I believe it also has something to do with the community as well... This whole post is proof of that... People in this community just can't disagree with another person's opinion without bashing them or downright being arrogant and condescending... You will get jumped in these forums by the same few players every time... They seem to be in the forums more than they actually play the game, but they will always be the first to respond negatively...

Add to the fact that every new player I've tried to bring into D2 doesn't have a clue where to go or what to do. You would think this is how most new games feel to new players but what makes it worse in Destiny is there is WAY too much that has to be out sourced information because the game does not provide the information in game. I don't believe the PvE content is too hard. I think more players would succeed if they knew how do go about completing GMs, Dungeons, and Raids. The main issue is needing help to learn them. Videos are one useful but it takes in game experience to really learn, and with that you need patient guardians helping/teaching. This is easier for GMs or dungeons because you could do that with just one other player. Good luck with that working for raids in this toxic environment. Six player content should be off the table for Destiny 2 going forward. A huge downfall for this game was neglecting PvP. Everyone used to play PvP once in awhile or in the down time of new pve content. NOW... hardly anyone will touch it. The abilities are so ridiculously out of control. New or even average players can't compete at ANY level on ANY of the PvP options. It's completely broken. The connections, gameplay inconsistencies are pathetic. So yeah, new players run around a planet for awhile, do a few strikes, and then... leave.

I agree. The difficulty is one of the things ruining the game. They basically made the game a slog instead of fun. Salvations edge is a prime example of to difficult. Almost 90% of the lfg posts say KWTD or kick, and the raid is just confusing to explain to people. Vanguard playlist used to be fun but now they are a slog with battlegrounds and reworked strikes that might as well be battlegrounds. Can I get a moment of silence for lake of shadows 🫡

Because the game now forces you to constantly be at low health and to many enemies spawn constantly. No cover to hide you alway have to keep moving while at low health. Plus enemies spawn or telliport right behind you constantly. It's frustrating now.

Difficulty isn't really the problem but how they go about it. And they go about not necessarily by making the game harder, but by removing progress. Our levels, and play time by extension, DO NOT matter if we don't benefit from them. On top of capping us at or up to 25 below the enemy, they like to apply some of the worst modifiers like Oscillation. "Play the way you want", proceeds to force loadouts on us like the prestige Leviathan. If I shouldn't be allowed to benefit from my time, then I should have full say on the difficulty. Let me start a GM with surges that benefit me, threats that benefit the wrong enemies, champions that faction doesn't have, let me turn on heavyweight, and every other modifier that doesn't benefit that faction in the slightest. Guaranteed rewards for minimal difficulty in an endgame activity. Same goes for raids and dungeons too, let me decide the difficulty completely. It's only logical. If I shouldn't benefit from my time, then Bungie shouldn't decide the difficulty anymore than easy/ normal/ heroic/ legendary. Let me decide me decide the modifiers like in Halo. Crafting. They decided to forgo it this season to "bring back the chase, the satisfaction of obtaining your God roll", but when you account for perk weighting (that somehow went unnoticed by them for years) on top of players no longer seeing the "end goal" of their grind, that killed it some more. Especially when we can't even focus the weapons or armor for this season, but instead have to rely on tonics (RNG to get the materials, some are exclusive to certain activities, on top of RNG to get the item while on a timer, which players HATE). Lastly, how short this episode/ season was. We could complete all the field work, which was probably going to be split up over several weeks, within THE DAY of that act starting. There goes weekly story progression. So now it's just weekly drops that are ultimately pointless due to our levels not making a difference even after they brought back the pinnacle grind against the better judgement of the players, Pathfinder (which forces us to play how we DON'T want to for bright dust, no one likes that this replaced weekly bounties even if we get more ultimately), and rotators that become less relevant once you get what you came for. I don't care for getting Divinity for example, I just want the hand cannon and pulse from Garden, and maybe the bow. Low player count is a result of burnout, disrespecting our time, removing the aforementioned end goals, and removing weekly incentives to log back in even through burnout. Now add in how poorly done events are and this is a time where all these other big games are getting updates or announcements: * Warframe 1999 and Xaku Prime. * Dynasty Warriors Origins in a month. * Lost Soul Aside FINALLY getting a release window next year (think Final fantasy meets devil may cry). * Rumors that Elder scrolls 4 is getting a remaster or remake that will supposedly be showcased next month. * And that list from the Game Awards such as Witcher 4 or First Berserker Khazan.

Probably has very little to do with the numbers. Honestly I just think people are finally fed up with the bs.

No it's the boredom

NO! It’s a proven fact, that making games too easy or creating safe spaces without challenges are bad for the player health. Aka: catering to players that just want the game basically play itself are bad for the game!

It's sad that it took this game to be in its current state for you guys to finally realize this after countless complaints about it but all they hear is "git gud" or "go play something else" while telling Bungie make things more challenging the game is too easy even though only a small majority of players play endgame in the first place but it was way more manageable and easier for players to get into then, now it reached the point they don't even bother wanting to try it even when the game was literally bleeding players way faster then making them grind over mechanical dungeons and raids for underwhelming loot. Bungie is at fault for focusing way too much trying to satisfy top players with more challenging content at the detriment of average and below players with their issues being overlooked with increased difficulty on top of it especially for underwhelming loot.

I think GMs are a good level of difficulty. They are meant to be endgame. The main issue is most content in the game is either very easy with no point to it, or extremely hard and unrewarding with little in between (bar GMs). Raids were made harder for no reason with the power level changes. Normal raids are mostly ok but Master raids are pointless bar the seal, and brutal for the most part. Salvation’s Edge is not a fun raid to teach, has little margin of error meaning it is brutal on new players. Raiding should be a fun challenge, not a horrid mess. Damage phases keep getting tougher, more focus on movement, I am only missing Solo Vesper’s Host for the seal and only playing Hunter puts me at a disadvantage on that dungeon. Dying during DPS isn’t fun. It puts players off. I am not saying it should be a safe “stand and shoot” but the Vesper’s damage phase is over tuned when you take in how much it takes to get there…. A range of difficulty with aspirational rewards. Emblems for the hardest content is a must. Sherpa emblems were great. Bring them back.

Here is a perfect example on how bungie and the players that play 24/7 have totally ignored the average players. So kudos to the og in this vid helping the new lights out https://youtu.be/ARbjdjA2Rx8?si=k11G7P5LElfqagP4

a top raider streamer (DATTO) in the world has 28 salvations edge clears in 80hrs playing JUST that raid. This is NOT fun

Yeah, it's almost like catering exclusively to the no-life hardcore players who make up a tiny percentage of the playerbase was a terrible idea that drove away the majority of players. And I say this as someone who is closer to being one of those hardcore no-lifers than a regular player.

I agree, as a long time casual Destiny player I felt the step up. As someone else said, I’m one of these players who gets to squeeze some play time in between activities, I rarely have a 2-3hrs chunk to play. I’m lucky that after years of buying extensions, and seasons pass I had a vault full of good stuff, and plenty of currency. So I only had to spend a bit of time on my build and loadout to be able to keep up. But if I was someone starting from scratch today I would pass on Destiny.