Are people considering The Crucible a planet now? Sure, it is a circle in space but not what I would call explorable. Didn't know what the Reef was, now that I see that it is a Social/2nd type of marketplace, it kind or worries me more.
This leaves with 4 planets.
Earth
Moon
Venus
Mars
Who called the Crucible a planet? Mercury is the planet and it is host to an exclusive part of Crucible for those that excel in it and it has separate rewards and entry requirements. It is not an Explore instance, no, but it is definitely relevant to this whole 'Destiny has no content at all!' as it
is content.
Moon will be tiny, I am sure.
Oh yes, you're sure of it. You should know of course. Yes, the Moon will be the smallest map, but from what we played in the Beta ( which was restricted due to it not being an Explore Instance but a Story mission ), it is far from tiny and actually much more interesting than Old Russia in certain aspects.
Earth wasn't small but the content inside combined with the type of game this is feels subpar or lacking. I'd argue to say we've seen most of what is in store for us there.
Again with basing everything on Explore beacons; that's not what the endgame is like. I have done a detailed post on this already and I feel like I'm repeating myself here. I'd request you to read my previous post on that. Outside of that, there was still the Grottoes blocked off by lv. ?? enemies, and Jovian Complex, Seraphim Vault / Bunker Ras-3 and King's Watch were completely blocked off but will likely have their own missions tied to them in the full game. You have not seen everything in Old Russia yet.
I'm not going to say that Venus and/or Mars won't be bigger than Earth but just cause it has two Strikes on it, doesn't mean it has to be bigger. Plus I remember a lot of extra space I didn't even go near (because it was empty and there was no reason to) during the Strike on Old Russia. Extra space with no content is pointless...
Then you probably didn't even see all of Old Russia in the Beta. Of course you're not going to get stuff everywhere during the Strike; the Strike is a self-contained mission, why should there be something to do when you go out of the zone where the Strike is taking place? I think Destiny has been doing a better job so far of avoiding that 'dead space' than some areas in Borderlands.
It is highly likely that Venus is the biggest world, as there is simply much more content there from what we have seen. It has the Raid ( the Vault of Glass, which is it's own area specific for the Raid ), underground caves, at least seven Story missions and two Strikes. It is highly feasible that a larger world naturally comes with this.
In the end, I am still on the fence. Been disappointed by Bungie before and after hearing this, I am getting more skeptical.
Being disappointed and on the fence is fine, I just think there are some unfounded assumptions about what the final game is going to be and what content it will bring.