Hello, today I went to do a Nightfall in the easiest difficulty because it was helping a new light and then the seeker put us in a game already underway, but what surprised me was that when I entered the game, the only player there was a new light and he was more than 1hour and 40 minutes in the match.(I recorded the gameplay to check the total time of the match)
So I decided to do a test, lowered my power below 2000, equip parts with power 1900, which I have in my safe and I went to do the same Nightfall, then the search engine put me with players of equivalent power between 1930 and 1960
I tested 3 matches and in all 3, the players were below the required power, alone and in two of these matches, these players in it for about 1 to 2 hours in the match, without any stronger player enter.
Don’t know if it’s intentional, but it seems to me that the searchers are only pairing players with equivalent power, leaving "New Light" players stuck for hours in these activities, just like it happened in Xur’s activity from the birthday pack.
https://youtu.be/ARbjdjA2Rx8
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This has always been in the game and being on power for an activity is “recommended” for a reason. The Dares thing was only of note because, iirc, you were spawned into an instance of Dares the moment you logged in and so naturally players would assume they should complete it. While base nightfalls are not particularly difficult, you can certainly imagine getting a 1920 gamer in your Tomb of Elders run might negatively impact your experience (and the total loot you get at the end) and therefore it is a logical quality control measure to separate lower power players in matchmaking pools for some activities. Nothing is forcing the new player into this activity and they have the agency to leave at any point. It’d be like arguing because a new player sees a pinnacle drop behind a raid and can load in, then they should be able to complete it solo and under power. Clearly it is irrational to craft the game under the assumption that new players can’t read or decide how to use their time as they see fit. If a player “wasted” 2 hours in a nightfall underpowered, likely, they knowingly accepted the difficulty and were determined to complete it. To come to any other conclusion strips the player of their agency in the matter. Despite what much of the Destiny community would have you believe, there are a lot of gamers who love a good challenge.