Dear Bungie, To say that players were upset by all of the recent TTK news would be an understatement. The weekly update (part 1 of 2) yesterday did not help. What follows is intended to be very honest, constructive, anger free feedback about what is wrong with Destiny and how to fix it. No, I’m afraid a $20 package of emotes and class items will not help. Fan response has been profound, and hopefully by just tweaking a few things you can address it all. I am NOT a PvP player, so all of these comments are directed towards PvE. [b]Short Version[/b] [b]What I am NOT upset about …[/b] 1. Pricing 2. Class items, emotes, etc 3. A collector’s disc version that contains all content to date, and The Taken King [b]What I AM upset about …[/b] 1. In-game storytelling that is sub-par 2. RNG based character leveling 3. Optional Matchmaking 4. Auto rifles. The nerf must be reversed That’s it. Really, there are four things that piss me off. Four things that made me quit. I still login occasionally to help out a friend and because it is fun to raid with friends, but my daily game is now Dragon Age: Inquisition. More details below. [b]Long Version[/b] [b]What I am NOT upset about …[/b] 1. [b]Pricing. [/b] I personally do think that you are grossly overpricing the new content. However, I make really good money so it isn’t an issue for me. I would pay if I felt it was worth it. The reason I am not planning on buying the new content has nothing to do with price and everything to do with the 4 “I am upset about” points. For the majority of the public, I believe the issue is that based on your previous DLC releases, we were promised the moon and feel like you profoundly under-delivered. The vast overwhelming majority of the gaming public clearly believes that you are grossly overcharging us. Your announcement yesterday DID NOT help alleviate that sentiment. Ardent fanboys may have completely bought up every piece of collector’s edition stuff, but so what? Is that the revenue stream you want? Only the hardcore fans? Only the ~20% of total possible players making a purchase? 20% of the revenue stream is not what you are in business for, if I’m correct. This game MUST appeal to more than just your hardcore fan base or it WILL NOT succeed financially in the long-term. 2. [b]Class items, emotes, etc.[/b] These things look cool. However, that’s all they do. They look cool. They give you no perks, advantages, skills, weapons enhancements … nothing that will actually affect your gameplay experience. If the gamer is a teenager who just HAS TO HAVE those new shoes or that new t-shirt because they are just SO COOL and you want to impress your friends, then these things might appeal to you. If you’re an adult like me and the items actually do ZERO for you to enhance your game? Well, I could care less. If Thorn just looked cool but was no better than any rare gun, why the heck would I bother to get it? So, these things are not an issue for me. I don’t care. Would be fun to have, but definitely not enough to complain about or stop me from buying something. Nor will I pay extra to get something like this. Just not worth actual cash for someone like me. 3. [b]A collector’s disc version.[/b] Nothing to be upset about. Every game company does this. Game of the year editions almost always include all DLC content to date, and are almost always offered at a discount price. Does that mean that day one folks who then download DLC on the release date end up paying more in the long run then people who just wait for “Game of the Year”? Yes, it does. That is reality. I’m not at all upset that people will get everything I already own at some discount. That is the nature of this industry. Deal with it. [b]What I AM upset about …[/b] 1. [b] In-game storytelling that is sub-par.[/b] The story here is not in the game. It is in the grimoire. House of Wolves was actually a profound improvement, in my opinion. HoW was the first time I truly enjoyed the story missions, how the story was told, and how it developed mission by mission. Having said that, there is a long way to go to get the storytelling right. You did a masterful job in Halo. Why the dramatic downgrade here? Imagine going to see a movie only to find that it is filled with explosions, running people, weapons fire, etc. That is the entire movie (wait, that is a Michael Bay movie!). As you leave the theater, someone hands you a stack of grimoire cards and says, “Here, read these. The story is in these cards.” Would you be satisfied with that? No way. You would feel ripped off. Putting the story in the grimoire DOES NOT WORK. Also, there are key things that the player does in the game that do not at all affect the game universe. Two examples. First, in the Last Array mission, the player raises this gigantic array station into the sky. It dominates the entire skyline it is so huge. After doing this and profoundly changing the physical appearance of that part of the Cosmodrome, it simply vanishes with no explanation. I remember boing back on patrol and thinking, “Wait, what happened to the array?” I literally cleared the area and then looked around to make sure I wasn’t just missing it somewhere. The Last Array mission profoundly changed the physical appearance of the game universe, and then it just vanishes??? Where did it go? We apparently will never know. Second example: you kill the heart of the black garden, light returns to the traveller, in the cut-scene there is a very visible aura of light around the traveller complete with sparkles in the air. Where did that go? What happened? The player now goes to the Tower and where is the aura??? Again, it simply vanishes and there is no explanation. In-game storytelling … it is very lacking. There are many things the player does during the story that absolutely SHOULD affect the game world, even affecting it in physical visible ways. This does not happen in Destiny. It does not make sense. FIX IT! 2. [b]RNG based character leveling.[/b] Our skills have nothing to do with leveling our characters. When the player finishes a Nightfall, either the rewards drop or they don’t. Top of the leaderboard or bottom, doesn’t matter at all. Either you get what you need to level your character or you don’t. Nothing to do with skill. Pull the lever on the slot machine. Wait for the result. If you don’t get what you want, wait for the weekly reset, pump more quarters (or hours in this case) into the slot machine, and pull the lever again. I’m not suggesting that the bottom of the leaderboard should have a reduced chance of great stuff. I’m suggesting that the top of the leaderboard should have a modifier that INCREASES the chance of a good drop. This completely random slot machine is profoundly frustrating and I think is a main source of attrition in your gamer base. Character leveling needs to be based more on skills and less on completely random loot drops that one either gets or one doesn’t. Unless one has hours upon hours of time to dump into the game, then one will never feel satisfied with the game experience in its current state. One simple suggestion to fix. Each week the player has the opportunity to max out Vanguard and Crucible marks. If and only if a character reaches max Vanguard and/or Crucible, those characters should be able to exchange for 1 Etheric Light (for a possible total of 2 Etheric Light if one maximizes both Vanguard and Crucible marks). In this way, if the player has the skill to run the strikes, do the missions, etc each week there is a skill based opportunity to level up. Easy to implement, still requires player time, still will not result in people instantly and freely leveling up. Throw us a bone! 3. [b]Optional Matchmaking.[/b] I quit Destiny a few weeks ago. I login sometimes to help a friend out or to meet up with friends, joke around, and laugh. I do not play daily any longer. This complaint is one of the key reasons why. The day I quit Destiny, I spent over 30 minutes hovering in orbit trying to find a team for level 32 PoE. It wasn’t even lvl 34 or lvl 35 with the “lvl 34 only” or “must have gjallahorn” posts … lvl 32 and I couldn’t find a team. I responded to forum post after forum post after forum post. Nothing. That Sunday was it for me. It is such a mind boggling waste of time for me to try to find a team to play rather than just playing. Think about it. I WANTED to play. I was LOCKED OUT of content and COULD NOT play. Really? That makes sense to Bungie? We want to play but can’t? Lack of accessibility of end-game content is a primary driver of player attrition in my opinion. It’s not that people don’t WANT to raid. It is that they don’t want to WASTE THEIR TIME searching for a team. Give us a toggle for optional matchmaking that we can turn on if we want to, or leave turned off if we just don’t want it. NOTE: matchmaking should not be required like it currently is for weekly heroics. It should be an option that the player must manually turn on if and only if they want it. 4. [b]Auto rifles. [/b] The vast overwhelming opinion is that auto-rifles are completely useless in all game modes. This needs to be reversed. This is possibly the clearest example of how Bungie totally ignores the overwhelming majority of the player base. I simply can’t fathom why you are ignoring such a profoundly huge percentage of your players. Auto rifles are simply no fun to use in any game mode in their present state … period. That is the long version.