With the thread being slow right now, I thought I'd try and articulate 5 things I'd really like to see implemented in the coming months with Destiny that I think would improve things massively. So fair warning, long post incoming. I'd love to hear GAF's thoughts on these (though probably best refrain from quoting the whole thing).
So here we go;
1. Ascendant Materials
These have been a source of great frustration since the release of TDB. Practically useless for the higher level players, and an inconvenient stepping stone for the lower level. Essentially, unless youre looking to upgrade vendor items (of which few are truly useful) or IB gear, there really is no point in these knocking around. Despite this, they are a frequent drop from Nightfalls, public events, postmaster packages and VoG runs. Brilliant.
These really need to have a much greater use going forward, so there are two things I believe would make great use of the ever present ass mats. First is as a re-rolling currency (which Ill explain in a minute) and secondly as the only material used to upgrade legendary gear, which is what I suspect will happen with HoW and beyond. There is absolutely no reason to have any other type of shard/energy currency in the game other than for pointless grinding, and with Bungie admitting they themselves arent fond of how the shard economy has developed, I reckon that from now on, ass mats will be the only mats you will need for legendary/raid gear. In truth, I would probably prefer these be used for TDB raid gear and exotics too, but that ship seems to have sailed. At the very least though, these mats that seem not to want to go away would be relevant again.
2. Raid Gear
Bungie said quite clearly that the reason there was no trading in the game was that they wanted people to have an attachment with the guns that dropped for them. To have a story behind their weapon of choice. Well for me, that gun is Vision of Confluence, which I got my first time through HM VoG, and Ive loved dearly. It suits me perfectly and has everything I could want from a scout rifle, which is my weapon of choice anyway. Thats why it will break my fucking heart when it becomes nothing more than a pea-shooter when HoW hits.
There are so many good weapons in VoG, and plenty in CE, that players have grown attached to and want in their load-out, and it seems a complete waste that these should fall by the wayside. It also diminishes the value of actually going into these raids if the weapons and armour you get are of an ever decreasing value, and I can see a number of players just not bothering if they start playing after, for example, HoW releases. My brother right now is level 28, and other than for the enjoyment of doing the raid itself, Im hard pushed to give him a practical reason to actually go through the Vault, since anything he gets thats not an exotic is going to be completely worthless in a couple of months. Hell, the armour already is.
I would therefore propose a re-rolling system for all previous raid armour and weapons. They would drop at their current attack/light levels, and then you would take them to Xur at the weekend. Then, for 15 ass shards or ass energy, depending on whether weapon or armour, he would roll them to the current max attack or light and defence stat. The experience levels and non-light/def stats would remain the same, so you would get them back almost exactly as you gave them in, except they would now be comparable with current drops from the latest raids. This gives a much greater variety of armour perks and weapon loadouts, and means guardians can keep going on their journey with their favourite gun. In addition, some of the armour from VoG was badass, Id love to mix and match with other raid gear.
The obvious response to this is but doesnt that just devalue the drops in the latest raids? and the answer to that is quite simple. If the only benefit to getting the latest raid gear is the new attack/light stat, then really the drops havent been designed well enough at all. For example, I have an Ice Breaker, but I still want Black Hammer. Thats the kind of thing that should really be considered, not how can we devalue the old stuff so we can force players to get the dlc?
3. Top tier exotics
This one is a little more subjective and a bit more out there, but its something I think should at least be considered. Whilst I do like certain elements of RNG, I feel like its a slap in the face that the absolute top-tier exotics are often only attainable through luck. Like I say, its very much subjective, but based on my own experiences and comments in this thread, it seems as though the three top weapons if you break if down by primary/secondary/heavy are Hawkmoon, Ice Breaker and Gjallarhorn (feel free to dispute this). Many guardians have played hundreds of hours and never been blessed, whereas numerous lower levels have joined at the end of a NF or been heavily carried, done little to no work, and been blessed with them.
Obviously Ice Breaker has been sold by Xur, and Hawkmoon is PS exclusive, but I would recommend that when that exclusivity runs out, these three should be taken from Xurs inventory and the loot table, and instead become Exotic bounties. These bounties should be triggered the first time a player hits a level cap from level 32 onwards on a character (so the first time a toon hits 32, 34, 36 and so on), and the player gets a choice of which of the 3 bounties they want to take on, much like happens now with Thorn, Invective and Bad Juju.
Players would work hard to earn these weapons. Let them.
4. Commendations
Fuck them. Pointless waste of time. Get rid ASAP.
5. Vendors
Allow players to spend both Vanguard marks and Crucible marks.
I mean, seriously? If players dont want to go into MP because they dont like it and prefer PvE, theres likely little the vendors will offer to change their minds. Why shut out PvE players like that?
So there we go. Anyone got any thoughts on these?
