I recall Bungie stating that they don’t want casual players to feel left out by hardcore players who advance too far and too fast into the game, hence one reason for raid gear being RNG and for adding the reputation buff on Iron Banner. While I get the reason for Bungie adding these steps (look at how EVE Online is massively intimidating to the new player), I feel like the end result is Bungie nerfing hardcore players. At this point, there doesn’t seem to be any reason to grind at the raid as you only get one shot at it (per difficulty) and the drops are random. Ergo, once you run it, regardless of what you get, there is reason to run it again. This mechanic only supports the casual player and de-incentivizes the hardcore player from running it multiple times per week (for a single character). Additionally, with this reputation buff coming to the Iron Banner, I see no reason to run the Iron Banner while the buff is in cool down as any gains I may achieve during that time can easily be made up by the casual player (once again, de-incentivizing hardcore playing). Now, I like Destiny and my 400+ hours should show that but it seems as if I am being penalized for playing so much. Bungie has stated repeatedly that the loot is completely random but, based off the above points, I have a strong suspicion that the more you play the game, the worst your odds of obtaining top-level gear is (in an effort to ensure hard-core gamers don’t overwhelmingly surpass casual gamers). I can’t help but feel like this system is flawed as you ostracize those gamers who are most likely to purchase DLC and promote your game via word-of-mouth. You also run the risk of your online community being comprised of solely casual players. Casual players, by definition, are not the type that ensure your intellectual property lasts 10 years (the Star Wars franchise wouldn’t be as successful as it is if Lucas didn’t capitalize on his hardcore fans via books, toys, etc). You have already given casual players a couple of different ways to stay relevant in a world full of hardcore players, now give hardcore players an actually reason to stay hardcore players. You kind-of do it with Grimoire bonuses, such as adding worthwhile Grimoire bonus to raids (e.g. increase odds of obtaining raid armor). Don’t worry about your newcomers 3 to 6 months down the road; they probably found out about your game from their hardcore friends and it is those hardcore friends that will keep the ecosystem alive since they have a personal interest in doing so. They don’t want Destiny to die so empower and encourage them.