This week Destiny gamers suffer yet another setback as Bungie continues to needlessly tweak a system that would otherwise fall in line with precedences set by FPS role playing games. It seems that they truly seek to milk this franchise for the next decade not by providing any gratifying content but rather choosing to go back and fix things you would hope a major game company would have proofed prior to release (or on the flip side take in the teeth and let it be for overlooking it as so many others have before). As for patching exploits (rightfully called) perhaps a company with successes as great as the Halo franchise would know well enough to check for these things prior to release. The loot cave was one of my favorite exploits due to the sheer comedy and mayhem of a small hole in the wall filling with the warm glow of engrams and ammo. Many games have exploits like this that benefit gamers that need to upgrade items or levels but don't have an option for continued plot progression or the strength to contend with higher leveled challenges. Back then (not so long ago) strike playlists were an inkling of a reality and the VoG didn't exist. Speaking of which, if Atheon being pushed wasn't enough of an indication that there were collision and boundary exploits that should probably be checked, now the same exploit of the Templar has been patched. I know I am only one of a host of gamers who may have indulged in these exploits but the pure hilarity of the occurrence brought value and excitement to my experience and the experiences of my peers. Such a daunting task (the VoG) trumped by a silly, simple thing helped to relieve the monotonous grind found after reaching higher levels that even allow gamers to contend with or contribute in the Raid. This is especially true if you are like myself and run through the raid (whether in completion or in stages) multiple times in a week. After the first completion you have little motive to assist other gamers but of good will and you are most certainly not rewarded for it. Not only do the developers find it necessary to continue increasing the difficulty of an already challenging Raid, but they appear to indulge in the painful extremes that must be taken to upgrade already hard to obtain gear and weapons. Only one exotic of weapon and armor may be equipped at once and you want me to acquire even more specific items to upgrade them with? That leaves me without desire to continue trying to develop any other items. This has all gone without mention of receiving so many duplicates of Chatterwhite, Kabr's goodies or class specific items to my Titan. I might as well make an additional Titan just to take on the excess gear because breaking it down will give me upgrade materials that cant even be applied to my other exotics. It seems that server based games have opened a figurative Pandora's box of patching and alterations that would otherwise be impossible in a console release. I feel that a highly anticipated title like Destiny should be finalized prior to release and continually trying to tweak it removes value from the game. I understand that technical fixes can be easily addressed thanks to patching and are much more easily accessible via network connectivity but I can't offer support of this continual modification of a game I initially enjoyed and it pains me to see a slew of changes being made to change the experiences I had come to like. Gaming communities will ALWAYS be larger than the individuals and organizations who work so hard to create the games themselves and exploits will continue to be found but I would like to see some of the actual bugs being fixed and new content being brought forward. Whether hypocritical or not, I plan on participating in the DLC in hopes that I am proven wrong but adding more difficult to obtain upgrade materials and calling it 'an improvement' hardly sits well with me. I am offering my opinion to the community and I am aware both sides have strengths and weaknesses and that I may just get hosed for this but (rhetorically) why must a finished product continually be modified? It feels like the community gets a 'haha we beat you' when an exploit is discovered and Bungie turns back with 'now it's how we wanted it, suffer! your move'. I understand the contradiction that this lengthy response implies as said content and fixes are exclusively available because of a continued network based involvement but I implore the readers (if any) of this post to try and relate to the purist gamer in me and my qualms with our Destiny status quo. -Elf