[quote]In D1 year 1, we were the most powerful we've ever been(most likely done to sell the franchise/IP), the only way to go was down[/quote] That is only because of a unified sandbox though. If they separate PVE from PVP, it would really open up different opportunities for weapons they could bring in down the road that would be MORE powerful than what we had previously. They couldn't do this after Y1 because of their limited perk selection and the unified sandbox. In fact, they would have had to up their game for weaponry in PVE at a time when they were focusing more on PVP as THE endgame content for the game instead. If they didn't have a unified sandbox, they could have tons of other awesome PVE ONLY perks, like multi-shot which would mean multiple bullets come out of a single round from the gun, effectively doubling or tripling damage output without needing a burn, or it could increase the pellet count for shotguns. Such perks would wreak havoc on PVP, but in PVE, it's just good fun. It was my hope that when they said they had to "reboot" the game at TTK to fix some fundamental issues, ONE of those issues I hoped they fixed was the unified sandbox. Nope. They decided to fix other issues, like making sure raids weren't worth running. [quote] when a meta appeared or certain gear was used to exclude players from taking part in content, Bungie balanced down[/quote] I understand that is what they did, but it was unnecessary and a bad move IMO. People often complain about being excluded from content for not having certain gear, but that doesn't stop them from finding OTHER similarly situated guardians to instead go into the raid and figure it out themselves. There's also no excuse for not wanting to do so, since you can find tons of guides out there that show you how to do every encounter. LFG, optional matchmaking (if they implement it), etc. are just short-term solutions to long-term issues which is that people really need to get connected with other people and grow together as a group. Too many people just want the FAST, quick fix solution, and they're shocked when more often than not, they're left out the outside looking in. The bottom line is that people need to make friends and join a regular group who plays on or around the same times. If you don't, your simply always going to be left on the outside and looking in. And that will happen regardless. Without the elite tier endgame gear, people are now looking for max light + raid experience (and checking stats for raid completions). People will simply find a way to avoid playing with people they don't want to play with. And we all have a right to be picky about who we play with.