This needs to be made abundantly clear. The following article is not an attack directed toward anyone. This is not written as a called-for defense for wounded parties. For that which follows is said objectively, meant to educate, enlighten, or otherwise inform what is being evidently misunderstood or ignored. Guardians, we need to talk. [b]UNDERSTANDING EACH OTHER[/b] The Bungie forums are a platform of social media which encourage users to proactively write opinion-based threads, posts, and comments about a plethora of topical discussion; the game of Destiny being in the primacy of the latter. This channel of commentary is meant to establish both a unionized fan base of social interaction and also a direct line of communication for community members to reach out to developers and vice versa. This is becoming increasingly untrue. The Community of the Destiny Forums can be consistently seen debating in fervent hostility. And while a Code of Conduct exists to prevent or otherwise control the flow of derogatory harassment, a substantial number of users continue to belittle, insult, and bully prospective points across. Because of these dubiously unrestricted comments, community members have become more and more divided over matters of simple agreement. In the most extreme scenarios, users often will elect to cruelly demean and degrade other users instead of just simply agreeing to disagree. This further causes a sense of political strife among the general consensus of users which directly opposes the unity the forums are meant to establish between fans. [b]UNDERSTANDING BUNGIE[/b] The relationship between the developers and the players is becoming increasingly damaged. With each subsequent update released from Bungie, a large number of dissatisfied players openly denounce their former/existing support for Bungie, typically deciding to forgo the purchase of future content coupled with disheartened forfeit. Their dissatisfaction is an extension of impatience, injustice, and intolerance. It is popularly perceived Bungie thus ignores its player base, overcharges DLC, and unduly punishes and rewards certain parties. Again, this is untrue. Bungie, the developers of Destiny, [b]DO NOT[/b] hold exclusive autonomy in their game's development. Activision, the publishers of Destiny, fund or otherwise pay Bungie to internally develop their licensed intellectual property. Activision is therefore, an "external developer" and actively monitors, critiques, and even assists in ongoing development. As such, Activision has substantial influence and control in what Bungie can and cannot do. As a publisher, Activision retains exclusive rights to distribute retail and market DLC accordingly. Prices, timeframes, and allotted content are therefore outside of Bungie's exclusive authority. Additionally, Bungie cannot claim exclusive monetization on their intellectual property. Revenue is distributed among the publisher, developer, manufacturer, retailer, and console royalty. I.e., whenever a consumer purchases a new copy of Destiny, that money is not channeled directly to the developers. It instead is sent through the distribution chain and only a small modicum is profited by Bungie. Therefore, Destiny is primarily financed through contracts with the publisher and [b]not[/b] through immediate sales. [b]UNDERSTANDING RESTRAINTS[/b] From this, it can be implied Activision pushed for dual-generation release rather than exclusively new generation release. While a profitable business strategy, maintaining support for last generation is a primary reason Destiny is heavily criticized for failing to deliver an exemplary gaming experience. In example, the remedial, yet hotly contested issue of Vault Space would drastically improve were support for last generation dropped entirely. Server based memory is not the same as internal based memory. A console only needs to accommodate a set number of users and user data. In example, whenever a file is saved on an internal memory unit, it only needs to have a small pocket of data available to accommodate the saved file. This saved data stored on the console's internal memory is not shared worldwide and thus can seemingly hold a greater amount of gaming content. Whenever a Destiny profile is saved, that profile is saved on Bungie's always active servers. Unlike internal based memory, the profile is not given a small pocket of accommodating data, but is instead housed with 16 million other profiles around the world. Bungie's servers therefore need to be ready to accommodate these profiles comfortably and simultaneously while always being ready to accept/lose profiles without affecting others. This, combined with Destiny's in-game content pushes last generation consoles to their absolute limits. It ultimately why Vault Space cannot be greatly increased and still remains a notable restraint to developers. [b]TL;DR[/b] In my personal opinion, everything I just said is why all the needless hate needs to stop. The hate on Bungie, the hate on Destiny, the hate on each other. There's no good reason for it. Bungie will make substantial improvements but it will take time. It will take understanding on our end and compromise on theirs. Destiny can't be expected to grow while still supporting last generation consoles. This. Is. A. Fact. It will only be until maybe Destiny 2 things will noticeably get better. In the meantime, be good to each other and be good to Bungie. Provide feedback sure, but there's no need to be hateful about it. Stay golden, Guardians Eltar Sarkhardy