So I recently signed back in to reddit with the post above and it suddenly clicked. How would I make that happen? Here's the general outline with examples result I thought of: 290 starts the raid. You do the raid for raid drops up to 310, but in between? #1. 295 guaranteed challenge drop of from ToO of 5 wins OR PoE challenge mode involving Taken forces AND Skolas. You can get one of three rewards: 295 Ghost shell, 295 artifact, 295 class item. #2. Time for 300. You can a guaranteed drop still from above, but you can now also get a possible drop from upgraded public events. Random public event, meant to be challenged by 4 or more guardians of light level 295 or higher. Due to eht requirement for this? The darkness zone will shift in a predictable order of each area in a counter clockwise fashion and will only impact areas where no known public event can occur (to avoid lower light level restrictions). With this challenge comes a unique ghost intro and dialogue at the end. Something to the effect of, "Darkness... the darkness is much more powerful... this challenge will be a lot harder." and will feature the equivalent challenge on any planet of an antiquated ruin combined with agonarch rune in terms of phases. At the end? Each guardian who participated at KILLING a boss enemy (please note that for this public event? Those under 295 light will be given auto immune status due to darkness restrictions) or severely wounding one will be given a 300 drop of weapons or armor, but NOT the ghost shell or artifact tree's. That is for the next challenge down below. And with a three of coins drop? Could net you a unique exotic. This exotic... along with the unique rewards... will instinctively help with the one of the fights in the raid. Each class will be given a different kind of weapon unique to that class from this fight. This means? Each class will be powerful for at least one fight in the raid or for HM. As for the ghost shell and artifact? Those drops are unique to a quest line of a given faction. To get this quest? You need to prove yourself to them. Upon accepting the "commitment to excellence" challenges from them (weekly reset bounties for PvE and PvP... whichever you choose) will set you on a path for the ghost shell unique to the faction as well as the artifact. For the purpose of non-faction users, vanguard mentors will also hand out these bounties, but only one line may be accepted at a time. Do enough of those and the quests? You get to 300 light from both the raid drops on normal and this. Time for the final markers run to 320. #3. 304 light will feature tricks and smarts more then anything. These events come in pairs: a) Patrols will now feature ghost dialogue with challenge rewards for completing puzzles of an area. Here's the example: You load up Venus patrol. You hop on your sparrow and drive around... you see public events... you see darkness based events and then your ghost goes, "Wait... something's wrong..." and the event suddenly vanishes as fast as it came. The other players all get the same notification (the one with this quest) and it says, "Something is drawing me to the Endless Steps. Vex signatures mixed with Fallen again..." and as you get closer, "Remind me again. We did imprison Skolas right? This shouldn't be happening... right?" and from the moment you enter the zone you get a darkness warning and a darkness zone. You see the old familiar "weight of darkness x_" and start moving through. Level 42 enemies spawn in the normal numbers through patrol (minimal basically). You get to the end? Weight of darkness fight WITH a RNG based Taken, Fallen, or Vex enemy. Your newly acquired fireteam of same quest people defeat it and off you go. You see the quest line light up telling you to go to Mars. Enter the second pair of possibilities. b) Patrol is no longer an option and something else is completely wrong. You have lost a few missions. Phobo's is the only selectable option. Story mission it says needs to be done solo. The darkness won't allow you to enter with a fireteam. You basically go through a 300 light challenge. Beat the mission, randomly selected from all the story missions, at 300 light along with an added twist for all darkness zones similar to weight of darkness. Doing those things which can be redone at your leisure? Net's you all 304 gear and guarantee's raid and ToO prep work in terms of perk's being set aside specifically for those challenges. This means? 304 gear is all around meant for PvE... and PvP... For the final 304 to 310? You have all the weapons for the raid or ToO... you just need to light level them right? Now is the final time to earn your raid challenges for normal mode (again, that is a 290 challenge giving you a raid drop through it will be solely between 305 and 310 for those rewards) and events like IB dropping 305 to 310 gear for performing well in matches consistently. That leaves us with VoG and CE raids doesn't it? Here's how I see them playing effect due to challenges and light levels. Each of those raids features a fight we all know, but still requires guardians to work as a team. Three challenge markers with the potential nightfall modifiers thrown in will net you not a light level item... but unique perk guns which alone can be upgraded. These guns though... will be useful for mechanics found in all three raids ONLY. Raid gear starting at 160, but once upgraded? Features a viable option to switch for when raid groups can't seem to get the mechanics down. This means Raid Fatebringer (Raid means it is upgradeable) will work perfectly for Golgoroth fights and allow close range fighters to manipulate the area more effectively. This means Raid Black Hammer will feature new perk tree alignments used for best multipurpose tree's (like doing perfect rerolls when we could. These unique and awesome tree's will be auto filled for completing the old raids, but will still require you to upgrade them if you want). Here's the thing about the old raids... those raids can be completed by individuals who have the experience for them. This means the perks and alignments on them needs to be difficult to attain. We are talking about the God Mode weaponry for raiders and there is absolutely no telling what can befall Crucible when you reintroduce old weapons under upgraded power and perks. For each consecutive completion of challenges under those lower light requirements (like no teleporting Templar)? It will only allow a chance drop. Not a guaranteed like I know you all want. BUT... for each final boss fight (atheon or Crota only) on Hard Mode, with no revives... you get increased drop rates similar to how exotics dropped for Atheon HM completions versus normal. This is due to that oh so crucial EXECUTION and teamwork based requirement found in all competitive endgame content. That is the important thing. When you are forced to work as a team and succeed or wipe and start over? That is why challenges will be so difficult and should only yield the best rewards after multiple runs and multiple completions (similar to how SRL will only drop good gear with each SRL ranking you have or more importantly? Level 3 starts dropping 310 to 320 helmets). The final stretch for 320 features the hardest challenges: Oryx HM, ToO with 7+ wins, IB rank 7 with consecutive wins, and a special and, just to be even more creative about this, a new Patrol Public Event featuring level 43 or 44 enemies found in a single area of the planet where no enemy dares trend or go. That event? Will want 9+ guardians to be present for. After all... you never know what the darkness will throw at you... (consider that the public area boss or bosses of sorts) These light levels will be the hardest fought for and with each corresponding victory? Nets you a specific reward like doing the Oryx HM challenge getting you the guaranteed 320 drops. The top guardians will rise to the challenge and the others? Will not complete them. That's all for now. Feel free to comment about you like or dislike, would change, ect..