All we see are bad, seemingly tone-deaf changes TWID after TWID, with a face of optimism glazed over the top. It's disheartening to hear, hundreds of times, that we're being listened to and it seems like changes are being made to *force* players to play more instead of making them *want* to play more. [b]I do not want to have to play 6 or 7 hours a day of brainless grind just to get a cool shiny gun[/b] Solo ops the only feasible, time-effective way to level? Let's nuke it so it can't drop +3 primes. Fireteam and Pinnacle ops taking too long? Let's give them one extra chance for a Prime, which it very well may not be, and instead make new modifiers to make them harder and longer! Not Swap? No Not Swap? Make up your mind. You made a raid that had such beefy damage checks you were almost forced to swap to be able to clear it; Now for the even harder version we're disabling swapping entirely. ???? Pick a lane. -I just hit Ascendant. Worst meta in years. Plagued by infinite melee builds and shotguns that use primary ammo. And, I didn't get an emblem! I got a pop up screen that said "You are in Ascendant". Really? Yeah thanks I know it only took me 50 hours of 51% win/loss ratio due to extremely poor lobby balancing. [b]Why would I ever make a build with tier 2 or tier 3 armor when tier 4 and 5 armor makes it obsolete in 50 levels?[/b] This feels like a rare/legendary problem all over again. Why would I keep a tier 3, which is the functional equivalent to a blue armor piece? Why? Ever? Also, Ghost Armor focusing mods do not work, so there's that. -[u]More on Tiered loot:[/u] There is a glaring error in the base function of the tier system. Why would I ever attempt a Raid, Dungeon, or Pinnacle Op until I am 400+? I am not properly rewarded for doing those hard activities. Hard activities = better loot, right? [b]Wrong[/b]! I get three tier 3 drops at 350 power. What a massive waste of 40 minutes to an hour! If I wanted to level up, I would do "level up" activites. Solo ops, fireteam ops, and quickplay crucible. Pinnacle ops, Raids, and other "hard" content like Trials and Competitive [i]should reward me with something I cannot get in "level up" activites[/i]. Effectively, all weapons and armor that is tier 3 or lower is [i]not worth playing hard activities for.[/i] -[u]Touching on PvP again:[/u] Graviton spike is extremely out of band. The perk activates in too few headshots, then instantly wipes any two guardians standing next to each other, regardless of which mode you have it overcharged in. Shotgun Handcannons are a neat idea. Unfortunately, they absolutely obliterate smgs, sidearms, pellet shotguns, and slugs due to being able to peek shoot around corners with primary ammo while still behaving damage wise as a special weapon. Also extremely out of band. Strong abilities are way too prevalent. I can get a Tempest Strike. Every. Single. Dodge. Tempest strike, by the way, is a near 15 meters of range aoe damage melee that is very, very safe to use at almost any time. No drawbacks. Free damage. Instant clean up with anything that has high handling. The same applies to Throwing Knives, Shoulder Charges, and Lightning Surges. Too strong, too often. Abilities that take more than 75% of a guardians total health/shield pool have no business being available every 30 seconds. And what's the deal with the Portal? I do not care about "bonus drops" if the "bonus drops" don't give me something better than what I already have. Be it higher level, higher tier, or better stats. Everything else that drops that isn't the above "better" loot makes me feel like I've wasted my time, because now, with Unstable Cores as a currency, I have to spend even more materials to level, which I can only get by dismantling the "new" gear that drops! -[u]Final note:[/u] I have been repeatedly told by Bungie that I am encouraged to "play my own way" and instead doing so, I could level moderately quickly and not miss out on cool new gear. This is not the case. I am [i]forced[/i] to play activities with several "challenge" modifiers, equip "new gear" to get bonuses, and stick to a pre-approved list of exotics to scrape together an A ranking to [i]maybe[/i] get a drop that is higher level than what I already have. That is not playing [i]my[/i] way. I hate that I have to say these things. I love Destiny 2, or at least what I want Destiny 2 to be. I have close to ten thousand hours in this game, and this is the first time in a long time I have been hit over the head with the most blatant and egregious "your time is not valued" stick. And what do I hear when I say these things? We're listening.