Bungie, you hit the nail on the head as to why players spent hours shooting into a cave -- zero effort. The equation is simple; less work for same or greater reward equals a happy player.
Now, I know this is not always true. There are players who like the slog of fighting umpteen waves at the three points on a strike. [spoiler]Umingol[/spoiler][spoiler]Undying Mind[/spoiler][spoiler]Valus[/spoiler] But, sadly, there is a surprising amount of players who just have a "Nope!" moment when they hear whomever say their most dreaded opening lines to those strikes and either abandon the mission or hurriedly change characters to avoid making planet fall.
You probably already knew this. You probably also know how obnoxious it is to have all those waves and all those ultras in the Undying Mind strike. I just wanted to confirm it for you from an outside source.
Thank you for, possibly, taking the time to read this.
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I'd feel less aggravated by the waves of majors and ultras in Undying Mind if they gave you the normal glimmer reward when you killed them. If you are circumventing the reward structure of your game in order to present a challenge to players without letting them receive too much benefit, you might need to rethink your design philosophy.