The game has a lot of problems right now, but this is just going to be focused on the seasonal model and particularly Season of the Deep and why it is so disappointing to me. [u][b]Dialogue[/b][/u] Obviously dialogue has never been one of Bungie's strong points, but they really are putting in no effort any more. The combination of cognitive dissonance, a seeming lack of direction to the actors, extreme repetition, and Bungie's proprietary brand of cringe has culminated in some of the worst written lines I've ever heard. Which is a huge problem, when 90% of how information is delivered to the player is by an NPC saying it directly to you or "witnessing a conversation." I could go on all day about this, but this is already going to be a long post, so I'll just leave you with "I left my sword back at base." [u][b]Terrible story[/b][/u] Also not one of Bungie's strong points in general, but this season was pretty bad. We are collecting fossils I guess to help a whale thing. That is really the best they could come up with? And it all culminates with us learning that we might need Savathun's help? After 6 weeks of waiting, that's all we learn? That could have been in week one. Give us any sort of conclusion, these time-gated weekly missions are bad enough without the most underwhelming payoffs ever conceived. As players we are so starved for any bit of storytelling that people are acting like this is a huge reveal, when this is the kind of story we need to be getting on a weekly basis, not over an entire season. Honestly, can anyone really tell me anything that happened in this season's story in weeks 1-5? It's all a bunch of filler so that they can continue putting little to no effort into the seasonal story. And no, the Lightfall cutscene does not count towards this season. [u][b]The Underwater Sections[/b][/u] I'm not calling it methane. It looks like water, behaves like water, even in game everyone treats it as basically just underwater. Your "pressure gauge" behaves exactly like an oxygen meter, even to the point that it refills when you hit an air bubble. As far as the gameplay aspect, it is boring, slow, and clearly just put in to waste time. At least in Deep Dives, I seriously doubt that there has ever been challenged in any way by it, you literally are just forced to bot walk for minutes as you wait to play the game. Don't get me wrong, it was... almost cool, the first time, but 3 underwater sections per Deep Dive, when you're playing multiple per week, and it gets old real quick. At least have the balls to put in underwater combat at that point, rather than just walking for minutes on end every time you want to play a Deep Dive. Speaking of which, when Sloane explains that the egregore gets fossilized because of the extreme pressure, it sure is strange that when we get to the rooms that have the egregore, they are all in a fully oxygen environment. Hmm strange. You'd think that we would find them in the underwater parts, you know, where all the pressure is, but what do I know? Maybe those areas used to be underwater, and now it drained away (somehow?) to leave behind the fossils? Who's to say, the game certainly doesn't tell you. [u][b]Gameplay[/b][/u] Salvage is terrible, I don't think anyone is surprised that the reskinned, generic 6 man activities are getting stale. It's simply too slow and boring, and legend mode is timegated, though setting up an lfg for seasonal content is more effort than it's worth in my opinion. My point is, I don't think anyone would be upset if Bungie abandoned the 6 man activities to focus more on the 3 man. In contrast, Deep Dive is excellent. You can choose your own difficulty, you can choose to have matchmaking or not, it's not too hard, not too easy, these are all good things and Bungie should keep doing them. They are maybe a bit too long, in no small part because of the underwater sections, but not unbearable if you want to grind them. The loot is still meh, but much better than what we are used to as far as a seasonal activity. All in all, Deep Dives were far and away a standout this season for me. My only gripe is that they put the exotic quest in Deep Dive, which I have heard kind of invalidated the matchmaking playlist for a few weeks. [u][b]Loot[/b][/u] lmao spare rations and taken spare rations. Insulting. [u][b]Effort distribution[/b] [/u] This is something I don't see talked about enough. Bungie puts so much effort into inconsequential things while neglecting the more important stuff. For example, look at the underwater sections in deep dives. How much time went into creating that environment, and all those ridiculous flower things? Someone had to go in and design every single flower, as well as construct the entire play area. If you know Bungie, you know that they don't do flat floors, how long did that take? Everything is completely overdesigned, and I just wish they would put half as much effort into their storytelling as they did into how the environment looks. Let me be clear, having a detailed and nice looking environment is NOT a bad thing. But there are other aspects that need the attention more. This is the equivalent of knowing that your essay is bad so you create a fancy cover page for it. Thank you for coming to my TedTalk, I think it's important to say that this critique is coming from a place of love. I really do love this game, and I really want it to get better. It's hard to see something you care so much about deteriorate like this. I wouldn't complain if I didn't care.