This is an idea I've been sitting on since TTK came out and has been modified quite significantly to reflect a new kind of status for both PvE and PvP including raids/ToO. Difficulty tiers would be setup similarly to the light level system, but modified for a few things: For the purpose of this model, we'll use levels 1-40 only where 40 is a max light guardian. PvE- Casual difficulty. 1-25- The base leveling guide to get guardians used to abilities, guns, and fully max out subclasses. Each upgrade per level will upgrade 1-4 nodes in a subclass tree with each level getting a little more progression toward a 5th or 6th node. Intermediate- 25- 34. This is to introduce 2 additional majors per mission and get players into the higher echelons of teamwork gameplay. The final missions in each campaign story mode will feature majors with shields which are possible to kill, but will take a single player 1-3 minutes with high impact weapons to bring down. The purpose of this is the story missions at the end should feature the gameplay difficult challenges expected, but not overwhelming numbers where the steady hand player will simply be overwhelmed because they are the single player. Max- 35-40. These final levels are the most crucial for story play. The reason this level even exists is to give players untapped light power and provide them incentive to go back and hunt clues to the origin points while giving them adequete rewards similar to the golden chest rewards for getting all five on a given planet. This level exists for the exploration and time commitment players. The clues left behind, once powerful enough, will feature puzzles, dungeon accessibility, door unlocks which lead to higher ranked areas (think Psion Flayers for example- you could do intermediate or casual difficulties... but if you do max? You: A) Get Taken enemies which feature an added difficulty to the strike, B) Those players who get midway suddenly get a ghost message saying their is a clue if we go down instead of up. The clue? Is not a grimoire score. It's a guardian shell pickup which would then become a new ghost skin for us/infuse possibility or maybe it would be a unique weapon like a rare 295 gun which can then be infused/legendary, ect.) Raid- 35-40- The raid features all three possible difficulties with exceptions- Exception #1- To get into the raid, you must be 5 levels within the max level. No one, at any point, is allowed to be in less then that (which means if you switch to lower light after joining, you get autobooted and any rewards from that session get revoked. The reason for this is to place a strict awareness that raids can be fun, but it is about the team and the team requires those who want to complete the raid) Weekly reset casual- This raid features almost all mechanics you'll need to know for max raid, but no rewards to be earned from it besides grimoire significance and upon completion of the final boss nets players 1 reward each for the next tier difficulty. The weekly reset aspect would be used for adding difficulty modifiers. Lvl set is 35. Intermediate permanent (no reset)- This raid features the same mechanics, but enemies now reflect a strict 37.5 level. If this is your first weekly completion, you get 2 rewards instead of the 1 from casual. Hard mode- Permanent rewards include the highest tiers and for doing the hardest difficulty in PvE, reward count goes to 4 instead of the expected 3. HM w/modifiers- The final challenge. Equivalent of LASO for Halo. Bragging rights, best possible weaponry, and final endgame exotic similar to VoG's Vex Mythoclast and CE Necrochasm. This reward can only be gained from a HM completion with modifiers. 5 rewards for this completion and unique questline pointing at the next area of expertise (DLC or otherwise). PvP- Casual difficulty- The basic notions of gameplay in the crucible. You will have access to all playlist types and be paired up with only 1-25 difficulty ratings. This level is designed to give new players and less new players the chance to see what works and have fun with friends. This difficulty will be selectable in the player menu in case you hit any level higher and simply wish to enjoy the experience again. Please note however you will not see a 1-25 player. Only those who select the option past it. Intermediate- Advanced crucible gametypes. Similar to Court of Oryx in PvP, this level area will be selectable for gametypes which feature only gametypes where multiple scoring methods can lead to a win. Gametypes like Control, Rift, Salvage, ect. will be available. Clash, Elimination, ect. will not be available in this range. Master Race- As before with casual difficulty- all gametypes are selected for this however loss in this range guarantees time out per loss with each infraction being worse and worse. This is obviously for the competitive player and the option only exists for those who would try to reach the Lighthouse or wish to only find players with a proven track record of winning or holding their own consistently per match. Losing is not an option here. 3 losses- 5 minutes. 5 losses- 15 minutes. No further infractions needed. Simply reset. If a trend of losses starts occurring in the player? The player sees the playlist "go dark" and they are unable to go into the playlist. This is to detour people from causing excessive griefing, ect.. I would place this at 8 solid losses in a row or 3 mercy rule matches out of 10. The casual playlist features no penalties whatsoever. ToO- The playlist to feature the highest tiers of competitive gameplay. Permanent as it currently is, but feature new possibilities (map rotations, ect.) not just limited to one per week. This is a thread for discussion. Feel free to add input or change any portion of it you like.