I was really hoping Shadowkeep would be another Second Wind for this game, but I was mostly disappointed. Sure, we got the player numbers up, but it completely glossed over some glaring flaws that need to be addressed, as well making some WORSE. So here's my list: -MATCHMAKING. Let's get the big one out of the way first. With the transition to New Light and hype for Shadowkeep, we're seeing huge numbers of new or very rusty returning players in the game. While it's great that there's a new audience participating, with the current matchmaking system in game this has completely DESTROYED the experience for Veterans. Activities that should be simple, such as Forges, Menagerie, Vex Offensive, and even STRIKES, are now painstaking or next to impossible due to people who have absolutely no idea how to play, whether it's mechanics or literally just shooting their goddamn gun. There NEEDS to be some kind of behind the scenes system to sort out the experienced and skilled players from the idiots, children, and bots. Whether it's playtime, activity completions, Triumph score, Power level, or literally just a PvE Skill Rating, we desperately need to have a system that will put us in queues with similarly skilled players to give us an actual shot at beating the activity or meeting special requirements. I understand that there's a need for new players to get into these activities, but with the (imo stupid) instant power bump to 750, you have players that pick the game up, reach 900 Power in a day, and think they're qualified for things like High Tier Nightfalls, Raids, and even Exotic Quests like Leviathan's Breath. The bottom line is, if they CAN'T understand and beat the activity or at least be somewhat helpful, they shouldn't even be allowed to play it. I've taken to people watching in Offensive, Strikes, and Menagerie, and the amount of these players that struggle with killing ads or literally refuse to attempt mechanics like craniums and forge charges is ridiculous. With no power curve to keep them separated until they're ready, they're ruining the game for everyone. The worst part is that often they're literally unteachable. I've taken to sometimes plugging in my mic to try to give advice, even something as simple as "Use your Supers!" (Another thing that seems to be impossible for newbies to grasp), and am often met with slurs and hatred, or claims that they know better, even though they're shooting the boss while he's immune. TL;DR: We need SOME kind of separation between skill levels in matchmade activities, please. -Eververse Changes. While I understand that Bungie has moved to being an independent studio, and that the recent Eververse changes are meant to help supply some income to keep their quality level, I and a lot of other veterans feel absolutely betrayed by the amount of lockout we're seeing with EV items now. When they announced Bright Dust was being moved to normal bounties I was hopeful, but the current system is absolutely not respecting of player involvement, and seems to want to FORCE microtransactions. We're seeing weekly bounties grant 100 bright dust each, and repeatables granting 10! That's PITIFUL. With this system, doing all 6 weekly bounties would grant 600 Bright Dust, enough for.... a transmat effect, legendary ship, or sparrow? With the actual Quality, Exotic items ranging in price from 2500-5000, it would take 3 weeks of weekly bounties + some change just to buy ONE ITEM. This, coupled with the removal of receiving Bright Dust from dismantling duplicates makes it near impossible for Veteran players who weren't sitting on hoards of Dust to buy anything, not to mention new players, who stand no chance, and will end up being scorned over and over since we have no calendar showing what will be coming throughout the season and when, and now they've even forcibly limited the amount of items we see per week by making almost everything duplicate between the Featured and Bright Dust tabs. And finally on this topic, Bright Engrams. To sum this up quickly, "What the f&ck, Bungie?" One of the biggest pluses that the Eververse store had was at least having a CHANCE of being able to earn the items you wanted by just playing. But now, with the Bright Engrams taking longer than ever to acquire, only featuring items from Past Seasons, making them largely useless for Veteran players, and not even giving Bright Dust rewards for duplicates, they're just a slap in the face. Even leaving the 5x level per one and no returned Bright Dust would be okay if they at least featured items from the current season, but now that everything is strictly direct purchase, this in-game store is effectively one of the worst I've seen, equating to nothing but a cash grab. -A Power Grind that matters. While I'm mostly okay with Shadowkeep's leveling up to the Hard Cap, the Pinnacle Cap has me miffed in just about every way. With recent videos from people like Datto highlighting the absurdity, impossibility, and uselessness of the Pinnacle grind, I have to ask, who the hell thought this was okay? With 960 Gear Power being literally unreachable without grinding every Pinnacle Gear source on all 3 characters AND having great luck each week, it seems like absolutely no thought was put into this, completely reversing on what Bungie's said about "deepening the end-game". Not to mention that the extra 10 power is literally useless, considering that by the time you hit 950 you should already be around +10 on your Artifact, placing you at 960, the max power advantage for the new raid, and a decent standpoint for high tier Nightfalls and Nightmare Hunts. It honestly feels like this was just a shitty trick to try to entice hardcore players to stick around as long as they wouldn't think about it, but as soon as you hit the Hard Cap it completely removes all incentive to stick around. -Year 1 Weapons Reinvigorated- With the release of New Light prominently featuring Year 1 content and the Ordeal Nightfalls sending us back to old strikes, I'm genuinely confused as to why at least SOME Y1 weapons weren't reworked to have mod slots, and possibly even the current Masterwork system to add more depth to their chase. You have an abundance of people running Leviathan right now, only to pick up things like Midnight Coup, Ghost Primus, and Inaugural Address and find them sub-par compared to Y2 weapons with similar rolls, when they could be relevant again, just as the Y2 Raid Weapons remain. This also extends to Nightfall specific weapons like Duty Bound, D.F.A, Militia's Birthright, and even the Prophecy Weapons. Why can they not be brought up to speed? Other Small Things I'd include are: -More Bounty/Quest Space (Love the new layout, just need to be able to actually hold all of a day's set at once. -Increased Sources for Upgrade Modules, maybe more Cores from Higher Tier Wanted Bounties -Increased Stack Limits for Various Items (Vex Mind Components, Modulus Reports, Ballistic Logs, Dark Fragments, Queensfoil, etc. Why is it necessary to limit them other than to inconvenience players?) -Discontinuation of Lost Ghost Traces dropping after collecting them all, or allowing them to be repeatable (Is the Lore Book bugged for everyone or just some people? This whole thing is a mess. This would also be great for Small Gifts and the Rice Cakes) -Removal of Individual Clan XP Cap. All this does is hurt small clans and prevent them from reaching higher levels. If we're playing enough, we should be able to keep earning, at least up to the max Weekly Cap for the clan. I think that's all I've got for now. If you read all this, thank you, and whether you're a Veteran or new player let me know what you think. I think the Matchmaking especially needs to be looked at, but all of these are things I've thought about since Shadowkeep dropped.