Your latest changes have brought renewed life to this game, and I have thoroughly enjoyed revisiting it. I left right before Dark Below released because I was burned out and despised some of the changes made then. Despite that, HoW has me very excited. I applaud your efforts and understand the difficulty of game design balance so I acknowledge the need to patch the chest exploit. But here are a few scenarios I LOVED that maybe you should consider when making future tweaks.
[b]A Social Area on Patrol[/b]
The guardians on patrol now are like a bunch of starving, squirrely dreg hording nuts before winter’s scourge. It’s hilarious! Between loot events, I’ve seen many dance parties at Skywatch just like the tower, but of course, these aren’t six man teams. They’re strangers having a ball hanging out on patrol. I’ve never seen that until now, and it’s been fun doing the social thing [i]while[/i] shooting stuff. I fear that if you completely remove the exploit, people won’t hang out anymore. One less opportunity to make friends and form teams. Plus you can see if someone can actually aim before adding them.
[b]Unintentional Sparrow Racing[/b]
It’s fun to race against other people like swimming laps in a pool. I can tell if I’m gaining ground or learn from another person’s path. Of course there’s always hilarious mishaps too where someone gets stuck or flips over a corner or bump. I laugh… until it’s me. I know racing is not in focus, but this is a nice byproduct of the glitch.
[b]Map/Mission Strategy [/b]
Once you do manage to find the chest (and wave to people), you have to figure out what’s the best route to leave and come back or if you should bail and check in to a ticking public event. I like that it’s just one more open world decision to make as simple as it is.
[b]Streams of Chaos[/b]
Skywatch is fantastic when you get a Wolf Pack, then a public event, then a slight breather before another round of scorch cannons followed by an all out war between Fallen and Hive. That craziness is awesome, and I love that there’s now a scenario on patrol where I can get slaughtered if I’m alone. I was with a bunch of guardians racing to a loading point through the war, and some people died in the crossfire losing their ether keys. It was a different threat/challenge that was also fun and a bit dramatic. When there’s no incentive to race anywhere, we revert back to the vanilla “kill everything”. That’s not bad, but wouldn’t you like the option for a tight “racing through gunfire” scenario? There are a few small ones with the Vex/Cabal on Mars but the maps are too big and open for any of them to be threats. Skywatch has all sorts of obstacles that make it interesting to navigate, especially if it’s brimming with enemies like it often does.
We’re all just hoping to get a few Prison of Elder’s Keys even though we have no freaking idea what they’re for. Naturally, people hope to roll some jaw-dropping weapons, and you can’t blame us because of RNGesus and our own personal schedules. It’s a potentially unfair situation that some players have 10+ keys already (I have two), so I understand the desire to adjust things accordingly. I personally don't mind.
If these keys really are super valuable then maybe just reduce their chest drop rate or increase the amount of keys needed to retrieve a reward from 1 to 4. How about replacing the chest keys with currency for a new exotic bounty? I would prefer a solution that doesn’t reduce the ether timer because I like having a full 90 seconds of Sparrow sprinting with guardians spread across the map. I just plead with you to consider the positives when you address this glitch because there are certainly a few.
I’m excited for Destiny’s future and applaud your dynamic changes in response to the fans. Cheers.
P.S. The Scorch Cannons are a great addition. Some people complain about dps, but when you get a group of patient people who know how to use it, the resulting explosions are massive and fantastic! I was once in a situation where a trio of us had cannons and landed shots on the last servitor. Who cares about killing it quickly when you can do it with style? It was really cool to see three impaled rockets fully charge up and decimate its health.
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I agree with 99% of what you said OP. Except don't be salty because someone has more time to play than you. I have 1 key, I knocked out 10 hours on two systems and cheesed chests. If a player got 3 from one chest cheese I'm happy for them.