https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veusf6lcm6g The video above is going to play a major part in what I have to say. It has always been my belief that the saying "with great power comes great responsibility" applies to everything. That likewise holds true for games. Gaming is more than just a simple hobby. Its grown into its own culture at this point, thriving over the years since the olden days. Its a living thing. As such, its important that we respect and care for it to preserve this culture for later generations. A lot of that responsibility falls upon the developers who make the games. Their product affects people and can impact lives, whether positively or negatively. And because of this, there has always been standards in place to ensure the quality of that experience, standards that were maintained by the Gamers themselves to establish a system of checks and balances. And with a higher reputation and the financial ability to create larger and more expensive games? You are able to reach greater audiences and possess more influence within the industry itself. This is why "AAA" Games are held in such high regards. That being the case, that is your power. And with that power NEEDS to be equal amounts of responsibility. And not just on the part of the developers, but the players in their community as well. Because each and every game does make an impact, they all leave behind some everlasting mark on the culture. And just like a person, it can be hurt. Damaged. Even killed. For those who don't remember: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDTg8gADBHU With that said, you need to ask yourself what kind of effect is Destiny having? Ethos elaborates further on this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThRrz9ts0sk But I don't want to focus on that subject. What I want to talk about is a continuation of a matter that I spoke on months ago: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/157307267?sort=0&page=0 I argued that seeking out continued innovation for the game is better and should be the primary focus for this and any other game. As it stands, Destiny is essentially a perpetual Hamster Wheel. It literally has players doing the same activities over and over and over and over...and over again. And why are they doing this? This is where the video above comes into play. Its the rewards. People need a reason to do things in games, and Destiny is designed for that reason to revolve around the loot. But this is also part of the problem. A great number of players, myself included, completely quit Destiny the instant we realized that the time we were investing into the game was ultimately meaningless. You generally had people dumping hundreds of hours of their life (more valuable than money) into the game for the sole purpose of getting Legendary and Exotic weapons and armor, and then not just once, but twice made those rewards pointless. It would be one thing if the new content offered perks or new archtypes and options that naturally made them better than the previous stuff, to entice players to go out and spend the time getting them. But that's not what you did. Instead, the previous stuff was rendered obsolete. A fully upgraded Red Hand IX would not be useful in the new challenges and there were no options given for players to continue evolving said gear. Especially when you have the concept of "Light Level" dictating damn near everything with the game. And that's bad, because you are contradicting the design of your own game. You want me to spend the time and effort to get this really cool looking weapon, but why should I when it will eventually get "left behind" just like all the rest? Same goes for the armor too, now once again you've got players who are all basically looking exactly the same unless they're willing to dump even MORE time and most likely money into the game just to look unique. (I heard someone dropped $80 and still didn't get everything that they wanted from it. That just goes to show you how horrible the drop rates are for it, unless you happen to get lucky with it. But this is a gamblers mentality in and of itself, which is not something Destiny should have ever been involved with, less supporting...) One may argue that other games do this as well, but the issue there is that said other games aren't primarily focused on the loot, though. The experience they are offering is much different. Hell, even Diablo has dungeons that are constantly being randomized with consistent free updates. For example, in Mabinogi there is a crap load of loot as well including weapons and armor. But what you are spending the majority of your time doing in that game is building up your character. Your character is where all your time investment is going and that time spent is greatly rewarded. Time Investment is a critical concern for games. The people who continue to play Destiny even after having accomplished everything are doing it for 1 of 3 reasons. [b]1) The game has become a routine for them, like forming a habit. They come back home from work or school and just like having a beer or a cigarette to relax, they end up playing Destiny because they have become used to that routine. 2) They are thoroughly addicted to the PvP because they have been playing the Crucible for so long that any other game's multiplayer would be too difficult for them to acclimate. You'll see the same behavior with a large portion of the COD community where they either can't get used to new controls or start getting thrashed in another game so they end up just going back to COD which is what they're used to. (This will happen to anyone who plays the same game for an extended period of time) 3) Folks who are bound by social obligations, such as friends or clans. Someone could be outright sick of playing Destiny but decides to stay because their friends continue playing for either one if not both of the reasons listed above.[/b] There is the 4th option as well which is people who play the game professionally, as in they're making money off of it. But that group of people is so crazy small that its really not worth mentioning. [b]Thanks to GooglyEyedFrog for pointing this out:[/b] [quote][b]I definitely came under categories 1 and 2 in your post. but would personally add a fifth 'category' which applies to me and to, perhaps, others. Someone who continues to play because they are so, probably irrationally, 'picky' about the games they want to play that once they find a game they enjoy playing they continue to play, even after they see it for what it is, because of the dearth of alternatives for them.[/b][/quote] And this is a practice that is impacting gaming as a whole. Right now, as we speak there are conversations happening everywhere talking about how Console Gaming is dying out and how the rise of Mobile Gaming is going to end up destroying everything. How PC Gaming is the last bastion of hope and so many people are looking to transition from the PS4/XB1 over to PC. When you stop to consider that Destiny is strictly a Console Only game? This is bad, dude. Destiny was supposed to be a pillar to help save consoles, but instead its doing the opposite. So many Gamers have become disenfranchised because of it. Look, I don't care if you (Bungie) respond to this post or not. Odds are you probably won't. But I'm [b]BEGGING[/b] you, please take a moment to stop and consider the ramifications of the decisions being made for this game. Take a look at the rest of the industry, the condition its currently in. Design your game to have a stronger emphasis on [b]PLAYER DRIVEN CONTENT: -Crafting System -Player Trading/Shops -Player Housing -Clan Options (Allow Player Clans to exist in the actual game itself) -Faction Warfare (Open World PvP or Faction Tournaments) -Sparrow Racing (But take it a step further, actually create huge social hubs where players can gather to watch the races and socialize or place bets on people)[/b] You'll find that if you focus MORE on content that is driven by the players, you won't have that much of a demand for new content. Because that's the brilliance of PLAYER DRIVEN. Those "other games" make it a point to hammer out those details first. You don't NEED to have micro-transactions. You don't NEED to use a Hamster Wheel. You don't NEED to make old content worthless. And for those who are going to have some kind of problem with this post? Let me just lay it out for you that yes, the community is also to blame for things. As a Gamer, you have just as much responsibility as the company itself to maintain those standards. You can complain about something till you're blue in the face, but it doesn't mean anything if you keep buying into it. That makes a "Not Ok Thing" into an "Ok" thing, by sheer virtue of the fact your wallet is giving that impression. TeKnoVKNG said it best: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnv9UDKCJn0 You're right, its not my business how you spend YOUR money. However, it [b]DOES[/b] become my business when your spending habits are damaging the industry and hurting the value of my gaming experiences. So yes, very bitter indeed. Stop it. Its not okay. Its been ignored long enough. Everyone needs to start taking responsibility for what they're doing. Start being apart of the solution, not the problem.