Bump.

[b]Presentation[/b] I. The Grimoire The Grimoire , in it's form of a set trading cards, is an interesting take on the tried and true codex of innumerable RPGs past. The method of how you gain entries in it, however, is simply horrific. Never in all my years of gaming have I experienced a system so staunchly, unimaginably unforthcoming as the Grimoire in it's current form where it dangles basic pieces of lore behind arbitrary kill counts so high you would think they were inspired by a Rwandan genocide or equally tedious requirements. Now I can see how setting up the lore as a "game" where the player has to earn bits and pieces might sound positive on the outset but really, there is no sane reason to lock out basic information about the world around the player behind massive kill requirements or any arduous requirements beyond actually interacting with a previous unknown subject. Now this system might make some sense if the information you gained started off as a basic preamble and became more and more intricate and detailed, reflecting your character becoming more familiar with the things around him through sheer experience, as you met increasingly higher requirements but as it stand now the middling paragraphs, if that, simply are not worth the piles of corpses necessary or other acts to unlock them and the values should be adjusted accordingly. I don't wish to harp unnecessarily but I just cannot fathom the kind of logic the Grimoire represents. Why do I need hundreds of kills with an Auto Rifle to gain something as basic as the game's definition of an Auto Rifle? Why do I need to make an Awoken character for the sole purpose of finding out why blue people are running around here? Every other game I've ever experienced had the sole requirement of simply interacting with a subject to gain knowledge about it and right fully so. What good reason is there to [i]not[/i] give the player information on something as soon as it is encountered or at the very least shortly there after? II. Characterization It doesn't really exist, both antagonists and supporting characters are equally lacking in much needed definition. Other than the Speaker who will obviously be getting more screen time, character interaction between yourself and the inhabitants of the Tower, the few NPCs you'll interact with in the game space is nonexistent beyond buying stuff. The Vanguard are seasoned veterans and also guides to your rebirth as a Guardian but even as you meet them for the VERY FIRST TIME no scene or dialogue surrounding what it means to be your chosen class or what your role in the coming conflict is occurs even though you're [i]a freshly reanimated corpse[/i] and things of this nature would be of interest to character and player as well as the previous exploits of your handlers. Instead, you get a care package and are then told to get more care packages with the exact same flaw repeating itself over and over. You go about the Tower, meeting the factional leaders, a source of disharmony while humanity breathes it's last breath, yet learn nothing about them beyond the vaguest of ideas of their stances from the gear they sell, You go to the Shipwright, Outfitter, and Cryptarch, non-guardians who can put a vulnerable, human face to the conflict to contrast your space-time altering demi godhood and again, no attempt is made to connect the player to these characters and thus strengthen their knowledge and connection to the world. It's a very odd omission for a game that takes it's story so seriously for there to be so few avenues for it. I'm not asking for extensive dialog trees or even dialog trees but there really should have been introductory cutscenes and short scenes that occur as you reach story milestones. When it comes to enemies, they too are sorely in need of more definition. As soon you are reborn you encounter the Fallen, a race of nobility and serfs fallen from grace and cursed to pillage the stars in shame, but Tyrion feels no need to give you even the briefest introduction to them even though you are, again, [i]a freshly reanimated corpse[/i]. In fact, no one ever bothers to tell you who the Fallen are or what they want, this massive gap in background knowledge would remain if not for pre release material and blurbs from Grimoire cards gained hours if not days later with both being sources of information outside the game. This issue is further compounded when you consider there doesn't seem to be any clear antagonists at this point. Sure we've seen bosses so far but they have no dialogue or narrative significance. Who are the leaders of the respective armies against us? What do they gain from this? What is their take on each other given Hive troops attack Fallen troops? Do they serve the Darkness willingly or out of fear? As they stand now the Fallen are just "the Fallen" and the Hive are just "the Hive", mere obstacles with seemingly no greater purpose or machinations as well as a distinct lack of notable leadership for the player to use as a reference for the whole. III. Narrative Destiny does a lot of setting up with references to battles and calamities, heroes and secret orders, but never follows through and tells you what happened or what they are. At a glance, I would suppose this is endemic of the same issues facing characters which is Bungie seems to believe off loading lore and background information from it actual source and into the Grimoire is somehow a good idea. Looking deeper, I would assume these references solely exist to add the illusion of depth and breath to the world without any actual plans to bring them to the forefront. When it comes to the actual story of the game I don't have enough to properly assess it but from what little there is It might have been better to have your character go through a proper dialogue, asking questions and giving statements, on what your doing and your current objective rather than have Tyrion talk at you in order to more organically relay to the player how his actions work into the greater conflict. As it stands now I definitely get it but it just seems so curt and to the point. I don't really understand why such vagueness exists within the game when your character is a person revived after dying a number of years prior to current events. It pretty much the equivalent of Amnesia in the sense it gives you a easy out for explaining all the things in the world around the character for the sake of the viewer without it being clunky or inorganic but the fact that your character was dead seems to be just an ancillary detail and not a tool to introduce you into the world. It's an odd choice to make. [b]Items[/b] I. Gaining Items On the whole, the system behind Destiny's loot system seems to work just fine but could use some fine tuning when it comes to the Crucible. I, like many others, brought my A game to the Iron Banner and was eventually awarded Timur's Lash and some Glass Shards, gained after arriving in third and first place after a hand full of victories with people also receiving the Hand Cannon after equally scattered performances. In short, it seemed as if I gained these rewards much like equipment in the Crucible proper, out of pure dumb luck with none of the metrics on how many matches I played or where I placed score wise being a noticeable factor. This became glaringly noticeable after FOURS HOURS of the Iron Banner with modest wins to rolfstomps and nothing to show for it beyond a common pulse rifle and uncommon boots. While this is merely an oddity in the normal mode it becomes an issue when talking about limited time events and unique awards. It goes without saying that inundating consistent PvP top scorers with loot runs counter to good balance but what ever algorithms are used to determine who gets what when need to be adjusted for the sake of the Iron Banner so rewards are both timely and consistent. There are few frustrations greater than having something dangled in front of with no real way of knowing when or even if you'll ever receive it even though you're doing all you can. This is a completely arbitrary suggestion but I was thinking if you can win 5 to 10 matches, nearly regardless of you personal performance, you receive the limited reward. While it's good to hear that the Iron Banner was artificially shortened for stress testing I hope that the rewards are more readily available to rectify the entire issue. When it comes to items available for purchase I'm not entirely sure what to think. With the Vanguard Armory trailer showing the return of low level Vanguard weapons and the addition of low level Vanguard armor the player seems to have enough avenues to find the proper equipment they need if they're having a stint of bad drops but I'm not sure what other changes will be made before release. In a slightly related note, I reached rank 3 with the Cryptarch and got engrams for the "Creation's Wind" bond and the Zombie Apocalypse WF47. While the bond required me to be level 10 which is acceptable the Machine Gun required me to be level 20, I enjoyed the sentiment of the rewards but I would probably be better served with items that are in my characters ball park. Over highly leveled rewards also seem to have been fixed. II. Shaders I can't really find a good reason why basic shaders from the Guardian Outfitter should be level locked. It would be one thing if they were super unique schemes gained from raids or other accomplishments but should I really need to reach the max level for my character to not look like a sci fi circus clown? Honestly, c'mon. The choice is especially odd given factional colors only had a crucible rank requirement in the alpha. Also on the topic of shaders, there needs to be an ability to preview them.

All highly valid points that I have recognized. Bump

These are all valid points that I either didn't notice from my limited beta play-time, or overlooked because I was too busy fanboiing. I've been waiting for this game with baited breath since it was revealed and I was pretty happy with the Beta. That being said, I will be ecstatic if your points (and some other great feedback that I've read in the past month) can be and are addressed before the full release.

Hopefully the full release of the game will have these problems fixed.

Good post and some valid points are being raised. I completely agree with the grimoire point. I was really excited about the system at first but when I discovered that the information unlocked was completely uninteresting or worthwhile I was really disappointed. I think it can be fixed though.

Good read, thanks!

All points are as valid as when you originally posted this. I would assume there will be more story exposition and characterisation in the full game. For me the beta annoyed me because the Speaker said, "I'm sure you have no end of questions," and my character proceeded to only ask what happened to the Traveller to make it lose its power. If I were recently resurrected, I might ask a few more than that. And yeah, considering that the Grimoire seems like a very important source of lore, the kill requirements are excessive. Oh, and absolutely agreed on loot drops in PVP. A weighted system so you get rewarded for your performance while still giving everyone a chance seems like the best solution. Also, bosses should be guaranteed loot drops. That's pretty standard for the genre.