Very well stated. I'll attempt to keep this short and as concise as possible. It would be near impossible for me to provide an operational definition of how to navigate the internet efficiently as that is not my technical expertise. What I am attempting to provide, is a summary of the many observed characteristics (documented through a multitude of videos, podcasts & forum posts) as experienced by myself and thousands of others (Bungie forums are not the only place people post about Destiny). Rather than state what the general Destiny population *might* see (or perceive) as poor coding on behalf of the developer, rather I theorize that it is statistically more likely that a successful developer (Bungie) is treading on ground that has insufficient tools(resources) to capture where coding sent through the internet is failing. They (Bungie) also appear to be unable to capture real end point data regarding these fail points. They are aware of unresolved networking issues though. This is made apparent through posts by Bungie stating that the player must return to orbit and failure to do so will result in the loss of engrams. Power failure or network loss prior to orbit return will also result in engram loss. And for your question on melee hit detection (for example). Lets say the range of your fist is 1 meter (3 feet). Meaning if anyone comes within that 3 foot arc in front of you then your fist would connect and do damage. This is further complicated in a Peer to Peer system. When you have two opponents playing against each other in a Peer to Peer system, it is likely that one of you is actually hosting the game and the other is 'playing' on your system. You will have an instant advantage in that your system will not need to navigate the internet to provide a response but the coding *could* simulate a delay to assist in fair play. For example: You both rush each other with intent to Melee the other. You both swing at the same time. If your latency is higher(meaning extra overhead is added to the time to navigate over the internet) it is likely that he will connect with your face before the system can receive your response. The network code tries to 'even' this out. That is why you see the other player die a second or two after you have already been killed. It determined you both hit at the same time but the actual determination occurred after you were dead. If the 'latency' and related network code is really out of sync you may feel like you are a god and un-killable as you run through the map killing players en-mass. They can not seem to hit you as you 'pop' in and out of existence, yet you have no issues obliterating them as they literally stand in front of you but can not see you. On their system you are not in that position. This becomes more complicated when the matchmaking code is applied based on your kill/death ratio. Everything leads back to the network code and how well it works......Everything. PvE and PvP.

Fine and dandy. It doesn't make sense that melee charges are consumed though, and no damage is dealt. If it gets consumed on my end, I HAD to hit my enemy, so the damage should always be applied.

Are you saying you melee an opponent, register the hit at your end, but no hit is registered on the opponent end ?

I mean that I hit my opponent with a charged Voidwalker/Bladedancer melee, my melee ability charge gets consumed and put on CD, yet I deal zero dmg. The important part here is that the ability gets put on CD, because this means that I must have hit something on my end.

Understand - to summarise Your console 1 registers hit 2 super CDs 3 registers no damage So this indicates a hit registration or pack loss issue between you host and target or you and target if you are host. This is a perfect example of OPs hypothesis - are you able to provide at least game date, time, game type and lobby list. This can be provided to Charlemagne at help who can review the instance and OP hypothesis and progress solutions.

Thank you very much - this makes sense to me and helps me contribute. You probably have a sense I share your enthusiasm for this matter - it is the [b]NUMBER ONE[/b] issue. Solve this and a lot of second order issues disappear. As a TQM you will understand for example that if NetCode does not work as well as intended - balancing guns under this environment is fruitless. NetCode - FIRST ORDER ISSUE Balance - Second order issue That's why network engineers are the real dev Gods in the world of on line gaming :)