Dear Bungie, I, like many others, anxiously awaited the release of Destiny. I salivated over a potential ground breaking game and reveled in those first teaser bits of Beta play. It was wonderful to share a social experience that other games didn’t possess. While I have played many a game of Call of Duty and am no stranger to PvP, I also do not always want to be immersed in a community hell bent on blowing my face off with a rocket launcher. I was excited for an experience that would allow me to interact positively with other players. To be sure, I have had a few run ins with gamers in the Destiny community that seem to revel in being jerks for no apparent reason but my overall experience has been overwhelmingly positive in the social area. And that is where my positive experience with Destiny ends. This is a classic case of “If I had known then what I know now . . .”. If I had known that I would pour hours of gameplay into reaching level 29 and becoming a victim of happenstance, I would not have bought this game. If I had known that the same content would be churned out again and again under different names, I would not have bought this game. If I had known that it wouldn’t matter how much skill I brought to the table, I wouldn’t have bought this game. This list is endless. I could go on in hindsight for hours. I will spare you that. My list of grievances with this game is very long. So I will stick to a few reasons that I am disillusioned and picking up my controller to play Destiny now seems like a chore more than an enjoyment. You say that you are listening in all of your weekly updates. I hope that is the case. Either way, I need to purge my annoyances. First, let’s talk about the Vault of Glass. I am not one of the privileged few that have hours of free time at their disposal to sit in front of a game console. In the beginning, I thought that if I spent a sufficient amount of time in the game, I would reap the rewards. Not so! Everything is randomized, skill is relegated to an afterthought. Yes, it takes skill and teamwork and communication to get through the Vault. No, that doesn’t mean that you will come away from the experience feeling rewarded. Indeed, in my last run, I heard more complaints from my teammates than cries of victory. Rewards were handed out that were already received in the last run. No one received better armor or even upgrade materials that they required to inch ever closer to the fabled level 30. So, I have played strike after strike even though they are all the same four strikes and it gets ridiculously grindy. It’s repetitive. It’s boring. But perseverance must prevail, right? Nope. Someone did research and I applaud this person. I burned hours to receive Vanguard Rank in order to buy Vanguard Armor. Turns out, completely upgrading a full set of Vanguard Armor (that you busted your ass to get) will only get you to level 28. In order to achieve level 30, you require Raid armor. And, like everything else, the chance of receiving that after struggling through the Vault is completely randomized. There is no promise of great reward for success. I take issue with that but I also take issue with all the players that are out there without a raid team. In the last week, my inbox has been flooded with requests from strangers to help them complete the Vault. Why is that? Granted, I have only completed the Vault twice. This is because I, too, struggled to find enough players to make the attempt. Recently, I came upon a good group of people but many other players are out there without a means to finish the Vault. Why is matchmaking not an option already? Why was it assumed that everyone would have a group of friends to attempt the Vault with? Why offer something NECESSARY to reach the final level cap and then cripple players that don’t have a friends list full of people playing Destiny? What makes Bungie think that people aren’t capable of meeting at random and working together to accomplish one goal? The Vault is touted as being difficult, impossible even, if teamwork and communication aren’t in play. Yet, it was admitted that random strangers met at the doors and managed to prevail against the Vault. This surprised Bungie, for some reason. This tells me that your company treads dangerously close to arrogant. Random strangers have been meeting in games across all platforms for years and accomplished the “impossible”. You’d be surprised what gamers can do when they have an incentive, a unified goal. You’re selling your players short. You are, in your arrogance, assuming that players are not smart enough, skilled enough, to work together and accomplish a goal on the fly. And these players have proved to you that they are, indeed, all of those things. Second, let’s address the damage imbalance. It’s frustrating to put time and effort into reaching higher levels, only to be slapped in the face with the realization that level 5 Dregs are able to murder my level 28 Hunter. If an opponent is 4 levels above me, however, I cannot hope to put a dent in their armor. I understand completely that a game must continue to provide a challenge in order to maintain relevance but how is it possible that something far below my level is able to decimate my armor in a matter of seconds? I raise no complaint with “special” material being more difficult (e.g. strikes, the Vault, Heroic Weekly, etc.) but when I am on patrol, how is that something 10 levels or lower than me is such a threat? It isn’t bad enough that patrol is relentless in being repetitive and tiresome, now I have to deal with a group of Dregs tearing through my armor like butter. Third, I’ll get back to that tiresome thing. I realize you have “new” content being released with the DLC packs. In the meantime, I am stuck endlessly replaying the same strikes, the same bounties, the same story missions, all for a chance at random rewards. The level of tedium is exhausting. How disappointing to find out that an event like the Queen’s Wrath was really just refurbished goods. How long did you expect players to be content to play through the same missions over and over? Your promises of adventure and an experience unlike others have proven to be false as everything past the storyline loses its shine after the fortieth or so play through. In essence, once you reach a certain level, the game becomes all about rinse and repeat, hope for the best. I have other minor complaints but those seem like ant bites in comparison to the loss of a limb. I really want to love this game, to tell other gamers that they should buy it because it’s a breakout star in a sea of exciting games. I can’t do that. For now, I can only be a player that hopes Bungie will fulfill its promises, that the tedium wears off, and that they stop handicapping players before they even give them a chance to succeed. For now, I will step away from Destiny to let the annoyance wear off and hope that I come back to a game worth playing. PS: To any potential commentators, this is my opinion and I am entitled to it. Please do not attack me or harp on me for having an opinion and expressing it. Keep in mind, I am not claiming to be an awesomely skilled player or anything like that. Thanks.