I love this game to pieces, but I can be critical of that which I enjoy. In light of the recent changes and dev blog, I feel like Bungie could use some criticism about just why the loot cave was seen to be necessary by many, and why everyone is enraged that it is gone in a deeper manner than “people want lots of stuff fast.” We have to analyze why so few wanted to play the game the "right" way, and instead chose to squat at a cave for hours praying to RNGsus to get stuff to do the stuff they should have been doing in the first place for it in the first place. It all comes down to information. This game excels at information in some regards (the HUD, the combat feedback) and is disgustingly, woefully, unforgivably horrid at others (exotic bounties and level discrepency come to mind). I wrote a guide several days ago, in these very forums, that showcases how to quickly (8 days maximum) go from 20 to 26, and then lay the groundwork to hitting 29 with general ease. All solo. All easier/faster with friends. All without loot cave farming. I had to dig, do research, test, fail, succeed, and try again and again to do it. I should absolutely not have had to write that guide, and why its very existence highlights severe issues with the way information is given in this game. Edit - I have since removed several entries in this post because patch 1.0.2 is a shining beacon of hope on the horizon of many of these issues being fixed. [b]18 to 24[/b] When I first hit 18, I tried doing the level 18 strike. Okay, that was nice. How about 20? Oh god this is taking forever, but at least I hit 19. Dare I push it to 22 since I can access it now? I guess. Two agonizing hours later with other 19s and we give up. It's unclear how much the magnified enemy damage and reduced player damage is per level difference. If there is some sort of “shoring up” you can do with higher weapon Attack values to alleviate the level difference it is decidedly unclear as to how much is required. On the other side of the coin, the severe cut in damage for doing things at lower levels is absurd. I get that you want high levels to boost jump low levels through content, but if I’m decked in maxed out gear I should actually kind of feel powerful. Heck, a level 28 Titan can’t oneshot a level 2 Fallen Vandal with a basic melee. The damage and health scaling due to having friends along is a bit too high. You should take the Diablo 3 approach and just bump the health, or the more fun approach and send more enemies our way. I should not be able to breeze through the weekly heroic strike solo only to get dumpstered when I try to play with my friends. We are also given access to stuff way too early. "Hey, go do this new level 22 strike" it says, after opening it up for us at 19. It says Very Hard. What does that mean? It means god help you if you try. It's not worth the time, and a lot of people hit that and said F this and never went back. Even the rewards are unclear. "Armor upgrade?" Does that mean +light gear? How much +Light? Which playlist gives me level 20 gear? Wait, the level 24 one? That doesn't make any sense. Level 16 light gear is how you hit level 21. 17/18 gear is 22-23, 19-20 gear gets you to 23-24. That whole process is confusing, as is the procedure of swapping level 20 Uncommon pieces for level 16 Rare pieces to [i]advance in level?[/i] [b]PvP Faction representation[/b] The process of acquiring a faction sash for PvP is unclear and not particularly emphasized for its importance. Why is there no lead in quest, or some kind of missive in your mail that brings you to each one with a bit of text explaining their purpose each individually? Many people haven’t a clue they can even champion a rep, or why they even should. [b]The Daily public event[/b] With how unclear it is initially as to why you got seemingly “random” mail after doing a Public Event and why one stops getting them coupled with the rare and random occurance of immediate rewards upon completion of one then one might assume that they get it at random, kind of like how the bounty leads seem to be random, or exotic bounty drops. Intermission: pretty much everything [i]feels[/i] random, and there is little to dissuade people from thinking this. So, when the option of being able to stand in one spot and plug at stuff spawning in a cave for twelve hours a day shows up at least that randomness requires less effort than the rest. [b]Patrols and general public events[/b] Patrols are just awful. This game has loot, and progression. Everyone is going to hit things with laser guided efficiency and precision unless not doing so is a rousing good time. With zero incentive to explore maps except to chain rush prefabricated copy paste caves and micro rooms for chests, patrols are just a slow, unengaging way to shore up a tiny bit of rep. You guys seem to have had this grand idea of groups roaming around these planets doing patrols together while getting bounties done, and stumbling onto cool public events but it is the slowest and least engaging thing this game has to offer unless everyone splits up into divide and conquer [i]away from each other[/i]. Every other option gives the experience patrols would but more quickly and more readily because, as stated above, the only uniqueness to patrols is the “openness,” having whatever you’re doing messed up by random people, chest blitzing and, ugh, [i]herb farming.[/i] Patrols are by a landslide the weakest part of the game. [b]Marks[/b] Did you convey that there is a weekly cap of 100 marks? Yes. Did you convey that there is a hard cap of 200 marks, and every mark earned thereafter counts against the 100 weekly marks despite not being awarded? No. To be double burned by “losing” the marks as well as counting against the cap is inexcusable. [b]Exotic Bounties[/b] How do you get one? Do only Vanguard bounties count? I popped one with a Queen bounty so maybe not. Do PvP bounties count? What is the minimum to get one? Is it really just random chance? It's not "surprising" so much as frustrating when your friend pops one and you don't and there doesn't seem to be a reliable way to get one other than "do everything every day." What are the steps? If I am a primarily PvE player will I get stonewalled by a tough as nails PvP task 2/3 of the way through this, invalidating all of my work? What do I even get for this Bounty? I hate shotguns, is it for a shotgun? Did I already do this one? Some of the steps are also unclear. Earn a 25 KD spread? Does that mean I need to go 25:0 in a game? Earn 500 arbitrary points, and death slows me down? What does that even mean? Kill Guardians in the Crucible? Why does it say 10,000, wouldn't that take [i]years?[/i] It says kill guys in the Nightfall strike, but I am and it's not going up, does it mean exclusively with Fusion Rifles or is it RNG? Why is all of this so unclear? With all of these murky, confusing problems that require some level of investigative investment (several of which hit back like the fist of an angry god such as biting off more than you can chew with the Strike playlist) it’s no wonder that everyone rushed in a frenzy to the caves when some guy found out you can pop low level mobs all day for what feels like the same level of RNG as everything else. P.S. can you please for the love of all that is cavernous just let us skip cutscenes, please?