. Requirements should be completing the game's story mode and being Level 26 (or at least 24/25) as well as having completed all the base game strikes at least once. With a full set of VoG Raid Gear, a player can reach [b]Level 30[/b] (Max Light Stat of 30 per piece). At [b]Level 30[/b] or even a more skilled player at [b]Level 29[/b] is ready to take on the Vault of Glass Hard Mode. Here they can obtain more raid weapons. Once a Guardian has reached [b]Level 30[/b] and has beaten the Vault of Glass from start to finish at least once, Crota's End should be highlighted as their next goal. [b][u]The Dark Below[/u][/b] The requirements for Crota's End should be completing The Vault of Glass, completing all of Eris's story missions, and being Level 30. At this point, Bungie should have implemented in at least one of these two options. Either have an item similar to the Etheric Light as seen in the Reef Reveal or have a [b]whole new set of Vendors[/b] that sell armor to get you to [b]Level 31[/b] (Max Light Stat of 33 per piece). While getting to [b]Level 31[/b] wouldn't be absolutely necessary for completing Crota's End on Normal, it would definitely help seeing as the enemies at the end are Level 32. Through running the Crota's End Strike and obtaining the CE Armor set, players can reach [b]Level 32[/b]. Players at [b]Levels 31 and 32[/b] who have beaten Crota's End on normal at least once now should have access to the Hard Mode. Here they can get even better raid weapons. [b][u]House of Wolves[/u][/b] With the addition of the Reef Social Space, a whole new set of Vendors should sell alternate sets of [b]Level 32[/b] Gear. To reach the Reef you must have completed the game's story mode. To buy gear from the vendors, you must have completed Crota's End at least once. Now guardians at [b]Level 32[/b] should have access to the Prison of Elders. This activity gives them the opportunity to obtain [b]Level 34[/b] gear as well as Etheric Light to upgrade their old gear to Level 34. [b]Level 34[/b] is the current Light Level cap. ---------- Instead, progression works like this: Get to Level 20 in any way (including ignoring the story missions). Once HoW comes out: Purchase Level 32 Vendor Gear. Play Prison of Elders/Trials of Osiris to obtain Level 34 gear or Etheric Light to level your Vendor gear to 34. You've reached the level cap! You've never touched VoG or CE... Oh well, I guess a guy can dream. I just think Bungie might be blinded by how broken the progression system really is for new players. Sure, we've had to work our way up but by just changing what level gear is sold by the Tower Vendors urges players to skip massive chunks of the game. This gives the illusion of even less content than there is. Perhaps Bungie is not blinded. Maybe they've heard the cries of "not enough content" so they want to get as many players to the level cap as quickly as possible so they have many options of what to do.