So yesterday I posted an opinion poll to get the stance of the community on recent updates and the results were right around what I expected to see. 60% wanted more PvE focus on the updates and 40% wanted the current system to remain. So today, I'm taking those results and using them in a new series of threads aimed at fixing some of the problems in the game. [b]Introduction[/b] I'll start with one of the main focus points, the Level Cap and the Light system in general. I can understand Bungie's idea behind wanting to use a system like this but I personally believe the system is flawed to prevent unique setups and player skill to judge their progression in the game. Since the system is hard-wired into the game however, we're stuck with what we have so instead of griping about it, let's actually do something to fix the problem. The key issue with the system is that when they released the DLC they only raised the cap by two levels, which in terms of this game is very, small. Effectively a 6.25% total increase in overall level considering the old 30 cap, and a 20% increase if you consider only the light system. Not very impressive, and even more so when you have players from both sides gripping about wanting to reach 32. My personal belief is simple to that notion, the current 32s are correct. Raiding should be the only means of getting to Level 32 in this game, and for one reason only. Because the Crucible does not consider level differences to matter, and even in the Iron Banner, you're dealing with effectively a 5% change in power between 1 - 2 levels which really can be overcome by any player. So if this current model holds true, and my model also holds true the next DLC will allow you to reach Level 34, and event gear to go to 33. And we'll still have complaints like no tomorrow from the other end. To actually fix this problem, we go back to the statistics. This is why a 6.25% increase in total level simply cannot suffice and that the next DLC packs should go above and beyond what we have. [b]Synopsis Of The Fix[/b] To fix the overall problem, we need to fix two problems at once, and then the overall problem from that point forward. The first fix to the problem is to re-power the old raid gear as to not allow Vendor or Event gear to take precedence over it. The second fix is to incorporate features to allow the old raids to remain relevant. To get an understanding of this, we need to tier up armor/weapons based on their importance: T5: Vendor Gear (3 Minus Current Cap) T4: Event Gear, Old Raid Gear [NM] (2 Minus Current Cap) T3: New Raid Gear, Old Raid Gear [HM] (1 Minus Current Cap) T2: New Raid Gear [HM] (Current Cap) T1: Exotic Armor (Allows for 1x Exotic, 2x T3, 1x T2 to Reach Max Level, 3x T2 + 1 Exotic would put you just below the limit of the Next DLC's First Level) So by this logic, let's assume we "re-release" TDB. The Light Cap would increase to Level 34 instead of Level 32. The Vendor Gear at the tower would be upgraded to Level 31 (as it currently is), Events (IB/QW) and VoG gear would increase to Level 32 (For old gear, we would have an upgrade method, all gear earned from that point forward would be Level 32 gear). For the main change, we would allow raids to have both a Normal Mode and a Hard Mode set to unlock. From there the HM of the VoG would drop Level 33 Gear, and NM Crota would drop Level 33 as well. HM Crota would drop Level 34 gear. If Bungie followed that structure from this point forward we would have less problems dealing with complaints of gear power, because there would be a clearly defined structure to it. This would also allow gear sets to be unique due to the nature of Exotic armor allowing you to equip various setups of Tiers 3, 2, and 1 to reach the maximum level. The statistics of this system would allow a total of 13.35% increase on level with each DLC (Total Level) and a 40% increase to the Light Level Cap with each DLC. [b]Implementation[/b] Implementing this fix is extremely easy. We start by bumping up the Level Cap to 34 today, You then proceed to have one of the Vendors in the Tower allow you to upgrade all of the armor you are currently wearing (Likely CE NM Armor & Exotic). The existing activities would then be upgraded & manipulated to allow for the current cap to remain relevant, this would mean the following: RAIDS: * VoG HM (Add A Level 33 Mode, Drops T3 Armor) * CE NM (Adjust to Level 31) * CE HM (Adjust to Level 34) STRIKES: * Weekly Heroic (Level 26, 28, 32) * Weekly Nightfall (Level 32) DAILY * Daily Mission (Level 26, 28, 32) IB * Adjust power curve such that 2x Level Difference has no effect, start the curve beyond that point. From that point all future content add ons would follow this scheme. This is the best way to fix this problem, it balances out the whole curve, gives everyone something new to shoot for and it should stop a good amount of pointless threads here. Thoughts?