For your list of games: Longer TTK than CoD: Opinions are what matter here. Whether it's good or bad is all in the eye of the beholder. Less guns than Borderlands: Every gun in Destiny kills the things within their respective rarity tiers. Optimization and metas are present but where Borderlans has but a trifle of viable weapons of its potential loot pool every weapon in Destiny can do the job without emptying your entire reserve save high RoF Snipers. The viable vs potential weapon gap (not "viable for competitve", but "viable for general gameplay") is much more limited in Borderlands. Less RPG than Fallout: That's because Fallout is an RPG first, "Walking sim" (not a bad thing) second, and shooter third. less unranked PvP modes than Halo: That's because Destiny places a notable degree of focus on PvE with PvP being a bonus vs the other way around. All of the above: Most importantly, while Destiny carries a lot of aspects from the above one cannot deny the "soul" of Destiny. The game itself is a bevy of wildly varying activities that weave a very potent web of options for social play while having the art, sound, and fluidity of gameplay mechanics to make for an enjoyable single player experience anyway given TTK/RoI is the story baseline we're looking at instead of vanilla. As for the actual meat and potatoes of the thread, [b]why reduce ability availability?[/b]: Eye of the beholder once more. Back in vanilla weapons were the focus of dealing damage with abilities holding the role of a rubber band mechanic to add flavor to the game and ensure those with a lesser degree of aim have a means to keep pace. Eventually powercreep set in and the result is PvP as it stands where Grenades are the way to start any and all engagements due to their availability followed by a quick tap of a HandC. Instead of developing to the current state they decided to keep to their guns (no pun intended) and head towards a return to form. One I (as a Destiny player who personally wasn't fond of the current state as to've not touched the game in quite some time.) warmly welcome.