Pretty obvious here. If [i]all[/i] of the most desirable rewards are locked behind flawless, there will [i]always[/i] be a group that can't achieve it. Add when they leave, a new "bottom group" takes their place, and now it is unachievable for them. And this continues and the Trials population dips, as it does every season. And the flawless pool doesn't even help this. It just means once the players who can [i]barely go flawless[/i] once do so, they should stop playing. Everyone else should just wait until Sunday or Monday. Now the "git gud" argument doesn't work with skill creep. If Trials had a true ranking system, sure. It works there (as arrogant as that phrase can sound). But skill creep taken to the extreme is the top 10% gets farmed by top 9%. Should part of the top 10% just become top 9%? What about when they do and the top 9% just farms those top 10% until they leave, leaving the top 1-9%? Now those top 9% players are the bottom of the barrel, and this just repeats. Skill creep makes "getting gud" just [i]temporarily mitigate[/i] the core issue, it does not solve the root of the issue: [b][i]People are leaving the playlist[/i][/b], leaving only the top players and making the mode unapproachable to the majority. If this cycle continues, [i][b]Trials dies[/b][/i]. Not to mention "getting gud" only works if you improve faster than skill creep corrupts the playlist, and that is a TALL order. Healthy ranked modes don't have skill creep because you progress through skill ranks until you hit a wall. Then you improve and hit another wall. [i]The base skill level on ranked modes stays static, as long as the mode has a healthy population.[/i] This is not true for Trials. So while "git gud" applies to ranked modes (again, as arrogant as that can sound), it doesn't really apply to the current state of Trials. That being said, [i]rewards still need to be earned[/i], and [i][b]flawless must still be valuable and desirable to maintain the identity of Trials. [/b][/i] I think Trials needs a complete overhaul. Flawless should still exist and be meaningful, but if that is the [i]only[/i] chase, people won't stay. My idea: 1. Add more loot quality loot each season. Every season should have a full armor set or ornaments and a few new weapons. 2. Going flawless is the only way to get ships, shaders, sparrows, emblems, and unique Trials armor ornaments. 3. Upon going flawless, the chest drops 2 Adepts with extra perks in each column, proportional to your Saint-14 rank (like Crucible, Vanguard, etc.), as well as high stat roll armor and vanity items from item 2. 4. Farming on a 7 win card after flawless gives more adepts with extra perks, but you only match players doing the same thing. This is the most efficient farm for the best players. 5. For everyone else, getting to 7 wins, regardless of losses, gives an adept and high stat roll armor. (They do NOT get the vanity items and unique armor.) 6. And this where I'll lose some folks. Remove the flawless pool and freelance. Instead, try to weight matching so solos match solos OR teams they have a reasonable chance of defeating. The flawless pool doesn't need to be there if a large portion of players are farming game 7 anyways. 7. In-game LFG needs to be here. I know it is coming, but Trials would REALLY benefit from it. 8. Encourage solos to group up. Vote to keep teams, rather than re-quueing. Maybe even add bonus rep from grouping up. Something. 9. Lastly, input based matchmaking. PC should be able to play with next gen consoles as long as thy're on controller. This will make the playerbase much healthier. This also means to ban XIM and Cronus, and potentially just add MnK support for consoles. Edit: 10. A Trials item that can be equipped to [i]any card[/i] that makes armor drop with 20 minimum on any stat of your choice on wins would be HUGE. This ties into item 1, obviously. But I just though of it so I figured I'd throw it in here. Now this is just an idea. But it is obvious the current model is not sustainable, and flawless needs to have [i]some[/i] value. [spoiler]And before someone says "Oh you just saw a YouTube video, yes. I've seen it. But several of my ideas here are original, and I've had the rest LONG before that. That particular content creator is just the only one who takes a step back and thinks about more casual players. As such, I will not be replying to any streamer hate, and I suggest the rest of you do the same.[/spoiler]