Let me first start by saying I love how you can randomly run into an area and meet someone else in patrol. Expect this is incredibly rare. I'll maybe find one other person at a given time for about a minute, and then he/she vanishes. :( Despite that, Its one of my favorite parts of the game, and its very MMO-esque. We dance for a second, find some chests, maybe kill an enemy or two and.......dance, maybe kill an enemy or two.....hmmm....
But the options to do things with them are very limited. Out in patrol, there are not enough things to keep us preoccupied. There are a couple patrol missions to do, but that requires us to go into a party or we are lost to the ether if we move to a different location. They are also pretty tedious and not attention worthy, unless doing the bounty of course. I think patrol missions need to be more engaging, as in more dialogue with the person who wants you to do the mission, multi-layered objectives, perhaps even a side story here and there. Which lead me to suggest that what if there was something akin to patrols as Iron Banner is to Crucible? More detailed patrol missions up for a week every month would be a very welcomed feature. Perhaps Two per planet and then after a period of time, it leads to a mini boss battle (Say, a day or two after the information has been analyzed by the vanguard?). Not on the level of a strike, but harder than say, the mini-boss that you fight on Wave 3 in the Sepkis Prime Strike.
A final point. I love to explore in this game. (Perhaps that's why I was drawn to the Hunter; because they are frontiersmen :p) All the locations are beautiful and some of my favorite moments were exploring new places with my friends; encountering all sorts of leveled enemies (taking special interest where the higher level enemies are), going down forgotten paths. Also actually USING our sparrows for a purpose besides "Lol gotta go fast" doing parkour to reach hard to get to places, the list goes on. BUT once again, one of my favorite things come in short supply. Most everything that you come across has already been visited through story missions. Where is the excitement in going to a place you have already been 2 times?
I think there needs to be added areas that AREN'T part of a story or strike mission and are purely there to explore. Throw in some rewards for some hard to reach places. A couple chests that contain a lot materials, or an ascendant shard, or if you are really feeling generous, a special exotic weapon you can only get by exploring! But don't make that exotic weapon in a chest to open. Leave it on a dead body or rusted out in the depths of Venus's jungles or something. Then take it back to The Tower to be inspected to start a bounty and BAM, accomplishment and satisfaction kick in.
Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy my ideas and share my sentiments :)
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I do like the ideas here. The reward for exploration sounds pretty nice, I've always explored in every game I play (assuming I'm not trying to beat a clock). I was honestly bummed about the Golden Chests. Similar concept, but very lackluster rewards. The Ghosts are another nice touch, but collectibles are just that. Collectible... Nothing useful, just a trophy on the wall. I'd like to be able to run around Earth and find Excalibur, and start swinging it around like the Sword of Crota! Not really... but you get the idea. Usable, relevant, and not game breaking exploration rewards. Definitely not simple to attain either, otherwise everyone would be walking around with it. +1 vote from me!
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bumping because I think this is a really good idea :/