[spoiler]Novel incoming, I'm writing this over the course of a few hours in between work so it'll probably be long[/spoiler] I enjoy the game mode and basic idea, but I really think Trials was fundamentally a bad idea that can easily hurt the game more than it helps; especially with the new matchmaking. As it currently stands, you just toss the whole playerbase into a meat grinder and naturally the ones who do the most PvP stomp the majority of others. So they go flawless pretty easily and keep playing because it's not stressful, while a lot of unlucky people struggle to get 3 games without a match against a flawless team right now. Skilled players feel good about it because they're on top (much of the ground beef feels otherwise), and so when an issue is raised they defend the current lighthouse system when it doesn't even give anything unique beyond the emblem to our knowledge. To clarify, I don't have an issue with rewarding high performance. What I don't like is the matchmaking Bungie has to implement to keep the mode from getting really, really awful; connection is prioritized, and they don't care much about skill or even your win count this time around. PvP people will like the matchmaking, and that's understandable because they haven't taken the shitty side of it up the ass for 5 hours straight, and to them connection is more important than skill balance because when skill balance is poor they're not usually on the bottom. All they need to care about is that they're getting matches that tend to go well with faster matchmaking and better connections, and that's a fair perspective because they have their own priorities and values. It's less fair to average players, who can now get the same gear by bashing out difficult matches anyways, that the game has gone from "work your way up until we throw better opponents at you, improve as a player, and you'll get cool stuff as you learn to keep up" to "hit your head against this wall for hours on end and you'll get cool stuff, it might go well or you may hate the entirety of the Crucible team with a burning passion by the time this is over but you'll get the cool stuff and remember this pain every time you equip it." It's just not fun to get crushed by a team so much better that you can't learn anything, and while that shouldn't ever be allowed to happen it can hit you anywhere from uncommonly to every other match depending on skill level. The rewards aren't good enough to justify that for many people, and so the mode's probably going to see a decline like in D1 if the map changes and it's still a pub stomp scout fest. They've tried to make its population more stable by making rewards more accessible, but the change in matchmaking offsets that by removing the reliability of matchup quality. Now, the problem I have with Trials is that I can't see a viable way to fix that issue that fits with Bungie's design choices. The best suggestion I could give for game experience would be a ranked bracket system, similar to a MOBA or Overwatch's ranked mode. More skilled players would have a more even experience, less skilled players would have an experience they can learn from, there's usually a tangible way to get a sense of your improvement, and you can very easily weight it to reward working your way up to a more skilled level (either through increased rewards based on your tier or unique gear drops at higher ones) while still letting the low ranks not feel pointless. People would eventually settle into an intensity level suitable to them, and feel appropriately rewarded for it. However, while I think it would be best for the mode's longevity this would fundamentally violate major decisions regarding the Crucible. The first would be the focus on good connection and faster queue times, I've already said why I don't like this but it's what they chose to prioritize and I'll respect that. The second, and the bigger one, is the decision from the very beginning to allow players to bring their own gear and ability progression into the Crucible. Ranked playlists work on a basis of doing everything possible to isolate skill as what decides victory. Any MOBA, Overwatch, and even ranked playlists in Halo now explicitly start players out with a predefined kit (or choice between multiple predefined kits) and give them standardized options with relatively few gameplay customizations. That makes the mode more about how you use your tools than which ones you've grinded for. And Destiny just fundamentally doesn't allow for that because of how the game's systems are designed. So what we're left with is a moshpit "high intensity" mode where you go in and it's usually a stomp one way or another. The people who do well enough or are fortunate enough to get more even/favorable matchups will like it, while many others won't because it feels like kissing a brick wall at 20mph for the chance of rewards. And then, because this is the "pinnacle of PvP," the complaints about guns that supposedly ruin the experience start pouring in. And then a gun becomes widespread in Trials because players want to see what its deal is. And then it becomes widespread in Crucible because it becomes somebody's favorite weapon after they do well with it. And then Bungie has a choice. They either neglect this niche-enjoyment mode to focus on things more players will like, or they give it attention and inadvertently make changes that affect a weapon or ability in every single part of the game, usually for the worse (upgrades or side-grades are rare if D1 is any indication). And then people realize Trials is setting the pace for the meta and balancing, and they start following its trends more closely. And we keep finding problem children, and Bungie nerfs them, and the guns that held up to them are the new problem children. Then, all of a sudden, you get things like the sniper meta that happened not because they were buffed but because every other option was nerfed into the dirt. Just because they can nerf weapons individually now doesn't mean this can't happen. It just means there's more layers between Crucible now and the potentially inevitable. Alternatively, Bungie can also do what they tried to do this time by making the mode more accessible while simultaneously attempting to appeal to its previous audience who wanted it to keep a high skill requirement (while not mutually exclusive, these things are not helpful to each other). If making Trials more of a mainstream diversion looked like it'd be successful, I'd be all for this. But as it stands they've managed to create something I can't see successfully expanding, and I'm worried they'll start pumping resources into it beyond what its place in the game warrants. Obviously this is all just my interpretation, probably a bit disjointed because of the time between starting and finishing writing. Other opinions or points one way or another are always welcome. I'll also happily provide a tl;dr if anyone wants it.

It honestly feels like you are not able to make a comeback in 2 or three of your team members die

We only lost 5 rounds on the way to the lighthouse. Puddlehouse. Whatever you want to call it. People don't want to work together, and that's why they lose.

I think it's super unfortunate for average players that the card system was removed. It was a super sweaty system that allowed the first few games to be relatively casual... now your first consists of running into people on flawless.... often.

Love it :) easiest flawless runs I've ever had... And I've a ton on D1.. D2 Trials is easy.

We played 1 laggy game out of 9, only played 9 games but overall the connection was decent. Your engrams drop at 278 because of your light level obviously, mine dropped at 282/283.

They got rid of win based cause trash cans like yourself can stop crying about 3 win reset elo farming...