Pretty simple here. We are an older clan. When the mechanics are onerous and one mistake is a wipe of the team…you give it a try or two. The other piece is having to strap in for 3-4 hours to learn and do it. It just takes a long time. Unless you’ve got a team you enjoy grinding with….it’s a lot of time locked in when I usually only have weekends when I’m home that I can do it. Beyond that it’s a time commitment issue. By no means am I complaining, it just accounts for why I choose to play shorter content.

Stop raiding since Salvation Edge, done it full twice, and a couple of times the boss for the gun, never set foot in there after. Over complicated mechanics, caos encounters, not first timers friendly. I think the level of difficulty on mechanics was on point in TK and Vog. You could do the raid while teaching/carring one or two people. Was simpler to explain mechanics. Another thing is power delta. They shouldn’t had implemented in the normal version, not that it is a huge deal, but no power delta helps to learn the mechanics because you can take more damage and be more concentrated on what’s happenin instead not getting killed. And they not fun, meaning you can’t do the encounters while chatting with your team mates because you have to constantly be telling “this is done”, “that is done”.

Pfffffffffffffffttt!* 😆🤦‍♂️

Loot is cheeks since OG crota Community is more toxic by the year, since 2015 I play now to fill time, not to collect guns that they'll make, or already are, irrelevant.

I don't raid because I'm an average player, I find the mechanics intimidating, I'm not really down for the time commitment, and I don't want to bring down a team by being its weakest link. I have no doubt whatsoever that the raids are epic, but I play games to chill out and unwind, and I don't see raiding as either chill or unwinding. Like, I find Dungeons frustrating a lot of the time, I don't know how well I'd do in a raid. 😅 This isn't to fault the raids themselves, they are what they are and I get why people love them, I just don't think I'm the right player for them.

It's always been like that in the franchise. Although more played in d1, raids have always been some of the lowest played activities. People try to blame it on bad loot (not true), complicated mechanics (not true), and anything they can put on bungie. The main reason people don't raid: the community. Let me explain. In the early raids, you could carry people. Yea, 6 would be there, but 3-4 could usually do the mechanics while 2-3 just ad cleared. Which was fine, and the community was more willing/open to raid together and with anyone. First timer? That's fine, we can teach, and at worst, ad clear. Don't talk on the mic? That's fine, just listen. Not using meta? That's fine, just use what you got that does damage. While this was fine, the community also decided to voice the opinion that it wanted raids to be more challenging. They were tired of stand here and shoot, while others ad cleared. Bungie listened, and the raids changed. The change bungie made: everyone had to do something in each encounter. Once they made that change, the community's thoughts on raiding with each other changed. It wasn't as open to raiding with any and everyone. First timer? Nope, don't feel like teaching nor taking longer. No mic? Nope, you got to talk. Not using meta? Nope, cause you gotta be doing the most damage. Only a few clears? Nope, trying to get in and out, need experts. All you have to do was look at lfg group listings for raids before and after the change. Raid groups got nasty. Which is part of the reason why they introduced dungeons.

Raids were the best part of Destiny which is a shame because so few interact with them. When they started requiring every single player to do multiple mechanics it became less fun, at least for my Raiding friends and I. This spike in difficulty for just the normal versions of the Raids led to several no longer showing up for Raid night, or just dropping the game altogether. In the end less than half of us were showing up for the event and getting LFG was a real gamble, so usually we ran Dungeons instead, which eventually ended up doing the same. Then along comes Rite of the Nine with it's 3 modes: Explorer, Normal, and Ultimate. That was perfect because you could see the vision where more newer players were able to take on Dungeons than ever before, and they would be able to run Normal or even attempt the highest tier. Though Ultimate felt a bit extra over-tuned and I would have liked to see a 4th mode such as Master, this was leap forward for the game's design and getting players to interact with the endgame. Unfortunately after such great feedback and better player engagement, they didn't keep those modes in the game, and no such mode was introduced for the new Raid, which likely would have seen better numbers. Strange, what having a teachable mode with more lax difficulty does for reaching more players, instead of throwing them to the wolves and letting them figure it out.

I disagree. I hate Raids mechanics. Simple. I don’t mind some dungeons, but the over the top jumping and puzzles mechanics are a real turn off for me. I actually like harder content that test your build and skills, like old GM. But dying because you slipped on a corner ledge or forgot to jump on one leg while standing in a light shooting at the right orb your teammate is calling from another room makes absolutely no sense to me.

I've just started raiding and have only made it through VoG (first) and GoS (second). I thought I'd add my view as a raid-blueberry. For context, I started D2 during Witch Queen, and didn't (and still don't) have a lot of gaming experience across different titles. TLDR - I think the climb in raid-difficulty, isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I do think they are getting more and more punishing of small mistakes. I think Sherpas are going to have a harder and harder time getting blueberries through the most recent and future raids. Older raids must stay in the game as the "jumping into raids" introduction. I've always thought that raids required endgame skills. That hasn't changed. Ad density, ad health, jumping puzzles, mechanics, and short damage phases all seemed "too intimidating". I didn't engage with them for most of my time in D2 as a result. I've recently changed clans with the goal of starting dungeons and eventually getting into raids. Within a few weeks, I was convinced to start with VoG. Shortly afterwards, GoS was set up. I had a lot of fun. Both raid teams had a mix of experience, sherpas through to blueberry. To this blueberry, both raids had a decent balance of requirements for the team to move forward. Some areas where you almost had to have people clearing while mechanics happened. The Oracles in VoG. Some areas where everyone had to be involved in straightforward mechanics. The first stage in GoS, where you're connecting tethers in one area, then picking up the spit in another. The final boss fights for both were definitely intimidating. Hearing "a random group of 3 are going to get teleported" during VoG made me panic. (I joined last minute, so I hadn't had time to watch even a short video.) It wasn't actually as tough as it sounded when I was one of the 3. GoS boss area is still a little confusing. The disappearing floors are nasty. (We didn't do the tethering.) It was still fun, and felt like more familiarity would definitely help. I'm looking forward to my next attempts in both VoG and GoS. The sherpas have indicated that Kings Fall and another one (don't remember right now) are also good introductory raids. I've watched a "how to do mechanics" video for Salvation's and Desert Perpetual. Those ones will be a long way in my future. I appreciate that they have obviously been created for experienced raiders, either with a regular raid team, or lfg with (hopfully) others who properly team-play. That difficulty should exist to keep challenging players' skills. I'll get there, eventually. Our Sherpas who have done them, have all said they're not really interested in teaching the raids. The mechanics cycles were too involved, convoluted, and punishing. If/when others want to do the raids, they'll join, but they've indicated it will take a lot of time to be able to make it through, most likely spread across multiple days. It sounds as if it'll be a real grind to get through perfectly.

I don't raid because: (a) The mechanics are annoying; (b) Due to (a) you require a microphone; (c) Due to (a) they take too long.

Because raids in D2 are built for world first races(especially the last 3/4), requiring near perfect coordination and communication to complete encounters with no room for error Such an environment creates a hostile toxic experience for less experienced players Also Revive Tokens, punishing the whole team for a death, not allowing hero moments for pros to clutch an encounter shorthanded, like one time in Hard VOG Confluxes, during the last wave, everyone died, but somehow I held down all 3 confluxes and survived, if that was D2, we would have wiped from shared fate That's why so few of the mostly casual player base don't engage with them, I would bet 2025 Gambit has higher engagement than multi-million dollar raids I'm not saying they be turned into extended strikes like RON, even I found that raid boring, only 2 people actually get to participate, but should be like Wrath, still requiring coordination, but with room for error

There are raids, multiple even, for all skill and understanding levels. Near infinite resources online to answer questions or give tips and insights for success. Despite that, Ive seen countless able guardians here and in-game, default to talking themselves out of even trying. I agree that it is the best content. Aside from Dungeons, its the only content that you learn to do but also teaches you things about yourself and builds confidence. Unfortunately, finding groups hangs on the health and population of the game, which as we know, is flat-lining. Raiding may be nearing impossible for those finally wanting to get their feet wet.

Don't want to have to deal with random people

We're. I ran raids when they were fun. Now they are an advertising piece for content creators. That's my opinion of what became of great game content