i've been playing for a long time and if you love this game as much as i do brace your self because this is going to be very in depth i will explain this in the best ways possible so hang on tight were going for a ride! the leveling in this game and the damage meters have become a very difficult process for bungie and probably a mess for them to keep up with all the numbers. for now the damage system is dictated by 3 things attack value, impact and light level - attack value dictates how much damage% your weapon does against an enemy. - impact dictates the damage per bullet which can change depending on the weapon type - light level dictates the damage you give and also receive in percentiles so what we have here are two very different ways that influence our damage percentile against enemies which from my point of view would be a nightmare to work with to change this we need to rethink light levels and attack values, for starters imagine if light level was the only thing dictating the damage a weapon is supposed to do against an enemy type. this removes a very large portion of math needed for balancing this is because weapons will forever do max damage depending on your light level alone and would negate the attack value destroying weapon movement and values people would argue that rarity is destroyed but remember perks are everything to a weapon and the ones that have the best perks are legendary gear and exotic which moves me to my next area of the leveling problem light level and its progression light level dictates you do a lower amount of damage depending on the level you are at and also level is tied with your gear which in a sense destroyed any value the gear initially had to begin with, i would wear a trash bag outfit in destiny if it made me the max light level and i would have to deal with it because this is the only way. House of wolves has done a good job of trying to negate this problem by making everything upgradeable but on the other side of things has not solved the original problem of gear value, this value is determined by... - perks which help your character in multiple ways depending on what it has - stat rolls which can go from terrible to amazing depending on your luck - raid or special bonuses that are not the same as perks these things destroy gear value and player choice to fix this i devised a method of change that could make all gear valuable and useful in different ways first step light level need to be removed from gear itself its becoming a grind to gather multiple etheric light just to upgrade old gear that may or may not be perfect. people argue that you get free max light level gear from raids and now from Trials and the Arena this is nice but again it destroys value of armor and player choice. the removal of light is an easy fix just make it so people can eat 4 etheric light for each level gained until the cap is reached and make ethiric light obtainable through difficult challenges to progress from level 20 - 35 here is a guide i developed 20-27 play story on hard 28 beat the VOG on easy 29 beat the VOG on hard 30 - 31play Dark below story on hard 32 beat CE on easy 33 beat CE on hard 34 play through HOW story on hard, and beat prison of elders level 32 35 beat skolas in the arena extra for perfectionist... 36 flawless VOG and CE 37 flawless Arena all difficulty's this would make light level an interesting and challenging thing while keeping things fresh again for people to choose their preferred gear, people will still return for the end game activity gear but i will explain this in a moment for now lets talk about stat values, stat values on armor are a creative way to throw people for a loop when their raid gear is fully specked into strength and your up a creek without a paddle when you need a grenade, to combat this imbalanced method of numbers simplify the system! remove statistical values on armor that would originally dictate the quality of said armor, replace statistical values with proficiency stats. proficiency stats could be maxed similar to gta by the use of an ability over time, the bonuses granted by said proficiency's would remain unchanged but the power acquired by playing would not be removed from the player further rewarding that player for playing the game for a long period of time! this removal of a value system and introduction of a proficiency system is just what destiny needs in its already crazy RNG filled nightmare, we need a set advantage gained by playing rather than limited by resources found. this is where people would go back for older gear to complete the set with out fear of statistical values ruining the value of their gear. the proficiency system could also be tied to supers as well as perks but that is for another post.... moving on to the perks set by gear the perks are nice to have but limit the choice of weaponry a person may prefer to play with, trials gauntlets for hunters i found increase reload for pulse i would have liked an increase on scout because it is my preferred play style, but this is set and stone to combat this method let us choose perks for gear at the cost of a great sum re-rolling was cute at first but it lacks player choice and is again left to RNG which can be very unfavorable at times. perks themselves would be better suited for some situations than others for some people and this would better represent bungie as giving back to their player base. people argue that raid perks would still be locked making raid gear with perk choice preferred over normal gear with perk choice. this can be fixed by allowing 1 special perk to be ripped from older gear and attach it to new gear for the looks and the bonuses granted, this would allow people to go back for older gear and farm gear to rip perks off of in order to create their own legend!(their own gear set.....) these fixes are almost too easy to see but mast seem to be avoided, another person will argue for a final verdict but it will ruin balance in PVP and the best solution to this is actually kinda funny and well balanced normalize people, basically deactivate perks that help in PVE in PVP and return everyone to level 20 for crucible this can be controlled as bungie dictates the light level advantages in iron banner and trials. the reason for bringing everyone back to level 20 is because at level 20 every guardian was at the same level of protection no added numbers needed for damage not extra protection and since attack values are now Dependant on light level well no bonuses or advantages can be made. if there is a flaw let me know I've built this over a month long thinking process and i might make a video about it to better explain leave a comment or a suggestion for me to see and i'll get back to you as fast as i can.