A year later, and it's time to make the list. This is what should have been there, DAY ONE. All the currently released DLCs in the base game. TTK should have been the first. A fully fleshed out story, weaving in and out of the Hive, Fallen, Vex, and Cabal stories and lore, using the Stranger as a thread and needle, including side missions that reveal more of the cool enemy lore. The story would indeed conclude, but also allude to a sequel, as it should. DLC that contains fleshed out plot that isn't directly part of the main story, but can stand on its own and may reference the main story. TTK is a perfect example. You cut off the Hive communication center in the main story, the one speaking to Oryx (True, but hella underplayed) and you killed Crota to cripple the Hive presence in the Solar system (True, but should have been main game). These events should highlight that Oryx exists, and may even come, but that that isn't the main focus right now Uniquely designed missions. Protect the Ghost is lazy. Let us sneak, escort, solve puzzles, go all out assault, and more! Add stakes to those protect the Ghost missions! What happens if mobs break the machine or hurt Ghost? Right now, nothing! Uniquely designed monsters. Why don't the Fallen crawl on walls? Why don't Cabal Phalanxes form a [i]phalanx?[/i] Why don't Vex actively Time-dodge or time shift to heal? Why don't Hive have poison, or blob up into Ogres? There should be more enemy types as well, because, if you think about it, everything is a Dreg. Optional Matchmaking for all activities. Even story. Significant plot twists, real drama, emotional appeals, come on Bungie! Imagine if we got to the Black Heart and found out that it was only A SINGLE CELL of the Darkness? Imagine you killed each Vex Guardian (not big minotaurs), but the Heart doesn't die. It instead condenses and attacks you like a symbiote, engulfing you in darkness. While inside, you are slowly dying, but the Darkness speaks to you, telling you not to trust the "false prophet, the time witch, and their God," "all is not as it seems," and that you should "seek the truth for yourself." At that moment, the Stranger and Speaker show up, and the Speaker vaporizes the cell with redirected Traveler light. They come down to help you up, and drill you about what happened to you, about what the cell did, and finally, what it said. You get confused, and then ask them how they found you, how the Speaker could channel Light like that, and how they knew it could speak. The Stranger gets frustrated, and only now does she say her most famous line before time jumping away: "We don't have time to explain why we don't have time to explain!" As she goes, the Speaker looks to you and says calmly "listen, there are things about the Darkness, [i]and[/i] the Traveler, we have not told you, things we can't tell you or anyone. Not yet, and especially not now and here. You've been through a lot on our behalf, let's get you cleaned up." -In the resolution cinematic, you are with the Speaker after his grand speech, and he asks again what the cell said. You lie. "It said it would not stop until it consumed the Light." The Speaker leaves you, and the look of concern and confusion afterwards on your face is the last thing we see before credits. Is this not better than "kill minotaurs get gun credits?" LEGITIMATELY FUNNY JOKES. Little light was one of the few jokes in the game, and all were either bland, corny, or in poor taste (little light and Peter Dinklage? Are you serious? Activision had to have written that one. Maybe that's why Peter left). The game does have to have a serious edge, but it can also be lighthearted as well. A different game of yours was real good at that... What was it called? "The Stranger's Rifle" legendary/exotic as a reward for finishing whole story. Full auto, Headseeker, Temporal Crash (Firefly with white light explosion effect and a chance of rounds returned for precision kills). 6 man patrol. Come on. Grimoire built into Tower Library, for the really extraneous details. Legacy mode in Tower Library. Live through the lives of the greatest heroes in their most iconic moments. Unlocked via item collection or completion of a relevant mission, strike, or raid. Play as Kabr in his last stand. Escape Crota as Eris Morn. Face off with Dredgen Yor as Jaren Ward. Fight with a fireteam of 8 at the Battle of Twilight Gap. Zones 2x to 3x the size, with no invisible ceilings or walls of death. 3 Zones per planet, with explorable nooks and crannies and loot and lore galore Wildlife, both aggressive and non-aggressive. World boss events. THE CITY. Full of people to help with side missions and bounties, or people who may be key to the main story or a one of your side quests. Quests! Real RPG questing! This means there would be the Main Story, Quests, Side-Missions, and then Bounties/Errands. Quests/Side missions that PvP players would love. Quests/Cutscenes/Battles/Lore with your Faction. You can only pick one faction. Faction Marks (DO/FWC/NM). Crucible marks can be spent on regular Crucible, Iron Banner, or converted. Vanguard Marks can be used on the Vanguard, Petra, or Eris, or can be converted. Boundless Glimmer and Marks. If I want to grind out a million Glimmer, let me! Marketplace. P2P sales and trades via posting on a market board. Exotics cannot be traded. Read on, it'll make sense. Glimmer, Marks, Coins. Only items for purchasing goods. Motes, Exotic Shards. Only items for upgrades and Ascension. More weapon and armor models. "Look the same? Feel ashamed." Melee weapons (Sabers, Knuckles, Spears, all as special weapons New weapon types. Laser Rifle, Melee, Light-thrower, Mine Laucher, Beam Cannon, Mini-gun, Energy repeater, anti-materiel rifle, it goes on and on Weapon scavenging (Captain dropped Shrapnel launcher? It's got a couple rounds left, LETS GOOO) No Light leveling. Normal progression is best progression. "Exotic" Exotics. Let them be the raw, untamed forces of nature that they were meant to be! Make them RARE (1 single item at HoW launch date if you played at the beginning would be common, especially if it was only the Stranger's Rifle). More land vehicles for Guardian ownership and use. Subspace air vehicles too, like the dropship at the Tower. Underwater exploration? We'll settle for swimming. Surprise us. Real weather. Snow, wind, rain, [i]acid rain[/i], dust, sun, storms, we want it [i]all.[/i] Space exploration and combat. Hunting for loot in hi-sec Reef space, fighting a massive Ketch, Star Wars style, or gliding calmly along a misty nebula. The works. LIMITED EXCLUSIVITY. Missions or weapons, not both. Preferably missions, I want my brothers and sisters on Xbox to experience the glory of Hawkmoon too Much more effort and emotion in voice acting More useful-to-the-plot non vendor characters. More cutscenes in general, for exposition, extra story bits, stuff that shouldn't just be in grimoire Straight to the point cutscenes (they drag on... Only be mysterious when absolutely needed, and even then, don't drag on) Skippable cutscenes. Duh. Exotics only from quests, with puzzles and boss missions and rare locations (Bad Juju in Ancient Louisiana, Gjallarhorn at the top of a mountain.) and cutscenes! Quests should be fail-able and hard to acquire. Yeah, that Gally? Guarded by a light-mutated descendant of a yeti. Bad Juju? Prepare to beat a cursed puzzle, or die trying. Thorn? The original owner, even in (un)death, isn't quite so fond of people taking his stuff... Red Death? Just hope the Vanguard doesn't catch you sneaking into their vault. Xur as an exotic quest vendor. If you fail and don't get the weapon or armor piece, he might be able to set you back on the path, at the beginning, for a fee. But seeing his random stock also has a little fee. Prepare to fail often, and pay often. Save up those coins. Fully customizable characters. Clearly height and weight can't be changed because of PvP, but face, voice, hair, and other details need so many more options. Black Desert is the benchmark, not the goal. Look up a video, especially look up how they [i]made the faces of celebrities with the character creator.[/i] Faction wars, to see which faction is the best to lead the Guardians. (with PvP focus, but a PvE component as well. Frontline mode with 10v10 faction v faction deathmatch, and then 10v10 faction v faction CTF. Matchmaking based on faction ranks, and PvP component accounts for 75% of points in the war. PvE simply has a "monsters killed" meter for 25% of the points. Must be wearing a piece of faction gear for monster kills to count) Winning faction gets Legendary packs in the mail, and bonus glimmer depending on how badly you beat the other factions. Quick Join and custom PvP games. All modes should be available to play, always (save Iron Banner, ToO. Those run on their own). Private lobbies too, for dicking around in interceptors and heavy pikes. Skins—ghosts, gear, vehicles. Simplified teams in PvP. Allies have a blue glow/effects if you're Alpha, or red if Bravo. Alpha team will have an automatic blue and white shader applied during the match, and Bravo will have an automatic red and black one. In faction wars, your armor will bear your factions colors and emblems. Allow us to apply modifiers to missions and custom PvP games, kinda like you did in a different game... I'm forgetting what it was called, maybe it didn't do that well. I missed some stuff, but other games have at least 50% of this with 10% of the budget and none of the recognition. That's the real kicker here. Wasted potential is what was in the box, Bungie.