I bumped and support this, but rather than have the element be random on the weapon, this is what I would propose:
Elemental cores that drop from endgame activities which can be put into your favorite kinetic weapons to give elemental damage. [Edit] I also wanted to note that I think elemental cores could be added to a list of prizes that can drop from public events, but they should be a rare drop so that public events don't replace endgame activities as the way to obtain these items. The drop rate should be something like 3-5% so that if you do 100 public events (which sounds like a lot, but they can go by quickly depending on what planet you are on), you may get 3-5 cores.
Why would this be better than RNG?:
1. It allows another layer of customization - PLAYERS create the diversity with the weapons they like most;
2. It gives a reason to repeatedly grind endgame content (once you have 3 primaries in each flavor, you'll want to upgrade ALL your primaries).
3. It allows you to keep a great kinetic damage roll on a weapon and hold out for the proper elemental core to drop if you want it to have a specific kind of damage, rather than force you to scrap it because it didn't drop with the right elemental burn or perks. In this way, the system is more player-friendly than it would be if the gun simply had RNG burns as well as perks.
4. It gives us options down the road. Perhaps unwanted elemental cores can be exchanged for the burn you want once a week at a trader, or perhaps traded for the special Silver packaged, or dismantled for rep.
Also, in response to this:
[quote]
Now some people make the argument: "But what about difficulty? PvE is already easy enough, why would we want it easier?"[/quote]
Sure, the game is completable with kinetic primaries, but it is not as FUN as it used to be. Elemental burn weapons on primaries gives us a sense of progression, even if it is an artificial one. In Burn activities, we receive a damage buff (doubly so if its small arms + burn), and outside of burn activities, it allows us to crack shields without wasting a FULL magazine to do so. Very useful IMO.
Also, bear in mind that in most activities outside of the Nightfall, Raid, and IB/Trials, your effective light level is capped at a certain point so that you are not doing millions of damage to low level enemies because you are MUCH higher light level than they are. This is done to preserve the sense of a challenge and it is why a level 4 dreg can kill you in the cosmodrome if you are stupid, and why you can only head shot them for 1k damage or less.
Whether this system should exist is a different topic for debate, but this much is clear: Adding elemental primaries allows this structure to stay in place while STILL allowing you to feel that sense of power progression, even under those conditions. You would be able to crack shields in a shot or 2 rather than using up a full magazine or more, even if your shots did the same amount of damage once the shield dropped.
Why do we need a sense of power progression? This is a loot-based MMO with RPG elements. We grind and grind and grind for loot, and at the end of the day, we want to know that the grinding made a difference. Why grind for light level when it is functionally capped for most activities? That reduces your sense of progression, rather than increases it. If light level isn't going to be the thing that allows us to feel that sense of progression, then it must be done through the gear and guns we get. Which is why we need elemental primaries to return. It is ALSO why I have advocated for RNG-only elite weapons to drop again like they did in Y1.
Ultimately, PVE players won't get that sense of power progression unless they get weapons that reduce grind. And the reduction in grind, IMO is NECESSARY in a game like Destiny, where we are stuck replaying the same content over and over in a repetitive grind. At least when you get a weapon that reduces grind, it changes your relationship to the grind by making it much less tedious and boring. It is actually FUN and EXCITING to feel strong.
Finally, if you don't want to use elemental primaries - nobody would make you use them. What someone else uses in PVE doesn't affect you in any way, shape or form. So even if they implement the elemental core system, you can choose to take advantage of it or not take advantage of it. That power is ALSO in the player's hands. If you choose not to use it, you do so presumably with full knowledge and understanding of the consequences of that choice. So then you have no right to complain. Bottom line: I respect your decision to choose not to use elemental primaries. Why can't you respect my choice and desire to have access to them and use them?
Remember: Elemental primaries have ZERO effect in PVP...Just saying...
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Totally down with that. Adds a benefit to having one burn, but a detriment against all other shields. It also adds a universal benefit of having kinetic weapons because all shields are damaged equally by kinetic damage (though not as much as it would be damaged if it were hit with the same kind of elemental damage).
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Thanks man, I appreciate it! I really don't care how its done, I just hope they do things to actually bring the FUN back to this game, and elemental primaries is definitely one of the things that could. It, alone wouldn't be enough, but it would be a good start.
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Indeed. It would get me quite a long way along the path to buying Destiny 2. It wouldn't get me all the way there. I need to see some definitive changes and "philosophy of design" changes from Bungie. But it would definitely help their chances.
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Honestly, I think the elemental cores are the best solution to the elemental primary issue, as it brings them back in a way that empowers players. However, I am open to ANY system that would bring them back, as they were a part of what made Y1 so addicting.
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Agreed. While I am obviously a little biased to my own solution (lol); I think that if Bungie were to decide to use one of our two solutions, I honestly think your would be the one that they might implement. My solution supports utilization of their already existing (if poorly implemented) RNG, and your solution takes even more work off of their shoulders and puts it into the hands of the players. I don't want that to sound bad. Not at all. But as you said, I will take either of the two methods to get elemental damage back onto Primary weapons ([b]ALL[/b] Legendary and Exotic Primary weapons) that also at the same time gives more power to the players. And I think you and I have given Bungie two well thought out ways to do that.
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[quote] And I think you and I have given Bungie two well thought out ways to do that.[/quote] We've given them some well thought-out ideas on a LOT of issues, but somehow, it seems like Bungie never gives them the appropriate attention. Perhaps what we need to do is title all of our posts with good ideas "Sidearms OP, PLZ NERF" lol.