To try and rationalize it that way is wrong. The only reason you play that much is because of the rng, and that's by design. That's how Bungie has gotten away with having little to no viable content, rng grind with ridiculously low drop rates for gear you needed. How do you think that "light level" system came about? It allowed for a choke point, you [i]had[/i] to have that piece of armor to reach level cap. Combine that with low drop rates and a limit of once per week to get it, and you have a hamster wheel masterpiece. And that's not where it stops either; after all that grind to get said armor drop, what did you do? You grinded even more to level it up with a xp trickle. Even with the nightfall xp buff, it was a hard slog to max out. So when you speak about a cost to value ratio like that, it's fundamentally incorrect. How you should look at it is a cost to [i]enjoyment[/i] ratio, not entertainment. When you look at it that way, the scales tip in the other direction.

Excellent point. The only reason why ANYONE plays this many hours is for the RNG and for the entertainment WE bring to the social aspect of the game. Their content took less than a total of 12 hours all together. That's less than disc 1 of Legend of Dragoon.