Here's the problem with the nightfalls being ONLY a source of """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""masterwork materials"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" in this post i will provide 2 points with a TL;DR at the end. 1. why ascendant materials arent a good reward 2. why unique weapons/armor are a great reward 1. masterwork cores were perfectly fine and grindable BEFORE shadowkeep launched. Oppulence got it right, down to a T really. after shadowkeep launched, you changed the masterwork system to make things RIDICULOUSLY expensive, and then added a "get rich quick" strategy: play the nightfall ordeals. here's the major issue: you didnt change anything. you created a 10 dollar bill, that's all you did. you could have tacked on enhancement cores as a reward for higher level Ordeals, with the higher you go providing more enhancement cores for a completion, and completely shunted the "prism" and "shard" mentality entirely, and that would have taken NO EFFORT WHATSOEVER instead of just forcing some arbitrary shard/prism system. ascendant prisms are to enhancement cores like 10 dollar bills are to one dollar bills. Don't believe me? talk to banshee. you didnt make anything new, you just wasted time compartmentalizing something that didnt need to be compartmentalized after inflating the price of masterworking armor. Ordeals gained the value of "i can masterwork my stuff" but beyond that, who cares? and what to i mean by that statement? well, personally i dont really masterwork... anything. i dont find a need to, as i dont need high tier armor to do anything really. 2. Strike specific weaponry is really nice because it lets weapon creators fill rolls that havent been filled yet (havent you noticed how militia's birthright is the ONLY kinetic grenade launcher up to weapon 2.0 standards? For someone who loves using tube launchers in PVP (that's me!) that is a very important thing to have. and wardens law, that gun's a doozy innit?) and lets weapon modelers go haywire with creativity. you think i wouldnt LOVE a year 2 variant of D.F.A?! that's one of the prettiest weapons you have ever made! and nobody ever gets to see it because... there's no reason to use it over anything else. not to mention, grinding nightfalls for random rolls can be quite fun, just seeing how fast you and your buddies can clear a level, noticing how you slowly start getting faster and faster... it kinda gives you a rush, not to mention the rush of seeing that oh-so-pretty unique weapon drop for you, and discovering whatever random roll you got on it, that's also a ton of fun. the only reason anyone would grind Ordeals is because of the mods, but that doesnt count because you ripped the mods straight off of the armor. so, we're grinding for.... nothing, really. TL;DR: Ascendant shards and prisms are basically 100 dollar bill and 10 dollar bill versions of enhancement cores, respectively. nightfall weapons are unique, interesting, and fill several playstyle niches.