Its been almost a week since CoO dropped, and I know theres some more stuff being updated on reset day but there are some thoughts eating away at me about the status of this game. What happened? Like seriously, what happened in writing, designing, building, and shipping this DLC? The cutscenes are so overly and unbelievably awkward. Every time the camera pans to my guardian and she stands there silent, only to blink or nod in response is so… bad. And what happened to the lore of Speaker wanting to try and reconnect with Osiris, or even the fact that Osiris was the Speaker’s apprentice?? Sure the Speaker is dead now but this would imply so much more to Osiris’ journey as a character through this DLC. Its disappointing. And the Infinite Forest? Its a gimmick. Sure the first time I entered it I was all “OOOoooooo this is pretty,” but being pretty can only get things so far. Its boring, and almost worthless fill of space. Most people just race through it less than a week after launch. Eververse. Eververse, Eververse, Eververse. Almost everything players want are locked behind these little shiny engrams. That is not cool. End game is basically Space Fashion Simulator, and when almost all of the sweet, cool looking cosmetics you want are locked behind these loot boxes, its draining. Yes you can get them by just playing the game, but the fact is it becomes more of a chore than the hobby you are trying to create. What happened to Destiny 1’s approach to Eververse? What happened to multiple ways of grinding for those cosmetics you want? Challenges to unlock things? Jeez, what happened to things like the Black Spindle quest? Its awful, seeing everything I want to look cool, or use locked behind hours of play, that I honestly will lose interest in playing after a couple hours at a time, or a pay wall. Its scummy. Someone made the comment somewhere, and I don’t remember who or where so I’m sorry I can’t acknowledge them, that we the players said “we want more things to grind for, and Bungie heard ‘the players want a longer grind’.“ This seems so very true with the Lighthouse forge weapons. Most of my time playing this past week has been for gathering those materials, and its been awful. The guns do not live up to my expectations based on how long it takes to get the materials for them. They really aren’t that unique. I found it isn’t worth my time to do them anymore. And I fear this will be the fate of Masterwork weapons as well. I won’t make even make a comment on locking vanilla content behind CoO. We were stupid to go with it through D1 and I won’t go through it all over again. And before someone comes in here and tells me all my thoughts are invalid and crap, I’m in college working to become a game designer, and the stuff that we are seeing being pushed in D2 pains me and my friends as game developers. It is abysmal and almost shameful to watch. I’ve been a fan since D1’s Beta but in full honesty, if things aren’t looking up after the release of whatever the Warmind DLC will be called, I’m jumping ship. I’ve defended this game from the start, but this isn’t treating players like fans and consumers, this is treating us like we’re stupid and don’t know how games are supposed to be built. I hope things are looked more seriously upon from this point. Don’t pull the rug from under your players again.