Background: I am a pvp main. I'm a fairly decent PVP player. I'm nothing ridiculous or pro but I'm still better then average. I go flawless every week and was adept rank in comp for the first 2 seasons it was implemented. I'm a D1 vet and played up till black armory before taking a break and came back during arrivals to help fight against the black fleet. Here are my thoughts on Checkmate: honestly I'm not completely against it but it is incredibly flawed and not fun for me. 1. Weapon TTK changes This is what baffles me the most. The normal PVP sandbox is in a really good state. You can find success with most primary weapons provided you play in their optimal ranges. Sure it isn't perfect, some weapons archetypes could still use some help and some SMGs reach a little too far but this is as balanced as the sandbox has ever been. I don't understand why they would throw away all that fine turning for this new system. If Increasing the skill gap is the goal then that is a TERRIBLE decision and I can't stress how much I'm against it.  Increasing the skill gap will just make it so my friends won't want to play my favorite game mode with me. They are casual PVP players and I already have a hard enough time convincing them to play because they don't like playing against others my skill level with SBMM (side note: I like SBMM) increasing the skill gap is just going to make it so casual players suffer. Crazy people like me who play trials for fun won't be affected. 2. Special ammo before anyone says something like "you crutch on Special so that's why you don't like Checkmate" I will have you know that I have THOUSANDS more crucible kills on my vex mythoclast then I do on any of my main  special weapons (mostly fusion rifles). This Is probably the only part of Checkmate I like the thinking behind, however the implementation is flawed. Better players should not get special ammo first. A struggling player is not going to be able to bounce back if getting stomped makes the opponent more powerful. Have it so everyone gets special at the same time or maybe make it a cooldown so you can build into it. Maybe scavenger mods can reduce the cooldown or maybe a stat can (could make mobility more desirable). Kills and performance should not affect special ammo gain. Special weapons also kept more powerful primary weapons in check. SMGs and bows are too powerful when shotguns and snipers are out of the equation. 3. abilities I like destiny PVP because it isn't just about shooting. Abilities make it something completely different and special. Build crafting is so much fun! Creating new and different ways to play is why I can play destiny for hours and never get bored. In normal crucible, every 1v1 is a tactical dance. Example: I get shoot first in an engagement. It's a 120 hand cannon and I'm out of optimal range for my 600 auto rifle. I am losing the fight so I duck in cover and drop my rift and re-engage. My opponent is now losing so they throw a vortex grenade, damaging me and  forcing me back behind cover. I'm now one shot so the opponent charges me to get line of sight. I perfectly time my penumbral blast as he turns the corner and win the fight. There is a push and pull. Abilities are what make the combat fun. Using an ability to turn a fight around in your favor is one of the best feelings ever. Checkmate breaks builds. Increasing the cooldown on ALL abilities isn't the solution to ability spam. Balancing the abilities is the solution to ability spam. Hunters still have two threaded specters and two threadling grenades regardless of cooldown. scatter grenades can still one hit kill. I am truly concerned about the PVP for this game. It makes no sense to me to try and balance two different sandboxes at once when all we did was ask for more maps. We also already tried this once in year 1 of D2. Why are we going backwards? Checkmate is not fun for me in it's current state and forcing such a divisive mode on players when morale is at an all time low is confusing to me. Basically this is my long winded way of saying QUIT MAKING TRIALS CHECKMATE! IT'S NOT READY!