The hardcore playerbase of Destiny is almost as bad as World of Warcraft's. All this Vanilla/Year 1 praise. I almost want to go dig deep & start to necro the Year 1 threads. Year 1 was not this holy grail. Year 1 was very flawed. However Booble is correct in saying: [i]"It was a culmination of many things."[/i] As many things were flawed in Destiny on both the development side & community side. As MANY posters have said, Destiny was very new in Yr1. [u]Nightfalls[/u] So Nightfalls (the first time) were scary/nerve racking. Getting sent to orbit was cool for the first 4 or 8 NFs. Then the community got sick of them. They became a mandatory routine for xp & folks began to fervently seek out "cheese" spots just to get them done asap. Teams of people sitting in corners, ledges, under ramps, bridges, etc sniping for 20-30+ minutes because bosses were bullet sponges. But the blue flame was required for bonus xp & was part of the various flawed myths it would help your RNG. [u]Flawed RNG[/u] This was Destiny's biggest sin. And back in Yr1 people posted that the unforgiving RNG was how Bungie [i]"Removed the fun out of the game."[/i]. These forums were overflowing with complaints over just RNG alone. Destiny was a laughing stock across multiple avenues of media because of it. People would: - Complete full raids & only have materials to show for it. - Complete a Nightfall and get Motes of Light, or materials. - Complete Prison of Elders & get materials. - Decrypt Legendary Engrams & get Blues, Greens, & Whites. (Very few of us ever got an Exotic from Legendaries.) When the community resorts to shooting into caves (1 cave in particular) for hours on end, day after day after day to try & get loot that was usable; something is very, very wrong. When the community throws/purposely loses PVP matches to get good loot...something is wrong. When you have myths/urban legends spreading to increase RNG, something is wrong... Legends/Myths: - Crouching at Cryptarch will increase the chance he will not decrypt you engrams to lower tier. - Speaker emblems increase: Exotic drop rates/Engrams Drops/Cryptarch Decryption to higher tier/Exp Gain/Harvest Returns/Glimmer Accrued - Nightfall Buff increased Engram Drop Rates, Chance at Exotics, Cryptarch Decryption, Higher Light stat on gear The above listed stuff is ludicris!! People were praying to their pets for god sakes. [u]The Euphoric Feelings of Exotics[/u] This is bullcrap. Yes, during the opening 3 months when no one knew what Exotics existed. The first to find them were "estatic". However most folks were pulling out their teeth & hair to get exotics. People cried tears of joy because they could finally progress. Most folks reactions were that of relief, not joy. Exotics were powerful, yes. But that was due to by Bungie's own admission, bad balance. Exotics were meant to change how you played the game by offering unique modifiers/perks that made you alter your play style. They were never meant to be the Nukes they were at the time. Gjallarhorn being the biggest one. Which brings me to the next point... [u]Gameplay Balance[/u] The game was challenging, yes. But not in a good way. We were weak as all hell: - Supers did NOT kill most enemies. - Yellow Bars were Sponges/Mini-Bosses - Bosses took nearly 30 minutes to kill in Strikes (Unless you had Gjally or some Exotic users.) - Leveling up was a chore & players could not customize their build. The enemies were the literal definition of "Bullet Sponge". You can open a dictionary & see Val'us Ta'urc's profile listed under Bullet Sponge. This created artifical difficulty. You didn't die from challenge, you died because enemies had more chances to kill you due to their massive HP pools and/or you grew fatigued from fighting them for so long. People [b][u]literally[/u][/b] fell asleep fighting Val'us. Folks would abandon Winter's Run because the Archon Priest had the HP of Mount Everest. Gjally became required for endgame content because it was the most effective weapon in the game for chewing through boss HP. Which meant, your progression in Destiny was not tied to your skill or accomplishments. It was tied to pure luck. [u]Progression[/u] Progression was pure luck as everything (minus Vendors) was RNG dictated. Your armor, your weapons, and the worst sin of em all...your very Level was at the whim of an unforgiving RNG system. Those who could raid did so because they were some of the lucky few who got lucky with RNG. They had somehow gotten the drops nessicary to run raids. I myself was lucky as I was one of the select few to get Icebreaker before Xur sold it. I was soloing NFs & "endgame" content before it was believed to be feasible. But even back then, I never felt that I earned that. I got lucky & I knew it. But that was it for me. I didn't get a Gjally until about 2 weeks before Xur resold it before TTK launched. 90% of the Destiny community didn't have Gjally. And back then due to this only 10% of the community even stepped foot in a Raid, less than 5% finished them. Those that did finish did so due to RNG drops. Gear with enough light to boost em, Gjally & other lucky exotic drops. Skill was secondary. There were no Discipline, Strength, Intellect builds. It was all about whatever had the most Light on it. Don't care for strength? Tough. Those Strength gloves have 36 Light on them better wear em. Eventually everyone looked the same. Forever 26- 29s were often in all Dead Orbit gear (Supers were so weak folks tried to stack Disc & Str until they got higher lightbl gear that forced them out of it.) Raiders all had the same gear & loadouts. The Tower was full of clones. You had the Haves & Have Nots. No Gjally? No ___? Go farm the Loot Cave until you do. THEN & only then could you progress into future content. [u]Elitism[/u] Yr1 eventually was out of hand in Elitism. Raid Emblem, Gjally, Elemental Primaries, LL of __, Completion #, etc. Required by LFGs. ___ Raid Primary, Blackhammer (Icebreaker if you were super lucky & found a group that didn't require...), Gjallarhorn was the most request/required loadout. These folks with "fond" memories of Yr1 seem to forget that by the end of Year 1 the game had bled dry its playerbase & finding people to run content with was becoming a full time job. These same Elitists were complaining that they had no one to run content/play with. Folks were furious at Bungie because folks weren't playing the game anymore & those that did were too stuck up to pkay with anyone. The casuals/regular players were tired of the fruitless grind & were in a mass exodus. Hell, folks revolted at the patching of the Loot Caves, cheese spots, & etc. These "fond" memories only exist in the minds of those who "had". They hit the jackpot & got to experience what the game had to offer. A massive majority did not get this experience. Not because they were lazy, scrubs, & etc. RNG just did not favor them & there was nothing you could do about it. [u]Closing[/u] This game improved from Year 1 to Year 3. Where the game has indeed failed is in keeping content relevant (soon to be fixed in AoT), seperating PVE & PVP, keeping the experience rewarding. People complain now that it is too easy to get 400 LL. But this is NOT bad. You know what is not being complained about as a result? - Not having people to raid with. - Not having people to run content with. - People being poorly equipped. - People not having gear. - Content not being Accessible - Not being able to customize Guardian stats, appearance, loadout. - Cryptarch Decryption - Accruing Marks - Forever __ level. - Bullet Sponges Right now the top complaints are drowned in nostalgia and/or are coding based. Elemental Primaries being exotic... Folks were posting saying that they want them back & would gladly accept them as exotics. They got their wish...but now the true colors show. Exotic limitation is a sin. Folks wanted old content to stay relevant. Wish granted. Unacceptable, its recycled content. PVP Lag, Vault Space, Optional MM This is coding based & would require a massive rebuilding of a 3yr old game. I hate it too but I have come to terms with it. I play FF14. That game as well needs to be rebuilt in specific areas. Now due to the nature of that genre. It is very possible for FF14 to repair its issues. Destiny...not so much. I hate to say roll with the punches. But...you this game has hit its limit. I was honestly surprised by what TTK accomplished considering this game's design. Which Bungie has admitted to: Bad Netcode in some areas (PVP issues), Flawed Architecture (MM is on or off. There is no inbetween/optional), Old Coding/Engine (Vault Space, & fps) The rose colored glasses need to come off.