-or- Why Forsaken’s sales are not meeting target I have 3 friends who purchased D2 late in Y1. They all had a blast with the core game, but the progression system is opaque and nonsensical to those coming from other looter shooters. Rewards and progression should be time equivalent. But due to the capabilities of the D1 faithful and professionals in burning through content, the milestone system was put into place to slow down progression. It didn’t work. The hardcore were barely inconvenienced and the folks who, let’s say, played crucible to max light in D1, couldn't effectively do that, and outside the powerful gear drop – progression stopped. With Foresaken, this got worse – even when the amount of things to do (challenges, bounties, etc.) increased - because progression got more opaque and less linear, as not all powerful gear is the same. (I know the method, but it is not clear from the in-game tooltips, and I can’t comprehend Bungie’s reliance on Reddit.) Now, the time gating make this even worse. These friends have time, but not consistently. Say, one runs a restaurant – he works 12-16 hours Thursday to Sunday, and recoups Monday. He will never get the Whisper as his play time is Tuesday and Wednesday. One of the others is in a band, so his time is in blocks, effectively making it impossible to complete a 3 week curse cycle. The last runs his own company, and doesn’t have a lot of time to ‘work’ on power and will be perpetually behind us – but has the cash to blow on a game he plays once a week with his friends. See why your sales tanked? These are people who would easily purchase the game, but I actively deterred them from the purchase because the only successful play style in Foresaken is massive time sink (streamer/professional/no lifer). If your game content isn’t completely available every time a player logs in, the only barriers being skill and power, your sales will not increase and I will actively deter-a-friend (or 3). It should be possible to give the hardcore a mode/progression path in which to show off, and still allow for the more casual people to experience all the content at their leisure.