[b]From memory, I've killed skolas[/b] - 3 times week 1 (solar) - 2 times week 2 (arc) - 3 times week 3 (void) - 2 time week 4 (solar) so far...[b][updated 6/12/15][/b] This doesn't count the times we abandoned the attempt and disbanded (happened twice). During those runs, I've vested an enormous amount of time both getting to and then killing Skolas. Our best time getting to him was 55 minutes, however it usually takes 1:30-2:00 to get to him. We've spent anywhere from 30 minutes (void week) to 5 hours on Skolas (arc week) - round 6 - ALONE... sometimes, with no joy... but usually, we take him down. Void burn was easily the easiest week, Arc burn was definitely the worst and biggest nightmare week... it was downright painful in fact. I've now finally received an Elder Cypher on all 3 of my toons, but my Titan is GLitched out - as Varicks won't actually give it to my Titan (I had full bounties when it dropped - so its bugged out)... so really, only 2 of the three of my guardians have earned the new exotic HoW weapons (Q Bow and LoW) [b]updated[/b]. With the above [b]updated[/b] 10 successful boss kills in mind, I've received only 2 Elemental primaries from killing Skolas... the scout and the pulse(both arc). That's a [b]updated[/b] 20% yield of Elemental to Boss kill reward rate!!!! That's a [b]updated[/b] 30% yield for Elder Cypher. Once you have one of each of the Cyphers (novelty guns) you frankly don't give a rip about them... so all you are really after is the elemental primaries... and at 20% drop rate, you start asking yourself - is this time vested vs. reward even worth it? I mean on average we are talking around 3-4 hours for a Skolas run with a average to good group... So let's call it 3.5 hours... after my 10 runs @ 3.5 hours each on avg, we are talking about [b]updated[/b] 35 hours for 2 elemental primaries... and that doesn't count setup times or the 2 failures... we are approaching a full work week now!!! Even when you do get a drop, you really want a Solar Hand Cannon or a Void scout as all other combinations are basically junk as other items in the game outclass them - and these wasted perks make them almost useless... Jeezus BNG? WTF? Does this seem anywhere even close to acceptable? [b]With the above in mind, I have a few issues with this. First, let's look at ToO and Raids for comparison...[/b] 1. The Trials of Osiris and Raids are both End Game content 2. ToO and Raids both offer stopping points for breaks in gaming to return to 3. Most IMPORTANTLY, ToO and Raids both offer END GAME quality incremental rewards - all the way through - not just at the end!! 4. Both ToO and Raids offer a GUARANTEED end game quality loot drop at various locations [b]Now let's look at Skolas:[/b] 1. There are no breaks in the gaming, you must play all the way through, hope for no network problems 2. You get no breaks to return to if life calls in Skolas - no checkpoints - why is this a good idea? 3. WHERE ARE THE INCREMENTAL END GAME QUALITY REWARDS PER ROUND???????? 4. Why are the Elemental primaries on RNG and possible to NOT drop at all? 5. The small chests at the end of Skolas generally suck, just like the 32 and 34 runs 6. The large chest, at the end of Skolas contains the same junk that other arenas generally do - unless you need ship, shader and emblem... but you can only get the ship on one run... and anything short of queens shotgun, sniper and rocket is basically worthless... BNG... Now I get it, they don't want folks just passing off 'check points' in arena challenges - like they do in every other aspect of destiny's PvE experience... Okay, fine. Then there are REALLY intelligent ways to DISCOURAGE this kind of thinking... and do it by REWARDING players, not punishing them. [b]Level 35 run should be rewarding and a special experience![/b] 1. Could offer incremental rewards - based on how far you get - judgment RANK per round completed should be no-brainer 2. Each round completed should generate per round rewards such as CHANCES at dropping cypher, weapon parts (the new must have commodity!), legendary engram, blue engrams, Varicks Armors like can be purchased with chance tokens 3. No BNG, you can keep all the Varicks guns if you are NOT going to fix them... nobody wants that stuff with shank burn/ dreg burn, etc on it... I mean seriously, whose idea was that? Disciplinarian isn't horrible... but the others... ulgh, garbage - throw that out... Here's a REALLY simple FIX to make MOST not all of those Varicks guns have a VALUE again... first add another perk spot... give them all the traditional two perks that we are used to rolling for at the Gunsmith... now on that new perk spot, let us get Fallen, Vex, Hive, Cabal or GUARDIAN DISCIPLINARIAN - done. Now, people will actually WANT some of these weapons, and will seek them out.... go tell the guy / department who came up with dreg/shank burn that he needs to write a public apology to the Destiny community for the next weekly update - PS, the above will save your HoW Varicks weapons - (well not the non-elemental primaries, those can just be canned.) 4. Each round completed should IMPROVE roll % towards a better drop on Skolas for ELEMENTAL primaries - if you complete all rounds preceding Skolas, and you kill him - 100% chance for DROP of one of the elemental primaries - nuff said... nobody wants to play all the way through and put all that time in and NOT get a primary... over and over.... after all, these things are RNG and can have different burns / stats (right?)... these things SHOULD be dropping much more regularly! Oh, and see above on the RACE disciplinarian... my elemental primary scout with dreg burn compared to a buddy who has one with fallen disciplinarian is just a slap in the face... nobody wants to work this hard, for a <20% chance at an Elemental primary, hope they get one of the good ones, then get some crappy modifier on it... Jeezus BNG... who is in charge of your Fun Dept anyway??? [b]Next up... let's talk about your Weapon Parts problem since you've eliminated Etheric Chest farming[/b] That was the only 'present' answer to the Weapon Parts Economy 3.0 problem BNG has created. Since the knee jerk response to remove Etheric Chest farming (response to unrelated Treasure Key issue fix)... we now have a Weapons Parts shortage, and no real way to deal: - 25 weapon parts = Exotic Ascend - 25 weapon parts = Her Benevolence (any queen legendary) Fully Upgrade - 50 weapon parts = Lord of Wolves fully upgraded - 50 weapon parts = Queen's Bow fully upgraded - 3 weapon parts = 1 roll at Gunsmith - 60 weapon parts = 20 rolls on average at gunsmith per weapon So, when do we get the weekly update addressing exactly how are folks supposed to accumulate weapon parts now - strikes? Ulgh. Surely they don't want us using weapon cores to buy and dismantle or ToO rank 5, to buy and dismantle ( over and over.) The time demands are real BNG - this is ludicrous! [b]Speaking of cores, let's talk Varicks and these armor / weapon Cores...[/b] When you get your armor / weapon core, the last thing you want to do is use it on anything Varicks has for sale. Okay, yes you feel obligated to buy some of that STR armor if it allows you to get to 34 and use that Etheric light on a piece of your GOOD armor, but generally, his "for sale" items are to be avoided. Nobody wants +STR. Why BNG is even trolling us this way is beyond me. Then we have his weapons... they are laughable. I mentioned it previously, but someone came up with just a horrible idea to waste one of the perk slots. I don't know about you guys, but after week 1, I quit buying his weapons. What does that leave you with after you complete a Skolas (or level 34 run?) You make your Justice Chance roll and hope you get a decent piece of armor that DOESN'T have +STR on it. Man, does Varicks loot need a complete overhaul!? It's all so anti-climatic - short of MAYBE his sniper - because you don't care about the wasted perk slot as much... or hoping to get armor with PoE useful modifers for vex, hive, cabal and Intellect & discipline (not STR) - the rest is just very disappointing... BNG, please, this won't last till Sept! [b]So how many are really enjoying / downing Skolas compared to the player base? Who's affected by this?[/b] We know ~16,000,000 (feb 2015) - 20,000,000 (may 2015 numbers) of players are on Destiny. Players are averaging ~ 3 hours a day play. Per the May 2015 data, the 20M number seems to be holding. http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/05/06/destiny-hits-20-million-players Now, based on the recent weekly update on BNG, we learn 378,511 [b]fireteams[/b] have downed Skolas in the first 3 weeks of play. https://www.bungie.net/en/News/News?aid=13016 1. We don't know how many of those Fireteams were repeat teams and repeat players 2. I know I beat him 8 of those times So if I divide 378,511 by 8 to get an idea of how many 'unique' fireteams beat skolas - just to take a swag stab at this... I come up with 47,313... then if I multiply that by 3, just to see how many unique players experienced it - 141,942 rounded... and I think that's probably generous. So if 16M players, we are saying 0.89% experienced it. If 20M players, we are saying 0.71% experienced it. 3. IGN's poo-poo's HoW @ 5:25, saying, I don't see a reason to play HoW right now, Skolas blows, Queen's weapons are junk, the TIME is not worth the REWARD, etc: http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/06/11/fireteam-chat-ep-22-oryx-vs-e3-igns-destiny-podcast?watch 4. Forbes & PoE loot train-wreck: http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2015/06/12/one-year-later-how-has-destiny-changed-since-the-alpha/ I rest my case, just my thoughts, thanks for listening.