Thanks as always for reading and giving me your support. I was hesitant about making this post and sat on it for several months... I was pretty sure that it would be met with skepticism and ridicule, however, I felt as though I needed to point out my findings. In year one is was more of a Raid PVE player who played PVP as well. As my clan dwindled(and people came and eventually went for good), I transitioned into an almost exclusively PVP player(after completing fresh PVE content). My Raid groups were eventually replaced with trials teams, and groups for standard PVP and Iron Banner. Basically I became further rooted in the competitive scene, and I will say that it was never as enjoyable as the time I spent playing PVE. With that said, Trials to me was the ultimate victory in the game and in year one it felt challenging but obtainable. The whole thing is just a different vibe now, a vibe I want no part in. It baffles me as to why Bungie makes purposeful choices to limit content and shut players out. The changes made to trials in year two are predictable and easy to manipulate. It has only created a toxic system that requires more moderation on the part of Bungie. There has to be a more manageable way to make trials accessible to a greater number of players... A good start would be to return the MM to SBMM/CBMM And ban paid carries. This wouldn't ensure easy victory, as many players have suggested. It would mean matches would be competitive and fairly balanced instead of the predictable mess it has become. The question moving into Destiny 2 for trials is: Is maintaining the dominance of the elite and paid professionals worth shafting the majority?

[quote]The question moving into Destiny 2 for trials is: Is maintaining the dominance of the elite and paid professionals worth shafting the majority?[/quote] If the answer is ANYTHING but a resounding "No," then there is no chance D2 will be the game they need to make to bring me (and thousands of others) back to the franchise.

I agree but I do understand what Bungie is trying to do... They wanted to make Destiny a game that people would take serious competitively... But like so many other aspects of the game, trials is just another shortcut, in an effort to maximize profit and recognition. Destiny in year one was not taken seriously for the following reasons: 1. Poor netcode 2. Complete lack of vision in terms of weapon balance. 3. Little to no understanding of the player base and handling various degrees of skill, play style, and time spent. Acquisition of in game content and reasonable access to game modes across the board should be differentiated from glory and elitism(within reason). I agree that Destiny should have some outlet for elite players to express themselves but it shouldn't be at a cost to anyone's gameplay experience. If Bungie wants Destiny to be competitive, they need to pony up and create an Esports environment. Imagine that each week flawless runs, in the flawless bracket could be spectated via a stream run by Bungie from the site/app in Destiny 2. The top runs could be featured, creating celebrity status for professional players and streamers. Hell, it would be fun to allow us to spectate directly from the tower, and even bet silver on the matches for prizes! I know this is a bold idea, but I feel that if you bring everybody in, and build from an inclusive philosophy, it creates a less toxic environment.

Good idea. I think the whole mess reflects the schism at Bungie before Destiny's release over the direction of the game. The story got chopped into bits, and a decision was made that PvP - at the expense of PvE - would be the sustaining focus of the franchise. MLG was the goal, not a byproduct, of the game's design. But because of the chaotic pre-release, likely infighting that followed, and the fact that the original game didn't fit the new PvP-centric plan, the result has been a PvP-centric game with broken PvP (and PvE)!

Yes, it's been a bad balancing act between both PVE and PVP with both sides suffering for the pendulum swings back and forth. Hopefully with a clear vision, a sustainable development environment, and mountains of feedback from the community, Bungie can get it right next go round!