[b]TLDR:[/b] I have 4 main reasons why making content useless is bad. Read the bolded words. That's all there is to it.
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My biggest problem with Destiny 1 by far is when a DLC makes everything before it completely useless.
I pray that Destiny 1 is the only time they'll do such a shady practice. Making content irrelevant creates a multitude of serious issues for the state of the game. These issues are as follows:
[b]1) It dries out the game EXTREMELY quickly.[/b]
The winter of Year 2 was the worst time period in Destiny history. After SRL (Sparrow Racing League) went away, the only endgame activities were King's Fall, Trials of Osiris, and the Nightfall.
I don't even like PVP, so the only things for me were the raid and the Nightfall. It was like spending an entire year in Vanilla, only with nerfed weapons and a ton of Crucible lag.
To make matters worse, during that time period, when we were begging for more things to do, and begging for something as simple as a roadmap of future content, Bungie completely went mute on us. They lied about a weapon patch, they lied about SBMM, and they wouldn't even mention that more content was on the way. They tortured us. We [u]cannot[/u] let Destiny 2 deteriorate into such a rotten state! Please, just no!! Hell no!!!
[b]2) If Bungie rehashes old content, they're not adding anything new.[/b]
After The Taken King made everything obsolete, it took Bungie 2 years to make everything relevant again. Most of the content in Rise of Iron is simply rehashed stuff. The only purely new content after The Taken King were 2 strikes (Blighted Chalice and The Wretched Eye), 1 raid, a 50% new patrol area (the other half is a re-skinned Cosmodrome), and a few lackluster story missions. Everything else is just a re-skin of previous content made to feel new (it doesn't).
[b]3) It confuses noobs.[/b]
One day in Year 2, before the April Update, I saw a post from a new player, asking a question about the Prison of Elders. He got a year 1 exotic from the lowest level version. He noticed it was at a shit light level, and he was wondering if he'd get better stuff from Skolas, since it was a level 35 activity. For a new player, that's a theory that actually makes a lot of sense. Fortunately I was there, and I told him that he'd still get shitty gear because it's a year 1 activity. He thanked me, and he told me that he would've wasted so much time there, had I not seen his post.
But how many other Year 2 guardians fell for that trap? How many groups of friends just got the game, busted their asses in VOG, Crota's End, or Skolas, only to realize "Wow! This gear is shit!"
And I can only imagine how many victims were unfortunate enough to waste their strange coins on a legacy engram.
[b]4) Rehashed content isn't always better than the original.[/b]
Although the rehashed strikes are much better than the originals, the same cannot be said for the Prison of Elders. I have mixed feelings on the Challenge of Elders. I love how the modifiers are randomized, just like a nightfall. Every week is different, and that aspect is great. However, it's simply too easy, and extremely repetitive. There are only 3 rounds, and all of them are bullet sponge boss fights. There are only 2 enemy types per boss encounter. What happened to the rest of the enemy types? What happened to the last 2 rounds? What happened to the majors? What happened to dismantling mines? The Challenge of Elders is even easier than a nightfall. Back in year 1, the POE challenges were the hardest PVE activities ever to exist in Destiny. The Atheon challenge mode is a complete joke compared to absolute butt-clenching struggle of Skolas's Revenge during Year 1. In fact, soloing Crota was easier than doing Skolas with 2 others. I beat Skolas in Year 1, but that might've been a little too difficult. The level 34 POE was perfect in terms of difficulty. The Challenge of Elders is a joke tho.
I've said all that needs to be said about making content useless in Destiny 2. Please don't do it, Bungie. I've suffered enough of that in Destiny 1. If you do it in Destiny 2, I can't guarantee I'll be on board for Destiny 3. If there's content in the game, [u]give us a reason to play it![/u]
[u]Additional recommendations[/u]
[spoiler]If a new DLC comes out, I understand you'll want people playing your new content. Here's what I think you should do. You've already been doing steps 1-3, but step 4 is essential for making the content droughts less severe.
1) Release the new raid. At first, this will be the only relevant raid.
2) Release the Hard mode.
3) Release the challenge modes and have them rotate on a weekly basis.
4) After each boss has 1 or 2 weeks with challenge mode, bring all the raids up to the current light level, and have 1 of them be the weekly featured raid. You should [u]not[/u] wait more than 3 months to make everything relevant again. After 3 months, content gets dry. At that point, we need all activities to be relevant. That way, we'll have a lot to do every week. Expansions should expand, not replace.
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[spoiler]This is a comment made by a user named [b]Vercingetorix07[/b]. This is also an important thing to implement to ensure that the state of the game is as good as it can possibly be:
[quote]Bungie should keep all content relevant, but there are fools here that would complain that their new raid gear is "just as strong" as the old raid gear, threatening their snowflake mentality. This is the first problem.
Frankly, AoT was a good idea, but implemented poorly. VoG, CE, and KF NEEDED to have re-roll options and better drop rates for the armor, just like WotM. [b]Because those "brought-back" raids lacked this essential feature, it made them largely a waste of time[/b]. WotM gear features better perks, re-roll options, better drop rates, and stronger weapon choices. Older raids are a downgrade in terms of power and usefulness compared to WotM gear. This is the second problem.
D2 can have relevant older content, but that older content should compete in terms of usefulness with the newer content, not be a strict downgrade. [b]If older gear is worse than newer gear, then it doesn't matter what the light level is on the older gear.[/b][/quote]
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[b]Edit:[/b] Yooo, we're trending! Hopefully Bungie takes this post into consideration. I [u]really[/u] don't want to have another experience like the Year 2 winter content drought.
[b]Edit 2:[/b] I've gotten some comments like "Well then nobody would play the new content." My 1st spoiler in this post has a solution to address this issue.
[b]Edit 3:[/b] Just to clarify, I do [u]not[/u] want to see Destiny 1 content in Destiny 2. That's not what I'm asking for. I just don't want the Cabal raid to become useless.
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I was about to post about the same thing, just been helping a friend out who's started from scratch, it's amazing what a complete mess of a game it really is!