First off, I just want to say that I’ve been playing Destiny 2 religiously since I started playing in Forsaken. I’m a physical game designer (geeky tabletops/card games) and I’ve always enjoyed following video game development blogs, routine game changes, and deeper changes implement via expansions and other overhaul systems. AND I LOVE DESTINY/BUNGIE. I follow every TWAB, watch deep dive videos on Youtube, and genuinely enjoy hunting weapons in all forms of end-game content (mostly GMs and Trials). However, I thought I would document some thoughts my clan and I have been discussing over the course of the last couple seasons, after crafting was released. Destiny 2 could be better, and I’d first like to talk about crafting. According to Bungie, their major goals for adding crafting into the game were to alleviate stress from RNG (not getting the roll you’ve tried grinding out for too long) and to increase the player’s overall investment time in their favorite weapons. The current crafting system was supposed to add more levels of investment and decrease player suffering of an already rough RNG system. As of now, neither of these goals are being met, as a ton of you are already aware, especially those like me who have grinded the hell out of Containment, strikes, and other content that drops red frames. Now, instead of dealing with the RNG gods to give us a great roll of the weapon we want, we have to roll the dice at getting 5 red frames of that weapon, in order to unlock the weapon pattern, to get the perfect roll we want. All non-red weapons are seen as inferior and worthless, because even if you get a decent roll, it’s an auto-dismantle due to needing X more red frames to get the better crafted version (with enhanced perks). After grinding Containment for two hours yesterday, I was able to obtain ~47 seasonal energies and turned them in to try and get some red frame weapons, in which I got 0. I think I can safely say that very few people actually believe this system alleviates RNG suffering, and it sure as hell does not add to the investment in the weapon. Once I get 5 red frames, now I have to mindlessly grind weapon kills to unlock the perfect roll, and that takes time. How many people just play the game with that flawed weapon, and not try to cruise through leveling? I’m not sure, but it’s probably outweighed by most players. *Well you’re not supposed to get all the red frames first week, otherwise everyone would have all the weapons week one, and there would be nobody playing anymore* Nonsense. I’m not trying to greatly decrease the amount of time it takes to get the weapon--I want a much more deterministic way of unlocking the weapon. And also, I think more people would play the game with less stress/more enjoyment with a different system. THAT out of the way, here’s what I propose for a NEW crafting system that aims to actually achieve the goals (first paragraph) set forth by Bungie: - Players no longer need X red frames to drop, extract essence/pattern progress, and then create a new crafted weapon. Instead, a red frame weapon IS the weapon that the player will be pouring investment into. Similar to the crafted weapon now, the red frame weapon will level up the more you use it, and that will unlock new perk options in the crafting area to put on this red weapon. - Most enemy kills no longer level up weapons. Instead, activity completions of all kinds will increase the weapon’s level (more of a % than it does now). Yellow and boss enemies increase the weapon’s experience still, but not as much as activities (extra bonus for using the weapon). - Whenever you level the weapon, things unlock: -- Level 10: unlock 1 third column perk slot (random perk is added) -- Level 15: unlock 1 first and second column slot (random perks are added) -- Level 20: unlock 1 fourth column perk slot (random enhanced perk is added) -- Level 25: enhanced perks are now possible on the weapon -- Level 30: unlock 1 third and fourth perk slots (random perks are added) -- Level 35: Mementos can now be added to the weapon -- Level 50: all perk changes cost 50% fewer resources - Neutral Element is earned by dismantling weapons in general, and lots of it is earned by dismantling red frame weapons. - Reworking the drop rates: -- Weapons that can drop as red frame weapons will ONLY drop as red frames -- However, the drop chance for the weapon is greatly decreased -- HOWEVER, a specific area in the game, such as a specific lost sector and its boss, will have higher drop chances for that specific weapon (this also makes farming for exotics in Master lost sectors more enjoyable and rewarding). Bad luck protection increases drop chance by X% - Once a month, Xur will sell 1 red frame weapon from the past! It will cost 1 red cipher to purchase. Red ciphers are generally obtained by dismantling a red frame weapon, and up to 5 can be collected at one time That’s my present idea for making crafting more enjoyable, streamlined, and more suffer-proof for the average player. I would love to hear your feedback, both negative (please be constructive) and positive. Thank you for reading!